I have recently come into possession of this anvil however it needs alittle TLC. Does anyone perchance know who it is made by ? And how to flatten the surface properly ?

What does the base look like? And I would wirebrush the sides and check for the makers mark which my guess without seeing the base would be Peter Wright; of course if we knew which of the 100+ countries that participate here you were in it make it easier to guess.

Please wire brush the face and post a picture; I've see nothing to indicate flattening it is needed. Most often when people flatten the face they cut the value of an anvil in half or even more.  Smooth is more important than flat to a smith and even that is "to a degree".

My apologies sir, I thought for sure I had put it in! I'm from midwest USA! I will for sure wire it and see. Upon intial inspection I couldn't see anything but hey it's old and covered in rust !  

Since so many smithing questions have a location factor---including "stop by Saturday and I'll show you how to do that..." we suggest you edit your profile to show your general location for every post.

Understandable ! I'll get it changed ! I'll get it scrubbed is there anything else I should do ?

Depends on what you want to do with it.  Dusting with flour and then sweeping it off can help faint stampings. Cleaning it up and treating the body with boiled linseed oil can help keep it from rusting. Painting can too.  Wire brushing the face and then hammering a lot of orange hot steel on it will shine it up and smooth any minor issues. 

Definitely hitting hot steel with it! I've always been fascinated with blacksmithing growing up and just built a propane forge. Frosty T burners work great ! I have an ASO rail track my grandfather used for farrier work and I picked this guy up for $100 .

Better put your lawyer on retainer and hide your gloves and mask---that was a steal!

Well that's good to know ! I dont know if I said it but I'm brand new to all of this and dont know alot!

That chip in the faceplate looks like it could be a trouble area but just work around it. There is plenty of good usable anvil there at a great price too.

Like Thomas said, wire wheel and use it. After a little cleanup with the wire wheel you might find some stampings. A better stand might be in order. 

Great buy! 

Thanks ! Is there any way to fix the chip ?

Yes but I wouldn't worry about it and forge around it. A repair would be costly. The only harm that could come from it is if the faceplate is delaminating in the area. Read up on the ring and rebound tests and do them to check it out. No worries tho as like i said there is Plenty of good usable space on that anvil. 

Will do!

Great find on the anvil!  If you want to clean it up, wash it good with soap & water then let it dry completely before taking a wire wheel on an angle grinder to the surface.  The wire wheel will remove the rust without removing the patina or the precious steel of the anvil.  Do not grind the surface or the edges until you've forged on it for a year or more.  You'll know by them if a little nick here or there affects your forging.  Once you've wire wheeled it, wash it again with soap & water then after it dries completely put a light coat of oil on it.  I use new 5W 30 motor oil.  Don't put used motor oil on it.  Some spray them with clear acrylic while others used boiled linseed oil.  I prefer the new motor oil.  Don't press down hard when wire wheeling the anvil clean, let the wheel do the work and wear safety glasses for your eyes and gloves on your hands.  That wire wheel will remove your hide something fierce.

Here's what the above process did for my anvil:

Before:

 

After:

 

And it even grew a stand and a hammer!

Funny how that happens Thomas.  If you could see her now she's grown a few more hammers since that picture.  

It's just an attractive anvil!

I cant find any markings on it :/

It has an 8 stamped into it

As I recall the flats on the feet with those particular handling holes == Peter Wright;

ok Postman says "giving these anvils 4 such holes"

Looks like there's a fair amount of grey paint still left on it.  I notice you are using cleaners or something on it.  The best way is to take that wire wheel on an angle grinder and remove all that rust and paint.  You may find other layers of paint under the grey and it looks like there's red paint under the grey.  You'll be surprised what rust and paint will hide as far as markings go.  On my Fisher, I didn't even notice the weight mark because it was so rusty.  Once the wire wheel passed over the foot it was very clear.  On my German Trenton I didn't notice the weight until the rust was taken off with the wire wheel.  It's really the only way to clean up an anvil besides electrolysis.  

Will do ! I just dont want to accidentally damage it !

Wear a respirator when you power brush that fine old lady! If there's original paint on her it'll most likely be lead based and you'd probably rather NOT breath lead. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah no let's not do that !!!!

Hey lead used to be in gasoline and all us curmudgeons grew up breathing fumes from that and we're\\\\\\\\\\

DON'T BREATHE LEAD!

On 1/16/2019 at 5:17 PM, ShortMedic said:

Will do ! I just dont want to accidentally damage it !

Yup, just don't put a lot of pressure on the angle grinder that has the wire brush wheel on it.  Let the wire brush do the work.  Oh and wear safety glasses to.  Those wires fly off at a million miles an hour and have embedded in my skin before.  You don't want that to happen with your eyes.  The respirator is a great idea too. I always use one when cleaning up an anvil.