There's probably nothing easier to take for granted than your anvil. The anvil is always there — ready and willing — to take the brunt of your hammer blows and give you a solid surface to do your everyday work.

Over time, even the best-made anvils begin to show the scars of the hard-hitting, physical nature of the shoeing profession. And just like your favorite shoeing tools, to get long-lasting life out your anvil, you need to have a maintenance, upkeep and repair program in place to keep it in peak operating condition.

You may be asking yourself, “How many ways are there to take care of my anvil? It’s just a big ol’ hunk of steel.” Believe it or not, with very little time and effort, you can keep that heavyweight beast of burden looking like new and get many more productive years of usage out of it.

Skilled Farriers Do Less Damage

An anvil owned by a rookie farrier takes a worse beating than a one-armed prize fighter. It often takes a farrier who’s new at the shoeing profession three times the hammer blows to get the same job done than it does a veteran shoer. Additionally, a farrier who isn’t as skilled with his or her tools is more apt to miss on a hammer strike or gouge the working surface of the anvil by taking a bad angle while working a piece of steel.

“New farriers need to buy anvils out of necessity, while experienced farriers…