I have two old anvils. One from my dad that he got from my great grand father. It has no horn and is pretty rusted. The other is one my grand father had. It is samller, but has a horn and is rusty. I plan on useing them both. The horned one () is about a 45lb'er and the unhorned one is about a 75 or 100lb'er.
Anyway, my question is, what is the best way to get the rust off and have a smooth surface? I have a grinder, but wasn't sure if there was a better way.

Thanks,
Aman

Wire brush works well, especially a cup brush on a right angle grinder.

Building a fire and using them will clean the faces right up.

Frosty

I was only worried about pitted spots. Wouldn't that show in the iron I am hitting?

Thanks,
Aman


P.S....Frosty, I hope I don't wear you out. I am sure the questions will get more and more as I get into this. Thanks for your responses and thanks to all that have helped thus far.

Unless the pits are like Meteor Creator don't worry too much about them. They don't show up that much on the finish iron work.:cool:

Aman:

I'm just passing it along, most of what I say has been learned form someone else so I'm just paying it back and forward at the same time.

Depends on how bad the pits are and how fine a finish you want straight off the anvil. I'd advise you to leave it be and use it till you have a good handle on the basics. Then, if the faces are too damaged to produce what you like I'd think seriously about finding another anvil rather than altering a family heirloom. Then again it may only be a matter of shallow but annoying pits and a belt sander is the perfect solution.

Post a couple pics and we can give you better advise. Shoot with low aspect light so any pits show well. A light shining straight down will hide surface imperfections. Same goes shooting the sides to see what make they are.

Frosty

OK. It may be tomorrow or Sunday, but I will post pictures.

Thanks again,
Aman

I have an old HB anvil that the face is very finely pitted from sitting in an unheated damp shed for 50 years or so. I brushed off any loose rust and have been just using the anvil and letting the scale slowly polish it out. I have noticed no problems even with knifemaking on it.

I have an old HB anvil that the face is very finely pitted from sitting in an unheated damp shed for 50 years or so. I brushed off any loose rust and have been just using the anvil and letting the scale slowly polish it out. I have noticed no problems even with knifemaking on it.

Thanks. I think I'll try it. I am going to brush it and start hammering away.

Aman

The fastest way to ruin a good anvil is to try and fix it.