Anvils, Hammers, and Tongs

The anvil

Buying used: tap the face with a hammer - a good anvil rings and bounces the hammer back (drop a ball bearing: it should rebound most of the height). A dull thud suggests a crack, delamination, or a soft face. Chipped edges and some sway are workable; avoid welding repairs by amateurs and cast-iron “ASOs” (anvil-shaped objects) that dent.

Weight: 100-200 lb is a good working anvil; a heavy block of solid steel works too.

Setting up

• Height: face at about knuckle height with your arm hanging at your side.
• Stump or stand: a solid section of hardwood log, a steel stand, or a box filled with sand. The anvil must not walk or ring loudly; chain it down or nail strap around the feet, and silicone or magnets reduce ring.
• Arrangement: forge, anvil, and quench bucket in a tight triangle so steel loses little heat between them.

Hammers

• A cross-peen or rounding hammer of 2-2.5 lb (900-1,100 g) is the standard starting hammer. The peen spreads metal in one direction; the face draws and flattens.
• Hold it near the end of the handle with a relaxed grip; let the hammer drop and rebound, swinging from the elbow and shoulder rather than the wrist.
• Accuracy beats force. Hit flat; a tilted face leaves marks.
• Dress the face: slightly crowned with rounded edges, polished, so it doesn’t leave sharp dents.

Tongs

Tongs must fit the stock: jaws gripping along their length, not just at the tip ¹.

Heat the jaws and reshape them around the stock to fit. A ring or “rein clip” slid over the handles locks the grip. Many smiths forge their own tongs as an early project.

Short work is often held without tongs by forging on the end of a longer bar and cutting off later.

Everything else

• Leg vise (post vise) mounted solidly to a bench and the floor: takes hammering.
• Hardy tools: hot cut, bending fork, fullers and swages.
• Punches and drifts (next module).
• Quench bucket of water for cooling tongs and tools.
• Safety gear: safety glasses always, hearing protection, leather apron, and cotton or wool clothing - synthetics melt.

What to take from this

Learn the anvil’s face, edges, horn, step, hardy hole, and pritchel hole; test a used anvil for ring and rebound and set it at knuckle height on a solid stump. Start with a 2-2.5 lb cross-peen hammer swung from the shoulder, accurate rather than hard. Fit tongs to the stock so work never slips, and wear glasses, hearing protection, and natural fibers.