I have a question about the top plate on one of my Fisher anvils I hope some of you can shed some light on. To start with it is a 220lbs anvil made in 1920 that I had purchased last year. At the time it was covered in rust and I did not notice and problems after doing the usual checks and the top seemed normal . After cleaning it up however I noticed a thinness to the top plate toward the cutting table as you can see in the pictures which clearly shows thanks to the condensation the other day, the differences between the cast iron and the tool steel plate. It appears at first that the top had been milled down at some point in it's life but after a better look I'm not so sure. The first thing that's thrown me off on this is that the plate goes from about 1/16 to almost 1/2" across the span of the top. The anvil is dead level at 13" from one end of the top to the other. If it had been milled I would not think it would not have such a large difference in thickness going from normal to almost nothing. I was thinking perhaps this was a factory defect and that the plate had not been set level in the form when the cast iron was poured over it and then milled normally to finish ? That being said, it is one of my best rebounding anvils I have, all across the top regardless of where it's used and I have used it well, although I do try to stay away from that edge.... even rivaling the rebound on my 400lbs Fisher...
Thanks guys for any input, I hope Njanvilman will chime in on this one...