repair a damaged anvil face

[jerseyMountain]

my buddy just gave me an old anvil to start my blacksmithing journey, I'm grateful, but the face is in rough shape. it's heavily mushroomed edges and some surface cracking on one side. I’m wondering if this is a DIY fix or if it's beyond saving

I don't have welding experience, but I’m comfortable using a grinder. is it possible to simply resurface the face with a flap disc, or do deep cracks require specialized welding (like the Gunther method) to be safe?
for you guys who have restored an old anvil before, what steps do you recommend for a beginner?

 

[hammertime]

A friend of mine once gave me a really old, beat-up anvil that had more scars than a battle-hardened Viking.
I concentrated on grinding down the edges and evening out the main face.
Initially, I left the deep cracks alone and kept my hammer away from them it ended up being totally usable for my beginner projects.

 

[crucibleking]

Not too long ago, I got my hands on a hand-me-down anvil that was pretty banged up it had more dents than a truck after a hailstorm. I started off with a flap disc to tackle the worst of the mushrooming, then slowly worked on smoothing the surface. Those cracks? Sure, some of them need welding, but as a beginner, there's a lot you can do without ever needing a torch.

 

[Sparksmith]

Found a pretty rough anvil that looked like it had been through the wringer.
I took my time grinding down the mushroomed edges to smooth out the surface. The deep cracks?
I didn't touch those right away, I just made sure to steer clear of them with my hammer until I figured things out.
It took patience, but that grinding really paid off.