pointysharpthings

My thinking as well. I’ll have to do some more testing

First one is 250# PW. Second is 166# HB. The stand for the HB is a little too small for the larger anvil for me to be able to switch and test. Good idea though I might try getting a stump for the PW to try and do a rough equivalent test.

I got a second anvil that seems to allow me to move metal more easily than my main anvil. I plan to sell one of the two once I decide which is better. My question is, they are on different bases/stands. The second anvil is on a solid hardwood stump. The first is on a stand I made with 4x4s. Could the stand have a large effect on the effectiveness of the anvil, or is it kind of a moot point? The hardwood stand is more dense.

Its funny you mention Holland anvil because they're not far from me and they're my target price to be well below...I'm going to test the steel to get an idea on hardness and quality. So far, the cheapest I could produce an 18x18 block for would be $900 in theory which isn't bad considering itll be 300 lbs. The anvil idea is a fair point too, thank you. I've had the same thought but I'm not sure how I could cut anything without spending a lot of money on tools. I don't think I own anything capable of properly machining the sides. I have a buddy with a big horizontal bandsaw but arranging the steel in a way to cut V's would be crazy hard. I could jet just the holes for much less, and see if buyers want to machine their own edges but that seems unlikely. Thank you for the advise it was helpful.

Hello all, I recently got my hands on several huge 4.5" thick steel plates. My first thought was to cut them cut into swage blocks. After looking into the cost for water-jet cutting these, I'm not sure if its worth it. I planned to keep one and sell the rest to at least get myself a cheaper than market swage block. Its nearly impossible for me to tell the value of a swage block I've seen everything from a couple hundred bucks to a several thousand (yes, size and quality matters, but still not a clear trend). What do you these blocks would be valued at if they're 18"x18"x4.5" roughly 300 pounds unknown steel from the 1920-30s likely more robust than mild. Assume they'll look and feel high quality. Mid-west USA sales region. Appreciate any advise and i'll post my results and designs if I move forward with cutting these.