Just realized I've been wrecking my anvils for years

Talked to an old timer at a guild meetup in Richmond last Saturday. He watched me work and said 'you're using the wrong hammer face for that steel.' Turns out I was using a slightly convex face on everything. Been doing that since 2018. Now I got three different hammers for different jobs and my anvil rings way cleaner. Anyone else have a basic habit they never questioned?

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.christopher2d ago

Start by buying a cheap second anvil to mark up with different hammer shapes for different metals. That old timer's advice sounds exactly like what a farrier told me about dressing my hammer faces for rail steel versus mild steel. Swapping to a flatter face on one hammer made my work cleaner and saved my shoulder from all that extra ringing.

webb.christopher2d ago

Man, that's exactly it. Got a beat up London pattern anvil at a farm sale for forty bucks years ago, turned it into a dedicated farrier station with different radiuses filed into the edges. Made a world of difference for things like drawing out leaf spring stock versus working on softer stuff.