Will my top plate crack?

[Mkjt88]

Hi guys I purchased a 153lb peter wright anvil from a guy for $300. It was pretty rusty and caked on dirt. Once I got it cleaned and sanded the top plate up with a flap disc I noticed it had atleast 4-5 small spots that were filled with weld. Then I noticed a really faint spot that looks like very fine cracking. It's hard to get it to show in a picture but here is the best I can get.  Do you think it will hold up over time or on its way to start cracking? It only has about 50% rebound from 18" with a 7/16" ball bearing. Not sure if it would be the same or more with a bigger bearing? It didn't seem to have any dead sounding spots to me when tapping with a hammer. Also one edge is fairly rounded over and beat up the other side is fairly sharp still but has some dings. I'm from central Illinois  do you think this anvil was a decent deal or did I pay a bit much. Thanks!

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

At under $2 a pound it was a good deal. Without seeing the before pictures it's hard to tell how much damage you have done with the flap disc. If it was very light then maybe you only removed decades from its face.

[Exo313]

I think that's a bit dramatic.

[Mkjt88]

14 minutes ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

At under $2 a pound it was a good deal. Without seeing the before pictures it's hard to tell how much damage you have done with the flap disc. If it was very light then maybe you only removed decades from its face.

Im sure I haven't damaged it at all you can't do much damage with a flap disc. No deep grinding and doesn't heat top up past slightly warm to the touch. I only sanded it to get it pretty smoothed up again it still has some of its original pitting and some smaller holes on there. No idea how much I took but know it couldn't have been more than at most a 1/16" but I'd say that's even pushing it

[Exo313]

The issue is wearing down a hardened plate of unknown thickness. The cracks weren't caused by sanding.  I'd have left it at a knotted wire wheel for cleaning up if it were me.  But the cracks might be a sign of a bad repair in a past life, so at least you've uncovered them. 

[JHCC]

There really is nothing better for polishing an anvil face than hammering hot metal on it. 

[Thief_Of_Navarre]

7 hours ago, JHCC said:

There really is nothing better for polishing an anvil face than hammering hot metal on it. 

And it's not as boring as wire brushing!

[ThomasPowers]

So get to forging and every time you make something put a  dollar in the buy another anvil jar; when you own 5 or 6 more you can cut back!

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

20 hours ago, Exo313 said:

I think that's a bit dramatic.

Dramatic would have been what I really think about someone grinding on an anvil face.

Because this is a G rated forum I held back and yes a flap disk is grinding.

[Mkjt88]

I understand your dead against any "grinding".. here is the before after a wire wheel you can see I haven't changed anything but take down the middle just a hair to flatten it across better, remove some shallow pitting, and clean it up. And through all my research I've found don't if you don't have to but either way light flap disc won't hurt anything to smooth or clean up a face or edges. It's my first decent sized anvil I'll have it for a lifetime and I fixed it up to my preference to use from here on out.... anyway back to the original reason for the post has anyone seen anything like in the picture.. any knowledge of what it may or may not become?

[Exo313]

I'm not certain.  Does the cracking look like it starts near the places that look welded? If so it's possible that's the source of the cracks.  And as far as will they spread? Maybe. Maybe not.  You might get a full life or three out of it with no issues. Or maybe they'll get worse. I don't think anyone can give you a definitive answer due to the nature of cracks behaving unpredictably. Watch for spreading but use as normal is what I'd do. 

[Marc1]

To me it looks like an anvil that had some repairs done to it and the patches of weld on the face are cracking. Just a guess from what I can see in your photos. 

Clearly you have not done the cracks with the flap disk only uncovered them. As far as what to do ... nothing is probably the best suggestion. Nothing in as far as repairs of any sort, just use as normal. worst that can happen is that the previous repair pops out and you are left with the original hole. if it ever comes to that, try to join a group that has anvil repairs sessions and then you can get into the nitty gritty of a proper repair.

Hopefully that will never happen. 

[Mkjt88]

Ya that's the plan. I only saw them in a smaller section which I circled roughly there in the picture. The closest weld spot I can see is shown in the second picture up there in the left side close to the bottom left in the edge of the pic. There was a few more closer to the horn and one or two below the cracks to the other side of the anvil. None right where the cracks were but close it may have damaged it? Anyway figured I'd see if anyone has seen this before but I'll just use it as is im sure since there's no dead spots and no open cracks it will last me for why I need it for. Thanks! And already after using it the first time the hammering hit steel over the area already "erased" them from view.