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My great uncle's anvil sat rusty under a tarp for 12 years, then I hit it with a wire wheel and vinegar and it rang like a bell
I figured it was a lost cause until I read about electrolysis on a knife forum, and 2 days in a plastic tub with a battery charger took off rust I'd been chipping at for a month with a wire brush, so what is everybody's go to for saving pitted faces, grind it flat or leave the character?
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rowan_thomas17d ago
So you're telling me you spent a solid month with a wire brush doing the same thing a battery charger and a tub of water did in two days, which sounds about right for how these projects usually go. The pitted face question really comes down to what you plan to do with it. If it's going to be a working anvil taking hammer blows, pits don't hurt much since the metal you're shaping sits on top anyway, and a flat face matters more than a pretty one. If it's a show piece you want to look at, grinding it flat can take off the hardened layer if you get too aggressive with a grinder and heat it up. I'd leave the pits and just clean up the edges so you don't get nicked metal marking your work. Better to have an ugly anvil that rings than a smooth one that's dead.
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