Well, you seem to forget the most important thing in a blacksmith shop: the furnace. Getting the steel to the right temperature is the key for making blades. And don't even think of using a welding torch or so for that, that won't work properly.
You can make a furnace yourself, I'm sure there are some how-to videos about that too. But you do need a chimney and a big enough room - because that thing gets really hot. Or set it up outside, if the weather is good enough in your place.
To the anvil... 20kg is really not much, real anvils usually have 250 to 350 kg. And they cost about 1500 bucks new. The thing is, the top surface needs to be really hard. A rail track is usually only hardened on the running surface, not all of it. It would crack if its too hard.
And if a anvil is not hard enough, it gets dented easily by the hammer, and all the dents you later see on the blades.
Btw., a good material for blades are old files. Or barrels of cannons. But they are somewhat hard to find... Leaf springs from trucks are also not bad and easier to work with.
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Thanks :-)
I haven't forgotten about the furnace, it is mentioned in the article as a "forge". I already have the high temperature refractory bag, just need some time to build it. I just need to decide if I want a coal forge or a propane forge. I might build one large coal/coke forge and a small gas one just for heat treatment indoor.
As for the anvil, I don't totally agree with you. the 250+ kg anvils you buy for professional works are great for sure, but most of the time, blacksmith will have a preferred area on that anvil and the resulting mass (column right under the hammer) will be smaller. A 20 kg railroad track set vertically will behave like a 40 / 60 kg anvil which is enough for me as I'm not planning to go professional. There are many anvil that are made of mild steel, even mild steel is harder than high carbon steel brought to forging temperatures. All I need is practice my hammer swing and not hit the rail track, if I do then no problem, I can easily resurface it with the angle grinder. There is another option I'm considering is to use the rail track vertically just for hammering the steel to shape it but use a different steel plate for the straightening the blades.
I do have several old files and coal chisels I will be use for the blades.
Well, I guess a coal furnace is the real deal, to get the right temperatures but also to get some carbon into the iron.
To the anvil... if its to small its really hard to work with. And you will need a tree stump in any case - even the pro anvils are put on a stump, simply because they are too low without one. You have to be able to stand upright when you hammer, or your back will kill you soon.
Talking about killing you - do you have neighbours living near by? :)