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A guy at a hammer-in near Asheville showed me how he checks anvil rebound with a ball bearing, and it stuck with me
Two years back I drove up to a hammer-in outside Asheville and got paired at the forge with an older smith who had been at it since the 70s. He pulled a 1/2 inch ball bearing out of his apron pocket and dropped it on my anvil from about 10 inches up, then just watched it bounce. He told me the height it comes back up tells you more about the face than any ring test, and if it barely hops you have a dead spot or a crack you cannot see. Mine bounced back maybe 6 inches but sounded flat on the heel, so I flipped the anvil over that night and found a hairline crack starting near the hardy hole. I still carry a bearing in my pocket now, but I want to know what height other folks actually consider good. Does anyone here use the bearing trick, and what rebound do you get on your anvil?
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robin_wright16d ago
Buddy of mine picked up a Peter Wright at a farm auction and swore the ring was perfect. Got it home, dropped a bearing on it, and it barely came back 3 inches while the rest of the face gave him a good 7 or 8. Turned out someone had welded a chunk of the heel back on and ground it smooth, which you could not see until he hit it with a wire wheel. He uses that bearing on every anvil he looks at now, says anything under 5 inches off a 10 inch drop is a pass for him. The crack near your hardy hole sounds like it was caught just in time.
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