Just picked up my first real anvil this week.
150 pounds, but it has a lot of marks on it. Almost all are not very deep ( maybe 1/16 of an inch.
My question is this, what is the best way to get these out? (they are on the face and horn) Would it be ok to take a belt sander to it? and if so is there any recommendations on what to use. I have seen a couple of postings on here about how to dress it up but the ones I have seen involve processes that are or seem to be beyond my capabilities, such as heating and re-forging the face or putting on a new face. I have also read that grinding may effect the tempering of the anvil, it has an incredible rebound so I would hate to ruin this.
I am sorry if this is repeating previous questions I will keep searching the forums.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Marty

Marty,

First off congrats on getting an anvil. Second, don't sweat the marks. leave the anvil intact. It doesn't have to be pristine. Use it and find out if they should be removed. You can work around a lot.



Brian

4 1/2 inch angle grinder with a 80 or 120 grit flap disk. take light quick passes, dont push into the face or stay in one spot. or hand sand it...

if anyone disagrees with me please tell me and why... i dressed mine this way it it was fine. you just don't want to heat the face through friction. so light quick passes should work with time between to keep it from heating up.

but as said if it doesn't effect the work your doing you don't need to fix anything...

Ignore them and use the anvil. There is no need to rush into dressing an anvil. The hardened face may only be as thick as those markings. Use a wire wheel or scotchbrite plastic pad to remove debris and rust, if you feel you must. My poor broken anvil has about 3/16 of hardened face showing where it is cracked, and some damage is much deeper that that.

Welcome aboard, and don't take this as being rough on you, I may have done more damage than good using an abrasive wheel to grind out some of the smallest nicks on my anvil. The edge of the hardened layer on my anvil just started showing after the lower metal began corroding some, the hardened layer seems more resistant to rust.

Phil

You may find you can do perfectly adequate work without dressing the face. You can sand the horn all you like, you will not hurt it unless you make it significantly smaller. The hard plate though has only so much thickness...it gets thinner through normal use. To purposely grind away years worth of usefull life in a few minutes is not a good idea.
If and when your work becomes so high caliber that those marks are detrimental a new anvil would be apropriate.

Welcome to IFI Marty.

Its great you have a good sized anvil but I would not even think of "fixing" any 1/16" marks. If you think about it you will be leaving bigger hammer marks on your work than that. If you need a smooth area for using a flatter make a new saddle to go over your anvil just for that purpose.

I would not even worry about wire wheeling the rust off as some hot iron and a hammer will soon shine it up.

Use it and enjoy :)

4 1/2 inch angle grinder with a 80 or 120 grit flap disk. take light quick passes, dont push into the face or stay in one spot. or hand sand it...

if anyone disagrees with me please tell me and why... i dressed mine this way it it was fine. you just don't want to heat the face through friction. so light quick passes should work with time between to keep it from heating up.

but as said if it doesn't effect the work your doing you don't need to fix anything...

Kashmire, First off I'm not disagreeing with you, BUT one needs to know how thick the face is before doing any grinding. Your process works great (I've done one like this) but some anvils have a thin face and this will only make it thinner.

Marty, Unless you are doing knives or highly precision work on your anvil;) just leave it alone. My 185 HB has these same 'marks' and they don't reflect in the finished work...but then I don't do knives either. Good for you on you new anvil, enjoy!!

Also I have to jump in on this. Some of us can grind flat with a 41/2 inch grinder or a 9 inch. Some folks can't make a flat surface with a belt sander. If you are confident in yourself go for it. if not you may do more harm than good.
Ken

Some client someday may be willing to pay extra for the "texture" your anvil has.
Leave it and enjoy the anvil for its flaws

thank you guys for the extra perspective. i didn't take into account work surface thickness or skill with an angle grinder. i usually over estimate grinder skill i forget not everyone can do what i can do with a grinder. (i was taught ice sculpting with an angle grinder) your input is most appreciated from my end. i also forget "not all anvils are made equal", cause i am so used to looking at my fisher.

Just my 2 cents is to just leave the anvil as is and got to forging on it see what your works look like after that. One of my anvil that I thought did not look too good after some time forging on it has made it look better!!! Have a fun time.

Gaylan

For a first anvil, I would just let it stay as is. Think of it as a practice anvil. So if you really make a mess of things, you don't have to think about how much time you put into making it pretty. And most times you would like the extra character in your work. I'm not into making things perfect. I use what I have on hand. Happy
Forging

Thank you all for your suggestions, I really appreciate it.
I have only had a beginners class in blacksmithing so I think I will just stick to haveing fun.
I must say that this site is amazing in the way everyone is open to helping out people with problems and offering ideas without talking down to people.

Thanks again,
Marty