Right now I'm interested in raising a deeper ridge in the piece so I'm going to set up an offset raising stake.  This stake will do the job and I want to explain how I made this very simple tool.  It's nothing more than a 1 1/2" square post to be held in the vise and welded to that is a 2" square offset which is substantial enough to add weight and resistance needed for the work it is to do. On the end of the offset I welded a 1/2" x 2" bar that I had ground to a radius and taper.  This particular raising stake will enable me to form a pronounced ridge on the next part of the operation to take place on the piece now being worked on.  This also has enough clearance so that I can insert a shape that is too rounded to fit over a standard upright stake.  When working close to the edge there may be a portion that will need to tuck underneath the arm to fit. I normally use mild steel for my stakes and don't have too much concern about the hardness of the metal.  In most cases it's sufficient to  do the work and if the edges do become deformed then it's a simple matter to regrind the shape without too much effort.  I can also reshape these stakes at will and not worry about retempering since they are untempered to begin with. There are times when one might need a hardened edge to work over but this isn't one of them.  My philosophy is to make what you need at the moment and not worry about some special need in the future.  This is why I don't spend an inordinate amount of time making up tooling for immediate uses.  It's much more important for me to get on with the work at hand and not worry about making a perfect tool which I may never need to begin with.  It's simply a matter of priorities.