Thin Is In

Because anvils are less noticeable it's easy to assume they will continue to perform well. But they do wear, resulting in difficulties, especially on challenging substrates. Fouts relates how one converter was always sending in dies for resharpening, even though Fouts told him the anvils were really the problem. When the customer finally ordered new anvils, he found he was spending far less money on die resharpening. The moral of the story is that if you harbor any doubts about your dies or anvils, have a technical rep from your supplier of choice inspect them and alert you to any weak points so they can be addressed before a difficult job goes on press.