I finally bought an anvil from an old fellow who called me in response to an ad I put out.  I went and picked it up for $75.00 (including a bunch of tongs and hardy tools... his father was a farrier).  It is 75#, dinged up along the edges, but has a beautiful ring and great response to hammer and ball bearing.  It is stamped Kohwlswa Sweden, but something is strange... I wonder if it was cast from a mold made with a Kohlswa???  What are those markings?  And the pictures I've seen of these anvils don't have the stamped area sticking out like this one. What do you think???  For the price, how could I go wrong?? But I'm curious about those markings.

Also...  Is it worth trying to dress the edges up???

scott, good deal. definitely dress the edge . i sanded the face and horn to get the bigger pits out.when you start using this more you'll get " to know your anvil" like where the sweet spots are and what places need work. start pounding!!    chad

Looks like it was definetly worth the money. How flat is the face, doesn't look too bad from the photo's but that could be deceptive. More photo's of the face and edges would help.

The face is very flat... the edges are not great... .but there are some clean places.  I was just out there forging and it's amazing how much faster the steel moves compared to my rr rail.  And the hammer about flies from my hand if I miss.  Not that I ever miss. :-)

Are those gouge marks typical??? They run all over... even under the horn.

You don't want square edges all around.  The rounded off edges can be used to draw out material.  Most blacksmiths radius some parts of the edge for that purpose.  A nice square couple of inches is nice to have too though.

Scott, from a novis point of view (me) you could not go wrong!  A real deal with tongs and hardys!

The man was probably very happy to know you will put it to good use and bring it "back to life"!

Good for you my friend.

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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IN GOD WE TRUST

you know on the phone, the first thing the guy asked me was if I was an antique collector.  He really warmed up to me when I told him what I was using it for. One of these days I will drop him off a knife...

Scott that would be a wonderful gesture!  

This sounds kind of goofy but that anvil has found a great home!  And it will experience blade forging and damascus making with you.  
I have proper forging steel to use but really enjoy using old files and wrought Iron giving them an extended life and usefullness and using old equipment!

I'm sorry I diden't get the chance to attend the Haywood hammer-in and meet you, maybe we will in the future at an event!

Also would you email me with Info on your new source for 10xx steel?

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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IN GOD WE TRUST

Sweet price on that one.  Have fun pounding steel and wathcing it move.

Somebody just told me that a lot of the old smiths and farriers would test their work on their anvils and mark it up like that. Really cool...