First time forging question

marekz

marekz

Joined
Jun 16, 2008
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Hello all, Ive been doing stock removal for a few years now and the time has come for me to begin forging. I have a peddinghause 3ld hammer. I wanted to get a feel for using the hammer before i even began to forge. I hit my anvil a few time and noticed the hammer blows making dents on the anvil face..Is that normal? I dont think so....but?!!I went ahead and hammered a piece of railroad steel ( which ive heard some folks use) and there are dents in that as well. I dont want to mess up my anvil, so if this is not normal, what advise or suggestion can anyone give me. Thanks yall- Mark
 
From my reading on anvils and hammers, your hammer might be as hard as your anvil. You need to put something soft between the hammer and the anvil, like a hot piece of steel. I don't think anvils were designed to be hit directly with the hammer.
 
Your anvil sounds like softie. In my experience an anvil with a properly hardened top will rebound a hammer, with no noticeable mark to the face. What kind of anvil is it?

Also, you shouldn't really be hitting your anvil with the hammer much. As Bo says, you want soft hot steel in between them.

If by railroad steel you mean rail, some of it is softer than others. If it's high carbon rail, and if it's been work hardened from many trains, it should rebound pretty well- but rail in general could be soft enough for a hammer to mark, too.

If you must get a feel for your hammer, just use some cheap or free mild steel for practice. Doesn't matter if you screw that up, and it will more closely approximate actually forging a blade.
 
DO NOT STRIKE THE ANVIL ON PURPOSE WITH YOUR HAMMER. Now tapping is one thing but the anvil is not meant to be hammered on directly. Even on great anvils a direct hammer strike will dent it. I got kicked of an anvil once for missing and dinging the face. It was a 560lb Hay-Budden and the smith was not happy at all with me. If you are just practicing and not using any heat some you can use a piece of wood just to get the feel of the hammer. I use a 2x4 with my power hammer to teach newbies how to use it.

What kind of anvil do you have??
 
I must add, you should not really do much cold forging steel on your anvil either. Some minor straightening or the like is ok. Now cold forging copper is ok as it will give under the strike of the hammer.
 
I think most good anvils are about a Rockwell 50 and some hammers may be a bit harder.

I agree with Chuck, don't strike the anvil directly,... especially with a sharp heavy blow.
 
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