![]() one that I got for the size of the face and the length of the plate. Make sure whatever you are using to support your anvil will be able to safely handle the weight of it, including when you hit it. anvil in your forge, but do you really want to have to go pick up something that weighs that much and truck it home with you? Also, you will have to set your anvil on a block or other support to use it. It may look really cool to have a whopping 600lb. The most important factor after this is the weight of the anvil. That being said, it is sometimes easier to work with a larger face. This is fine – remember, you will only ever hit metal at one point at a time, and the anvil’s width doesn’t need to be greater than your widest piece of work. anvil will work for most people, even though the face may only be a few inches wide at its narrowest width. In forging, size really doesn’t matter unless you are going to use a large hammer, or need a lot of space to hold your work when using jigs. Use a hammer to lightly ping on the anvil’s face all over the plate and see if you hear any echoes or reverberations. Both are fine, but over the years, some face plates, particularly on anvils that were of less quality, tend to separate from the body of the anvil. Some were forged of a single piece of steel. Most anvils were drop forged using a piece of very hard tool steel that was wielded onto a solid steel body. Look to see that there are no gaps or repair marks between the face plate of the anvil, and the body of it. There will likely be some wear marks from use if you are looking at a used anvil, especially around the outside edges, but consider the areas that you will be placing your steel, and how large the undamaged area is when you want to pound steel over it, before you buy. You want a face that is as smooth as possible, and is also as flat and level as possible.ĭon’t look at an anvil with a face that is bowed or indented, and avoid any with obvious pitting or gouges in them. Just as play dough will imprint the face of a texture into it when you press it onto an object, so will your metal with whatever is on the anvil’s face plate. Remember, this is important because when you strike hot metal, it will imprint the face of the anvil on the other side. Look to see if there are any surface cuts, scratches, warps, etc, in the face of the anvil. The face of the anvil – the smooth top that you will be placing your steel onto – MUST be perfectly flat, and free of blemishes. What this measures is the quality and density of the anvil, so a good quality anvil will be very hard on the surface and dense enough to rebound a ball bearing by 9-10 inches and somewhat less for subsequent bounces. Let gravity tell you what the rebound is, don’t bounce it or throw it, just drop it. Drop the ball bearing from a certain height, 10 inches is easiest to measure in a percentage manner, and see how far back up the ball bearing bounces when you drop it under its own weight. Look for a small, ½” to 1” diameter ball bearing at your local hardware store and bring it along with a tape measure or ruler when you go to look at an anvil. Good anvils will have 90% or greater rebound in them. For example, an anvil that rebounds a ball bearing 5 inches when dropped from 10 inches has 50% rebound. ![]() This is usually measured in a percentage of the amount returned from a dropped ball bearing. For every blow you land with your hammer, the anvil will produce the same force on a flat surface on the other side, so one of the most essential things to look for in a good anvil, is rebound. ReboundĪn anvil is the counter-blow to your hammer strokes. Pin A Railroad Type Anvil is simply a cut section of railroad line. A ½” jig won’t fit into a 1” hole unless you have an adaptor, and they can sometimes get jammed into the holes as the adaptors can be a softer metal than the jig. If you are going to use jigs, be sure that your Hardie Hole and Pritchel Hole are large enough to fit your jigs, but don’t over size them either. Personally, I prefer a traditional anvil. It has a Hardie Hole (the square one) and a Pritchel Hole (the round one).įrench style anvils have two horns on each end, and some other European anvils have a step that juts out from the side at a right angle that is still connected to the face. The traditional designed anvil is a London-style anvil that looks like a small “T” and has a horn on one side, and a squared off table on the end. Just as cars have many different shapes and sizes, so do anvils, depending on what they are used for and where they came from. Any one that you feel comfortable with is fine. There are a number of different types of anvil designs to choose from. Choosing an anvil for your home forge: Anvil Type ![]()
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