SoleSoul

Thank you everyone for your help. I'm using the big round block as is (only with hot metal ) and it performs well. It doesn't dent and it has some 'ting' sound to it so I guess it returns some energy as desired. With experience I'll learn whether I should look into surface hardening it or not.

It's ~14Kg. It's not near me at the moment but I'll estimate it as ~15cm in diameter.

Thanks, but I'm not experienced enough to understand the implications of this. You mean to say that the blocks are low on carbon or medium? Is it called mild steel? Can it be hardened to some extent? Is it suitable for use as an anvil?

Hi all and thanks for the answers. I appreciate it. Thank you James. I wasn't sure it's a good steel since I tried to scratch it with a cheap folding knife and I could. I'll see if I have the means to harden it here. The rod is a surprise. I found it near a road I was walking by and since I could scratch it with a knife I thought it's iron. The knife test is probably bad. Every unhardened steel will be scratched. About the disc, I was planning on using it a the base of my first forge. I wanted to make sure I'm not wasting high carbon steel. I'll try the big block with hot steel. Haha, nicely said. I was hammering the rod from the video on the blocks, cold. I thought it's 'soft' iron so I thought I'd use it as a test to see if the blocks are hard enough, and they dented, hence they are not hard enough. Now I see that I was wrong. Thanks for the scolding I'll keep in mind the need to temper it afterwards, and I'll look into attaching another steel to the top. Thank you. If it's grey cast iron it means that it's suitable for the forge, right? good. I agree with you. When I'll by an anvil I'll look into a good one. For now I'm trying to grow with the tools I have since my knowledge is little. The standing up rectangular block idea is interesting. I haven't thought about that. I'll sure try it. Thanks! I was thinking the same about the brake and the holes will be used to let the air from the blower in. That's the plan, at least. I wasn't familiar with 'post anvils' and searching for it brings up blocks that look very much like the round piece I have. This is very interesting and I'll look into it. Thank you everyone. I'll go do some experiments and learning and try heating my first metal work. Wish me luck

Hi, I really want to start working with metal, the goal is bladesmithing, and I'm trying to get all the tools. Anvil is the next one. My uncle was kind enough to get two blocks of metal for me to use as an anvil, but they are soft. I know they are soft because I banged a metal bar with a hammer over them and blows left dents in the blocks. I'm trying to understand whether I can harden them and I'll have an anvil, or I can't. The only method I know of to answer this question apart from trying to heat treat them is doing a spark test. Heat treating will be troublesome here so I want to be sure that it has a chance of working before I do it. The tool I have for doing the test is a Dremel with a small cutoff wheel which is abrasive. Here is the video I took: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j38gc_i84Js I would be glad to hear what you think about all the four but I'm mostly interested in the square and circle blocks. What do you think? Can any of them be used as an anvil? Thanks! Edit: This allows watching the video frame by frame: http://rowvid.com/?v=j38gc_i84Js