what steel to use.

[troglodyte]

Hi Guys. As noted earlier I'm a very new newbie. Trying to get tools together. I need a anvil. I have a small one made from railroad rail But I need a larger one for heating and beating. After pricing some and getting my heart rate back to normal,I decided that a a rectangular piece of heavy barstock steel might suffice. Problem is,what steel to use. I would appreciate any info that you more experinced might have. Thanx Troglodyte.

[NJStricker]

Unless you want to beat on 1/4" thick stock, beat on round rod, or make large bowies, you can start out simply with a railroad rail. Yes, generally you want a flat impact surface and lots of mass under the hammer. But, if you are willing to forge out small knives you can use the railroad rail and with a few heats and a number of light taps, you can forge a blade.

I forged both of these on a railroad rail, with a hammer that's under 2 pounds. The lower one with the walnut handle has butchered 2 deer since I made it, and still doesn't need sharpening. They are both 1080 steel from Kelly Cupples, and started out as 1 inch by 1/8 inch bar. They both have handles that are about 4.5 inches with about a 4 inch blade.

[Doug Lester]

Look for a block of steel the weighs about 80-100 lbs. I found a block of steel that was about 8X7X4" that weighs about 87 lbs and it will out work the economy model 110 lb English pattern anvil by a wide margin and that block isn't even heat treated. I believe that I payed about $240 after shipping. I found it on Ebay and I did have to keep checking for a while. I believe the outfit was Shapiro Metal out of St. Louis. Granted, it doesn't have a horn or a hardy hole but those things can be dealt with by other means and still save a lot of money over a new English pattern anvil of around 150-200 lbs.

Doug

[Crex]

Hey, you use what you got or can get. My first "anvil" was a large chunk of granite (part of a broken headstone reject). Still have it and use it in some demos. Sure, I have several anvils now, but have used many different things for anvils as my learning curve progressed. RxR track works, just a little springy and loud.
Block of steel is a step up.