Hot take: a guy at the Asheville meetup said he only checks his anvil's rebound once a season, and it stuck with me
I always figured you had to test the ball bearing bounce every session, but he said he just does it when the ring changes or the face looks off in the right light. Cut my setup time way down and I haven't noticed any difference in how my hammer hits. Anyone else go by sound and feel more than a formal test?
Did you ever wonder if the formal bounce test is kind of overkill for most shops? A buddy of mine runs a small forge out in the hills and he did the ball bearing thing every single morning for like three years. Then one winter he got slammed with orders and just stopped, only checking when the hammer started feeling dead or the ring went flat. Two years later his anvil face is still fine and he swears his work never changed. He says the sound tells him more than a number ever did, like a dull thud means something is off way before the bounce gets bad. Now he only pulls out the bearing if the tone shifts or he sees a shiny spot in the light.