[TheForge] How bad are the HF cast anvils?

[Gladish Family]

>
> I know a kid who makes damascus swords on a 55# HF anvil, so who knows.
>
I dunno- I've always wondered if there's a use for a large hunk of
relatively soft metal in a shop. What if, for punching or something, you
needed to really whang something, cold, with the ten pounder? Come to think
of it, I had a job this fall straightening out a little arbor. Too big to
work hot any practical way, so I took an old Trenton that needed face work
and put it on the ground and had my son thump the trellis with the biggie
whilst I turned it this way and that. Sure would have preferred to have an
old hunk of something that even a POTENTIALLY nice anvil...lots of chunks at
the scrap yard for less, though. 100 # @ $.22 = $22 instead of $100.
OTOH, a platen table might have been better anyway, and now I have one.

Andy