Anvil - video

[Frank S]

If the time in the large furnace was for heat treatment, as labeled on the video, what was the purpose of the bringing it to red hot in the table top kiln / forge?

Will a stick weld around the four outside sides of the anvil realistically yield a connection sufficient to hold together, over a long term, something designed to be pounded and hard? I was expecting some sort of forge welding, vertical strikes, after the kiln step to join together the facing surfaces for a more secure connection between the two halves.

The table top forge would have been to normalize the stresses of the welding.
I have my doubts about stick welding the 2 halves together in the small V groves on the 4 sides unless the metal had been brought up to 400°f prior to welding but a lot depends on the properties of the filler rods the amperage while welding and the silicon and carbon content of the steel being welded. Normalizing after welding before being put in a large oven was a good choice. But the shots of the large oven may have just been video filler content After all the table top oven was sufeincent enough to bring it to red hot the first time.