Hi all,
I am very, very new to anything forge-related, but the wife and kids recently bought be a second-hand and very rusty anvil and leg vice as a gift (along with a couple lessons in forging which I am very excited about!) But I honestly don't know anything about the anvil or where to begin in renovating it and keeping it good, or testing to see if it's OK, etc. I don't know the make (didn't see any markings on it, but then I wasn't really looking), nor the weight (other than it being in the range of, "oh hell no, I can't lift that into the car, are you kidding me?!")... But I'd like to make an effort in getting the rust off it, making it usable and then keeping it that way considering it'd probably be outside most of the time.
So where to start? I understand that a knotted wire wheel on an angle grinder is what a lot of people use, is that right? I've also seen people on YouTube use a grinding wheel but others not recommend it unless really notched. Also, should I use a sanding disc? Does the anvil surface need to be shining and flat? If I do grind, should I be weary about changing the shape of the horn or anvil too much?
I've seen people doing some kind of ball-bearing bounce test as well. Is that just to see how springy the anvil is in terms of how much your hammer strikes are likely to bounce back? Is it better to have a lot of bounce or not much? Or does that depend on the kind of anvil?
And for conditioning the anvil after it's clean I've seen people use (transmission) fluid. Is that OK? How often to rub it down if so?
OK, one more set of questions... What do people generally mount the anvil on? Would a tree stump at the right height (top of anvil level with knuckles, isn't it?) be OK? (I'm assuming any kind of tree so long as it's big enough to fit the anvil?) Or should I go some other root?
Like I said; I'm so green at all of this stuff, but really would appreciate any advice from people who have been there and done that, kind of thing (and hopefully on a small budget, too!)
Some images of the anvil are attached, if that helps any.
Thanks all!