Fourth of July anvil shoot.

[grampahol]

I'd have to assume it began with a very well used anvil since they're not extremely easy to dent without really working at it for a long time and untold blisters..
Someone probably thought it's a good idea to grind the inner portion of the top down,  but it kind of makes an anvil useless for its intended purpose..unless you're making sheet metal with that particular shape in the first place which may very well have been how it started..
As for myself I don't get that excited by explosions especially large metal items that tend to become kind of unpredictable whilst exploding. How'd you like a big chunk of cast iron fly up and land on you?  I probably wouldn't enjoy it a whole lot...possibly not even a tiny little bit.. I did see a coworker get a good portion of his leg removed by an exploding gas cylinder. It was not a particularly fun sight to behold..