So i found 3 of the hex bars. They weren't as long as i thought but i grabbed one thats about 38 inches long and it has a 2 inch cross section.

Here is 5160 spark.

Hex bar spark.

Hex bar looks like mild steel to me.

Well to get back to the subject of anvil advice i also grabbed one of the solid bars that is 3 inches by 40 inches that im going to use for my small power hammer build. But i might use it as a post anvil for a bit first.

20 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

12L14 cuts like butter in a lathe.

Doesn't butter spray out of the chuck when you turn the lathe on? Oh wait! Silly me you freeze it first of course. What WAS I thinking? 

All the hex bar I've run across was medium C and the only problem hex turned out to be "Stress Proof." If you carry a little file when you're picking scrap you can get an idea of C content with a couple file strokes. Higher C content will cut with more difficulty and how it sounds can give you an idea if it's been hardened. NO, this isn't a terribly good test, sparking is much better but it's input and with practice it can help early screening salvage.

Frosty The Lucky.

Im hoping it is medium carbon. Something like 4140 would be great. I found a piece of stock in the pile with a company name which is Johnson's technology which is a well known manufacturer of turbine engine parts so im really hoping it is medium carbon steel. On the plus side i know quite a few people that work for them and maybe i can get some info out of them about what the hex stock is used for and maybe an alloy.

It's hard to tell from still pictures of spark testing. The more I look at it you may have HSS high speed steel there.

Slice a thin piece off, heat and quench. Test with file. This is what I do for mystery metals.

I plan on doing some more testing. I just need to make some more charcoal or just suck it up and buy propane. Its just too hot to make charcoal and its too hot to run a propane forge. Maybe i will just buy charcoal but its too expensive. I wish there was a local source of coal but the only place was tractor supply and they quit carrying it.

Have you ask farriers in your area where they get their fuel? Or the local blacksmithing group?

Have you tried to run your solid fuel on wood? Takes a deeper fire as you are converting wood to charcoal, and the charcoal to embers to heat the metal. Small pieces of wood 2x4x4 is a good size for the process.

Too hot to forge? You complain about the ambient temperature pre-heating the metal for you and saving you fuel? (grin)

And welding heat or even forging heat is the same temperature no matter what the fuel you are using. Hot is still Hot.

My solid fuel forge doesn'thave a very deep fire pot so i dont think wood will work very good. 

I try to use my solid fuel forge during the summer because i can drag it out on the apron of the shop and use it outside instead of a 2400°forge heating up the already hot shop.

I decided to buy some charcoal so i didnt have to make any.

It will work fine for wood. I use wood when I get low on coal, and my old forge is no deeper than yours. Just pile some up, and get the air going. You will have plenty of heat in no time.

Im going to have to give it a try.

You can also build up parallel walls across the width to either side of the tuyere to make it deeper.  Firebrick or adobe is what I usually use.

so the sledge hammer head on a post didnt last to long. the post split while i was forging. oops. sooooooo question for you steel experts here, would hot rolled A-36 steel be a good steel for a anvil? i can get a 3 inch round one foot or 2 foot long piece for a good price (one foot is 47 bucks and 2 feet is 85 not bad in my opinion) but ill pass on it if its not a decent metal to use as an anvil 

It's fair; but not great, a medium carbon steel would be preferable.  Note that I would pay US$17 for the 1'  chunk at my local scrapyard and $34 for the 2' long one.

could it be heat treated at all? cant find anything decent at my scrap yard. its mostly washing machines and thin sheet scrap couldent even find anything that looked decent to stick in the forge ended up buying some bar stock at lowes when i picked up a clearance grill for my new forge

Look for heavy equipment (bulldozers/backhoes etc) repair shops. This piece of a Caterpillar dozer cost me $35 U.S. and weighs 110 lbs.

do I just walk up to them and ask if they got any giant chunks of steel laying round?

Why not?  I'm lucky in that I can walk the piles looking; but even then I'll ask if they have anything special I should know about.

well I've never been above being a laughing stock I'll see if I can find any bulldozer repair shops

As one of my mentors in the fundraising business liked to say, NEVER SAY NO ON A DONOR'S BEHALF! Asking the question might get you a no, but not asking will never get you a yes!

1 hour ago, boattlebot said:

do I just walk up to them and ask

I would be a little more diplomatic, by taking a dozen doughnuts and talk with the shop foreman (bribery pays). Explain that I am interested in blacksmithing and wonder if they may have some take off's that I could buy to use as an anvil.

So your Sledge hammer anvil is no longer any good because the 4x4 post it was sitting on split?

How about grabbing a bigger chunk of wood and trying again?  I bet there is plenty of "free firewood" ads in CL.   Grab something 10"+ in diameter.  You wont split that unless you drive something shape into it.  The 3" pipe you drove into the 4x4 probably is the cause of the split.

Drill and chisel a hole in the wood for the sledge to sit down into snug, not wedged.

Or you can use more dimensional lumber.  Just build it bigger.  

 

at first I tried to drill and chisel a hole for the sledge head. the wood split. secound attempt I tried to use my hole saw and cut a hole in a smaller peice of wood that I would then nail to the top of the post. the wood split. so I did the exhuast pipe option. and then the wood split. wood hates me or something

Find short section of steel pipe (or approximation).  Take a hacksaw and cut 1-2" slots in one end making a bunch of tabs.  Heat tabs in forge and bend out 90 deg. Drill holes in tabs and bolt or nail to log. Drop sledge hammer head into top of pipe and wedge tight.

By approximation; I some times use  things that are not pipe but have a round cross section at a point/size that  I need one.