[TheForge] anvil repair

[James]

I know this has been discussed before but I need a refresher course...

Bought an old (1856) William Foster anvil a few weeks ago.  The top is 
pretty flat but the edges are beaten off almost all the way around and a 
couple places that appear to have rips or tears in the top.

According to the Postman book, Anvils in America it has a wrought base 
and a steel top that was forge welded.

If you were to attempt to rebuild the corners/edges of this anvil, what 
procedure would you follow?   And what electrodes would you use?

My inclination is to clean it as much as possible, pre-heat to about400 
degrees F, weld the bottom of any holes that cannot be cleaned without 
doing serious damage to the anvil with a 6010 electrode (because it 
tolerates rust and junk and penetrates deeply). Then build up the 
surfaces with something like a 7018, grind down, etc. (I've read the 
7018 works pretty well rebuilding an anvil.)

I have an almost full 50# box of Lincoln Abrasoweld that I use 
occasionally but don't know if it's for impact, abrasion or both. I 
hesitate to use an extremely hard rod on an anvil. On the other hand, in 
the 40 years that I've been welding I've used Stoody, Hi-Alloy, Hobart, 
specialty rods etc. with generally good success. Those rods used to be 
pretty common here (100 mi. NE of Dallas, TX) but now you just about 
can't get any special stick rods (Ni for cast iron being and Hi-Alloy 
500 the only exceptions).

I presume this is due to the extreme popularity of MIG machines and the 
guys using portable rigs only use 6010/11 and 7018 for most work. All 
that to say, specialty rods are hard to find here and the boys in the 
welding shops aren't very helpful.

Would you go to the trouble to find a different rod selection than what 
I have mentioned and what procedure would you recommend if different 
from the above? Since Postman says the body of this anvil is wrought - 
and I've never stick welded wrought iron - will I have any difficulties 
if I get down into the wrought part?

And one more question, just how well would a MIG w/ standard 
off-the-shelf MIG wire and 92/8 or 75/25 shielding gas work to repair an 
anvil?

Thanks,
James