Thread: steel rounds as anvils..

Hey guys, I have a chance to buy these steel rounds. The one in the front left is 4140 and about 10" diameter.

Is the round shape practical?


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I think there are 2 more pieces of 4140, they have rust on them. The front right of the above pic and on the next pic from the back. The others are 420 and 410 SS.

That would not be my choice for a shape. Having a straight but rounded edge, like Charlie's post anvil, is very useful IMO. If you put that edge on the side of that 10" round you would not have much mass to hit against. Turned up on edge with a flattened face might be OK, but it just seems like the wrong shape to me.

Anvil shaped is a really good shape for an anvil.

I have been doing some research and it looks like I could get a 7" square out of the big 10" 4140 round. Now to find a shop that would cut that 3-4" thick round. Or just have 2 sides, 7" long cut and make the ends 4" with a curve in between.

Or cut the top a little squarish or rectangular and leave some of that nice mass at the base. The problem is that it all depends.

A shop selling rounds should have some squares lying about. Say 4-6 inches maybe ten inches long for a little weight.

You have a really talent for finding stuff Randy.

I think that would work fine.

I looked up the specs on the 420 & 410 stainless steels. They are not suitable for an anvil. The get to HRC 52 but soften rapidly at temps above 800 F. They are good for molds in the plastics industry and for cutlery & straight edges types of tools.

I think the 4140 would work well. They are large enough that the rounding is not an issue. Most of what I do is on the tandle and the corner of the plate. You'd need to add a hardy or 2 for hammering in notches or bending things.
I bet it rings a lot less than an anvil with horns.

I checked the specs of the 4140, the density is .28 lbs per cubic inch.
The number of cubic inch is......

Surface area = 10" x 10" = 100", 100" x .785 = 78.5" square inches

78.5" x 4" ( thickness) = 314 cubic inches

314 x .28 lbs per cubic inch = 87.92 lbs for the front 10" piece of labeled 4140

If I had that cut into a 7" square that would reduce it to ....

7" x 7" = 49 square inches
49 x 4" thickness = 196 cubic inches

196 x .28 lb per cubic inch = 55 lbs weight for the 7 x 7 x 4 block

Then if I stood it up on edge it would be 4' wide x 7" long and 7" high, then I could construct a post anvil from that ..................................... That would give me 4 surfaces to use ( eventually) as an anvil face plus the 2 side surfaces of 7 x 7

Just playing with ideas......

Is the 4140 Annealed? If not will be more difficult to cut.
J.M.H.O.