The Anvil Is a Tool, Not a Table: Face, Horn, Step and Holes

The top surface is hardened steel, and it should stay flat and unmarked because every mark in it prints into every piece you forge afterwards. So never cut on the face with a chisel, never hit it directly with a hammer, and never hammer cold steel hard on it. A missed blow that lands on bare anvil does no harm; a chisel driven through hot steel into the face leaves a permanent notch. The EDGES matter too. A sharp edge is for making crisp shoulders, but it also creates a stress point that can crack the work — so most of an anvil's edges are deliberately radiused, with maybe one sharp section kept for when you need it.

The horn is a cone, so moving along it gives a continuously variable radius. Bend near the tip for a tight curve and near the base for a gentle one. It is also for drawing out over its curve, which moves metal faster than a flat face because the contact patch is smaller and the pressure higher — the same reason a fuller works. Work on the near side of the horn, not the top, for most bending. Laying the bar across the horn and striking down bends it; drawing it around the side gives control over where the curve starts, which is what makes a scroll even rather than lumpy.

The STEP — the flat shelf between the horn and the face — is usually soft, unhardened metal. That is deliberate: it is where you cut, so a chisel that goes right through damages a surface that does not matter. The HARDY HOLE is square and takes the shanks of bottom tools — the hot cut hardy, bending forks, swages, bottom fullers. Drop a tool in and the anvil becomes a different machine. The square shape stops the tool rotating under a blow. The PRITCHEL HOLE is round and smaller, and it exists so a punch can be driven right through the work without hitting the anvil face underneath. It is also handy for bending small scrolls. The punching rung uses both.

Set the face at about knuckle height when you stand relaxed with your arm hanging down. Too high and you cannot get over the work; too low and you bend your back all day. The same rule as setting a vice for filing. Mount it solidly on a heavy stand or a stump, bedded down so it cannot move. A loose anvil absorbs the blow instead of returning it, and you feel it immediately — the hammer dies on impact rather than bouncing. A well-mounted anvil rings loudly, which is a good sign and a hearing hazard. Chain or magnets damp the ring without affecting the rebound, and are worth fitting. An anvil that thuds dully instead of ringing is either badly mounted or cracked.