Reddit mentions of Anvil Brand 1-3/4 Lb. Rounding Hammer

You are right about it being mild steel, but it's not "just" mild steel, which is what I was sloppily saying. Sorry for the lack of clarity and I appreciate your point. This steel has roughly twice the yield strength of mild steel (50ksi vs 25ksi) and it is noticeably more resistant to the hammer.

Lots of my initial impressions of it were formed while the air temps were pretty cold, so my heats didn't last long, and it isn't as bad now, with temps in the 60-80F range, as it was in the 30-40F range. Not a surprise, really, but very interesting to experience those differences through hitting it. It's one thing to read something in a book and another to feel it.

My lightweight anvil definitely makes a difference. I was getting frustrated with this specific metal and started staging up to heavier hammers and was working for a while before I realized it felt like the anvil was bowing under my heavy hits. I don't think it was, it just felt like that, because I'd exceeded the hammer/anvil weight ratio and the efficiency of the energy return was dropping off as I hit it harder, which was functionally making it move less. I dropped hammer weights and the movement per hit went up.

The 900g Swedish pattern hammer is what I've been doing most of my smithing with, but I love my new little rounding hammer. It does make a noticeable difference in fullering and it's actually a touch lighter than the 900g (1.984 lb vs 1.75 lb) but I like the mass being close to the handle. [Here's](Anvil Brand 1-3/4 Lb. Rounding Hammer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012ECOOGC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_M2UezbR2P2G19) the rounding hammer I got. I might get a heavier rounding hammer once I try the new anvil. So excited!