[TheForge] How bad are the HF cast anvils?

[Peter Fels and Phoebe Palmer]

At 09:57 PM 12/28/01, you wrote:

For hotwork, a soft but massive piece of steel is generally fine...better 
than most smiths had throughout history.
> >
> > 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
>
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