Just realized my grandpa's 1962 anvil has a better ring than the new one I paid $800 for in Louisville
Took both to my shop last Saturday and tapped them side by side, and the old one sang like a bell for a full 4 seconds while the new one just went thud, so now I am wondering if anyone else has noticed newer anvils losing that high ring or if mine is just a fluke.
Wait, are we sure the ring is always the sign of a good anvil? I know that old bell sound is nice, but a lot of it comes down to hardness and how the steel was made, and a softer anvil can still move metal just fine. My uncle runs a shop with a 1950s Fisher that barely rings at all because of the cast iron base, and that thing has forged more knives than any anvil I've touched. A loud ring can also just mean the face is thin or the whole thing is loosely mounted, which is not always a good thing. I get why the old steel sounds better, but a dull thud from a new one does not automatically mean it is junk.