Anvil: 77 or 110 Pounds?

PS - if anyone thinks I'm turning into one of those snarky posters:mad:, let me know and I'll start meditating more...:rolleyes::(:p
 
I'm not afraid of heavy manual labor. I'm just against it.

I don't think tapping a hot piece of metal with a hammer really compares to using post-hole diggers, or as doctors call them, "lumbar-disk-destruction diggers" on a three-foot-deep hole. Perhaps these tasks feel similar to you.

I'm not poor at all. I'm just cheap.
 
I have a block of 1018 steel I bought in a moment of dubious judgment. I'm thinking I could get a piece of tool steel plate for a few bucks, drill holes at the corners, harden it, and bolt it to the block. I don't see how I could weld it, because I assume welding would anneal it, but I would end up with over 4" by 12" of flat, hard steel to fool with while I think about real anvils. I would just have to avoid hammering over the bolt holes.
 
Yesterday I started assembling a Swag Offroad finger brake kit, and I had to beat on a couple of pressed-in parts to adjust them. My workbench is very heavy, but it bounced a lot. Is it okay to hold unheated mild steel parts down on an anvil and beat on them, or will it damage the anvil?
 
This week I had occasion to use my "anvil." I made a couple of bent-steel parts on the finger brake, and one came out wrong, so I had to straighten it to start over. I beat it on the block of 1018 with a blacksmith's hammer. I am very impressed with the hardness of this mild steel. The hammer bounced on it, and I couldn't find any marks when I was done. I guess this thing would work fine for forging, for a limited time. I was whacking hard, cold steel on it, and I didn't faze it.
 
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