Is my anvil good, and what is it?

[pnut]

You won't trash it. After you dress the face it'll look better than when you got it. Sharp edges mar the work so you have to round off the sharp edges and make the face slightly domed. Reshaping the handle will help a lot too. I watched a video a while back about proper hammer technique that helped A lot. It's called the beginner and it's by Greenwood ironworks I think. It's long but there's a part where you can see the hammer pivoting in his hand that made the light go on in my head. You grip the hammer with your thumb and index finger and just use the rest to stop the rotation. 

Pnut

 

[BillyBones]

When i started out it was with a 24 oz. ball pein. I then got a 3# cross pein, much to heavy. A 2 1/2# engineers hammer worked very well for me so i used that for a long time. My go to now is the hammer i made this past spring. Comes in just under 3#. 

Point is that even though i am no weakling, a 3# was to heavy becuase of the fact i was not used to using my muscles in that way. Get used to swinging a hammer that is comfortable then work up to heavier hammers.

On another note, just as a hammer that is to heavy can cause elbow problems so can an anvil at an improper height. Learned that the hard way. 

[CrazyGoatLady]

Agreed on the anvil height. My last anvil was set at knuckle height. It made my back hurt and my accuracy wasn't always great. But I had read so much about that being the height to aim for. We mounted my new one just right below my wrist after some experimentation. My back doesn't bother me now and my swing and accuracy have greatly improved