I have a ~125 lb. Peter Wright anvil that I picked up used off Craig's list a couple of years ago.  Finally have a gas forge built and have started to use it.  When I got the anvil, the face was very marked up, so on the advise of other smiths in my local group I took a 4 1/2 grinder with a flap style sanding wheel to the surface to clean it up a bit.  I'm sure I didn't get it very hot, or even warm, and didn't take off more than a couple of mm of surface.  I get decent rebound, or it feels that way (I haven't got a correct size bearing to test it), but on any missed strikes (still a relative beginner and my son, who also works on it a bit, is a rank beginner) it takes a noticeable divot.  This is even with cheap Chinese Harbor Freight blacksmith hammers.

 

I don't have a Rockwell tester or anything.  Is this typical or is there any way to tell if this anvil has been damaged (in perhaps a barn fire or the like)?

 

Thanks

I have a soft PW. I am the second owner since it was new, it has never been in a fire, and it is not very much harder than mild steel. Maybe some were left unhardened for whatever reason? Or maybe we've both just scored duds? 

It could have been in a fire at some point. My PW has a very hard face... 

 

Andy

I've owned 3, two that were in the 150# range and quite hard, and a 400# that was definitely softer than I would have liked.  

The old larger anvils did tend to be softer due to materials and processes---the greater mass tended auto temper a bit more.  This was often seen as a feature and not a bug as large anvils tended to see heavy work and a 16# sledge swung hard and *missed* would then not break off a section of the anvil or create shrapnel.

 

125# is in the "smallish" range though and so it probably did suffer a accidental draw at some point in it's life; my PW's (165#, 163#, 112#) are all quite lively.  Note that it will work harden a bit over the years and it is good training to work HOT and ACCURATELY!

It's not an impossible job to reharden the face. There is some info about doing that on this site.

I have seen and have had a number of anvils that had a pretty soft faces after the top few millimeters were removed.

I had posted a thread here on IFI asking if others had seen anything similar but the thread sort of just ended. 

The anvils still had a pretty good rebound but were easily marked with a missed hammer strike. My assumption is that the hardening process resulted in variable depth of hardness. 

Its possible that your anvil was soft from the beginning since you mentioned it had a pretty badly marked face. I have also seen a lot of variability in the faces of PW anvils. 

Rather than worry about the anvil's face just go ahead and use it, even with a pretty soft face will still last you years.

Thanks for all the replies.  I'll keep at it and work harder on hammer control.

I have seen and have had a number of anvils that had a pretty soft faces after the top few millimeters were removed.

I had posted a thread here on IFI asking if others had seen anything similar but the thread sort of just ended. 

The anvils still had a pretty good rebound but were easily marked with a missed hammer strike. My assumption is that the hardening process resulted in variable depth of hardness. 

Its possible that your anvil was soft from the beginning since you mentioned it had a pretty badly marked face. I have also seen a lot of variability in the faces of PW anvils. 

Rather than worry about the anvil's face just go ahead and use it, even with a pretty soft face will still last you years.

The top couple millimeters of an ancient well used anvil are work hardened.

That is why it is best to grind nothing off the face.

Come to think of it I had an anvil with a very soft face. any errant blow would cause a good deep mark. I cleaned it up a bit with  a flap disc on an angle grinder, you could tell it was quite soft even with that. 

 

But it was ok as long as your work was good and hot. 

 

I'm sure yours will be fine once you're used to it. 

 

All the best 

Andy

I have a new to me larger Peter Wright and noticed it is fairly soft yet has great rebound. I was hoping that it would work harden a bit as the top is in real good shape but if you miss it will leave a mark. Most of the previous owners use was on the horn, likely a farrier. I'm sure he brought the horse to the anvil and not the other way around. Probably draft horses as the horn is quite thick.