Find a 1 inch or bigger hard steel bearing and drop it from 6 or so feet onto your proposed anvil. The best way I know to check an anvil, to determine if the hard steel plate has been finished off the top or to make sure it's not a Russian or Chinese ASO (Anvil Shaped Object) is to drop a ball bearing on it. You are ideally looking for hardened and tempered, 4130 or better. It needs to be as hard as possible without cracking, and as rigid as possible but still have rebound.

It seems like if it's steel, it would be a better anvil then the older cast ones, such as the Peter Wright anvils, etc.Īn anvil really is a devilish thing to make for yourself if you want to get any heavy use out of it. I was thinking I might try to find someone who could induction harden the surface, but I'm not really sure if I would need to harden it or if I could get by just using it as is. However, I'm not sure if my torch will be able to heat up something which would probably weigh about 150 lbs. I was thinking about using my welding torch and some propane to heat up the surface, then dump it into a large bucket of water. I'm also considering attempting to harden / temper the surface. What type of steel would be best to use? They also have some pretty nice 316 stainless, but I'm not sure if SS would be better or worse - as far as banging on it with hammers, etc. I'm looking into getting either a round section (about 8 to 10 inches in diameter) that is 7 to 10 inches in length, or maybe some plate steel that is 5' thick (10'x10'). The yard I am talking to has good prices on steel.

I also see that there is an S grade tool steel, which is shock resistant, but I really don't know much about metals.

What's the best type of steel for something like an anvil? Would A-2 tool steel be suitable? I read that a lower carbon content would be better (A-8?). The second is to just buy a large block of steel from a scrap yard and anchor it down to a stump or something. The first is to buy a Pedding-Haus forged steel anvil. Something which I can use for forging metal, etc. I'm thinking about adding an anvil to my garage.

Best small anvil