Columbian anvil, worth it?

[ThomasPowers]

Sorry my wife was sick and so I dropped everything at work Friday at lunchtime and got across the border and then drove 200 miles to be there with her.  I'll have to read Anvils in America to see what tops were welded to the cast steel basses.  Be a couple of days probably.

[kiddcaprix]

Gote, I agree with your statement of "base" being what is "holding" the steel plate (if wrought).  I may have stated it wrong from a description stand point, I was thinking that the "base" was everything under the working surface.  I guess the nomenclature was misused on my part.  The confusion might be coming from the fact that (correct me if I am wrong) the wrought iron forged anvils where made up of different parts, like a "base" which stops at the waist, the top section (waist to welded face), horn, heel, and welded face.  The cast steel being all cast with a machined, hardened, and ground face.  I was just wondering if there was a dramatic difference in feel/work/reliability between the two types of fabrication techniques.  I would assume (since, I believe, all new anvils being sold are cast steel) the cast steel anvils would be more sought after these days because of the lack of potential forge welded separations that might occur from a forged anvil. You see a a lot of anvils with face separation or the horn broke off or the heel. I haven't seen anything other than chipped edges on a cast steel anvil.  Please don't get me wrong here, I have no bias towards one or the other.  I would love to have a quality forged anvil just for the history.  I happened to come across the Columbian and like it a lot. 

I am totally green when it comes to anvils so please take my thought as just that.  I just love the history of these old tools and try to learn as much as I can about how thing were/are made.  BTW my AIA copy is on its way. Going on a week long camping trip next week and am looking forward to reading it.

Thomas, sorry to hear about your wife.  I hope she is doing better.

Regards, Adam.