Niles

I have aligned the pieces vertically and it will be roughly 3 x 40mm wide pieces 6" long and 6" tall. with a 6"x12" face cut from the same material but with a pritchel and hardy hole over hanging the body and with a 16mm base plate for mounting. If i can, I'll simply make a bullhorn out of the leftovers. In total i have 3 plates 490mm by 350mm so I have a lot of leftovers and an oxy-ace tip and can cut up to 75mm thick so shaping the bull horn wont be an issue. total weight should be roughly 100lbs without the bull horn. I guess I should have specified, I'm primarily looking to make knives and swords and then getting into hammers and stuff. My forge is pretty good but large, almost 4' long with 6 burners so i can anneal and quench something the length of a sword easily. Still sorting out some issues with the burners but using one for working the steel perfectly fine. Do I need a hard face if I'm not doing and heavy hammering? I'm really just drawing out blades and maybe some tongs. Would mild steel be fine for that or does it need to be hardend? The face is ground down because there was a 1/4" of fire resistant paint on the plates and it stinks something fierce when you get any heat in it. That is the first leafspring I've started to draw out and shape but the plate on its own was so noisy that I needed earmuffs and ear plugs just to hammer away.

I'm a structural steel fabricator/welder who is currently beginning to dabble in blacksmithing. I did a one day course and have my own forge. I'm in New Zealand and getting steel is expensive and difficult. I decided to make an anvil out of some leftover 40mm (1" 5/8) plates. For the working surface, i was wondering if hardfacing with weld would work as a replacement for a reflexive steel like tool steel or spring steel? I do have some leftover 1" thick leaf springs i could use but i was hoping to save them for hammers. Any pointers would be appreciated.