The usual way to check a secondhand anvil is to tap it and listen for a ring. The maker went a far more direct route: a blue cast iron Harbor Freight anvil, marked 55 LB, was secured in an industrial CNC abrasive waterjet machine and sliced straight through its center at 60,000 PSI, all to answer what is inside one.
The cut itself ran 39 minutes 54 seconds, and the two halves were separated on a wooden table. Before any of that, the anvil was dropped off a stepladder onto targets set on gravel: a big pumpkin, a watermelon sitting on a stone slab, a carton of eggs and a two-liter Coca-Cola bottle, filmed at full speed and again in high-speed slow motion. Afterwards, small chips turned up along the edge of the top strike face, and the label says to discard the anvil if it chips.
The detail that stands out is a yellowish patch of Bondo filler beneath the paint near an upper edge. Digging the hardened filler free with a hand chisel exposed a casting void, and slicing the anvil open showed just how deep that hidden void inside the cast metal goes.
The open question is what an anvil like this is actually good for. Light uses have been suggested, including copper work, sheet metal, rivet setting and backing up cold chisel cuts, but the maker answered that, going by the reviews, even those might be asking too much of it. Filling cast commodity items may be common practice, yet on an anvil it seems a poor idea.
Project by Waterjet Channel - Daniel Adair. Watch it on their YouTube channel: