OK, so first post! I have gained x20 4lb lump hammers which were going to be chucked because they are waaay too hard! Now I will be keeping a couple as Hammers and that's fine I can reset and bring to a more acceptable level of toughness.

However my anvil died after a valiant effort considering it was cast iron! Is it plausible to forge weld the heads into a larger chunk of steel?  I do not need anything fancy anvil wise but I do need something and waiting for a suitable chunk of steel or anvil is breaking me!  If you need mastersmith skills for this then suggest other uses because I'm a learner working my way through making the tools for my workshop(tongs,chisel etc) it was using hot tool steel on the cast iron anvil that broke it! Many thanks for looking

Take one of the 4 lb hammers, cut off the handle, and mount it end-up on the end of some kind of stand (wooden or otherwise). Use that until you can get something bigger.

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One of the reasons I suggest using forklift tines for anvils is that they are available worldwide and so a possibility when we have no clue where in the world you are at!

I will be using a 30lb sledge head for that till I can get something chunkier and yes I will read the info you suggested thanks for the reply

Oh sorry I am based in UK, I have scoured local junk yards for suitable chunks and nothing in steel of suitable thickness/mass. I have found anvils but only for silly money I will find something bigger eventually but hoped I could recycle what I had found! I am a sucker for mystery steel which I gather is a bit of a no-no but I have saved some lovely steel from being buried not recycled. The project before the chisel that broke the anvil was a knife made from 1" bunker rebar again saved from burial and it's a lovely workhorse.

Good shout though I have read info on forklift tines,backhoes etc and will grab anything of that nature if I find it and put it to work!

turn your too hard hammers into good cross/straight/diag piens, then sell the rest.  make sets of hammers and make Pounds Stirling too !

Thanks Steve that seems a good project and builds my tool collection (the only thing I have bought was my hammer). I am not bothered so much about making money as scratching my maker itch if eventually they work together so be it! Plus I have 5 sons who appear to have inherited the need to make things. I have them working up through copper and aluminium but they learn fast so more tools needed soon I think

reforging those lump hammers to "pretty" versions will give the kids experience and a tool they can hand down to their kids.

I don't have any sons but I do have 4 grandsons....so far....

fyi  there is no such thing as over hardened,  they just didnt temper it back as far as they or you wished.

I didn't feel it prudent to tell them the steel could be tempered, must of slipped my mind while staring intently at my new pile of tool steel....I am fairly sure they wouldnt have listened anyway as they were experts. Thankfully I know nothing and need not make such absolute judgements. 

 

I started to make post anvils from large hydraulic ram shafts that I got from a local hydraulic repair/ service place  i have a bit to do with and for a box of beer i got a piece 2000 long and 120mm dia out of the scrap bin it had a scratch in the chrome I just cut it in half and heated one end up to non magnetic and quenched in water to make a post anvil. It was chromed though so heat it outside or gring the chrome off where it will be heated as chrome makes toxic fumes if heated to that extent Cheers Beaver