I'm going to make my own anvil. I've got a bar of 1-foot diameter 1144 chopped up into decent-sized pieces, and some other high-carbon steel in similar sized pieces. My dad already made an anvil out of one of the 1144 pieces, but that design is kind of weird and it's currently someplace where I'm not. It works pretty well, for what it's worth.
So, here's the deal. I can toss the 1144 or HC into a 4-axis horizontal machining center to make nearly any shape I want. (Alternatively, I can weld a piece of HC onto a base of mild steel, etc.) Is there anything I should specifically add, or any feature on an anvil you'd love to have that most anvils don't have? My current plan is to make a normal-shaped anvil plus a hardy hole, because I don't know much about anvil design.
Also, is there a shape that will reduce the amount of noise caused by hitting the anvil? I can't cast my own metal, unfortunately; only machine it.
Thanks.