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[Hans Lemurson]

Are steel anvils at all superior to iron anvils?  My map has no flux stone, so should I just melt down all the steel anvils I liberated from the ambushed dwarven caravan to make weapons, or should I rebuild my magma forges with steel anvils in them?

[Khift]

They're more valuable. If this concerns you, use 'em. Otherwise melt 'em.

[Hans Lemurson]

They cost 3 times as much, yes, but do they have any functional advantage?

[Khift]

No, there's no functional advantage to any material with regards to anvils. People have had bone anvils made from strange moods and those worked just as well as iron and steel did.

[candylord]

I never understood peoples fixation with steel over Iron
I mean, isn't the only difference between steel and iron that 2 steel requires a flux stone AND an iron bar and a pig iron bar to make?
or is it simply, they don't have the flux?

[mipe9]

I never understood peoples fixation with steel over Iron
I mean, isn't the only difference between steel and iron that 2 steel requires a flux stone AND an iron bar and a pig iron bar to make?
or is it simply, they don't have the flux?

Steel is better in weapons/armours.

[candylord]

well, yeah I know its super special awesome in terms of weapon/armour/value,
but I mean, why bother melting down the steel anvil?
why not simply keep it a steel anvil, unless that one flux required to turn an iron anvil to a steel one is that valuable...

[Alambique]

Steel and Iron anvils work exactly the same, one has no special bonuses over the other. So, you will be ok using the iron ones for the forges, and melting the steel anvils for weapon/armor production. 

[Hans Lemurson]

well, yeah I know its super special awesome in terms of weapon/armour/value,
but I mean, why bother melting down the steel anvil?
why not simply keep it a steel anvil, unless that one flux required to turn an iron anvil to a steel one is that valuable...

If by "the flux is that valuable" you mean "my only source of flux is whatever is carried in by the dwarven supply caravan", then yeah it's pretty valuable.  Priceless in fact.  Iron on the other hand I have coming out of my ears.  A pretty strange medical condition I'll admit, but there you go.

[JoRo]

I think steel anvils are a vestigial remnant of the 2d versions, where I believe they were actually needed in order to build magma forges.

[Quietust]

I think steel anvils are a vestigial remnant of the 2d versions, where I believe they were actually needed in order to build magma forges.

Not true - in 23a, magma workshops needed steel bars (oddly, steel blocks wouldn't work) but magma forges worked fine with iron anvils. The only advantage of using steel was for higher value as trade goods in case you had a legendary metalsmith but not a legendary armorsmith (since platemail also had a base value of 100) - now that anvils have a base value of 10 (the same as normal furniture - statues are worth 25 and mechanisms 30), it's not really worth it.

[Hyndis]

Because steel is more dwarvenly. That is why.

[Lord Darkstar]

Hans Lemurson, melt the steel anvils down. You can always get more steel anvils from the next dwarf caravan. As long as you HAVE an iron anvil already, you are good to go.

And I've often had the same problem--- lots of iron, no flux anywhere. When you are there, steel anything (but usuable armor and weapons) is raw material for steel bars.