Essential Forging Tools Used in Traditional Blacksmithing

A working blacksmith's shop contains perhaps a dozen core tools, each with a specific role that cannot easily be substituted. The arrangement and condition of those tools determines what the smith can accomplish. What follows is an account of the primary hand tools used in traditional forging, with attention to the physical characteristics that make them effective.

The Anvil

The anvil is the central work surface of the forge. Traditional blacksmith's anvils in North America were typically of the London pattern — a squared body with a projecting horn (bick) at one end and a flat, hardened face at the top. The face is the primary striking surface; it must be harder than the work metal to resist deformation.

London-pattern anvils range in weight from around 75 kg for a light shop anvil to over 200 kg for heavy-duty industrial use. Heavier anvils absorb more of each hammer blow as useful deformation of the work rather than bouncing energy back into the hammer — a practical reason why larger anvils are preferred for extended forging sessions.

Hammers

The hand hammer is the smith's primary forming tool. Traditional blacksmithing uses several distinct hammer types, selected based on the operation being performed.

Cross-Peen Hammer

The most common forging hammer in European and Canadian tradition. The cross-peen — a wedge-shaped face set perpendicular to the handle — is used for spreading metal along its length, drawing it out in the direction of the blow. A 1.5 to 2 kg cross-peen is typical for general forging; heavier models (up to 3 kg) are used for heavy stock.

Straight-Peen Hammer

Similar to the cross-peen but with the wedge set parallel to the handle. Used for spreading metal across its width rather than lengthwise.

Rounding Hammer

Features a slightly convex face on both ends, one flat and one more domed. Preferred by many smiths for general stock work because the domed face reduces marking on the work surface.

Tongs

Tongs hold the work piece securely while it is hot, allowing the smith to position it on the anvil and rotate it between blows. They are made in several jaw configurations matched to common stock profiles:

Tong reins — the long handles — are typically 400–500 mm. A smith will often have a dozen or more pairs of tongs sized to the stock thicknesses they work most frequently.

Hardies and Bottom Tools

A hardie (also spelled hardy) is a chisel mounted point-up in the anvil's square hardy hole. The smith holds the hot workpiece over the hardie and strikes from above to cut through it without a second person holding a top chisel. Hardies come in several edge profiles — straight, curved, and offset — for different cutting operations.

Other bottom tools that fit the hardy hole include:

• Swage blocks: Cast iron or steel blocks with profiled grooves on the face and edges. Used to form round, half-round, and other cross-sections by hammering hot stock into the grooves.
• Bottom fullers: Rounded top surface used to neck down (reduce) a section of bar or to move metal into a localised area.
• Bottom swages: Grooved forms for shaping round or hexagonal profiles.

Punches and Drifts

Hot punches are driven through the work while it is at forging temperature, displacing rather than removing metal to create holes. Because the metal flows around the punch, punched holes are stronger than drilled ones in the finished piece.

A drift — a tapered rod of hardened steel — is driven through the punched hole while still hot to true up the shape and open the hole to the required diameter. Drifts are made in round, square, and oval profiles depending on the fastener or component they are sizing for.

The Forge and Bellows

The forge itself is the heat source. Traditional forges use either charcoal or coal in a fire pot, with air supplied by hand bellows or a mechanical blower. The fire pot has a central tuyere (air inlet) and a clinker breaker that allows ash and fused slag to be knocked out without extinguishing the fire.

Canadian prairie blacksmiths through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used coal when railway delivery was available, and charcoal or wood-fuelled forges when it was not. Heritage sites such as the Lacombe Blacksmith Shop in Alberta retain original forge equipment from this period.

Tool Maintenance

Hardies, punches, and other high-carbon steel tools must be hardened and tempered properly or they will mushroom and chip under use. A punch that is too hard will shatter; one that is too soft will deform and stick in the work. Traditional practice was to harden the working tip in a water quench and temper by watching the oxide colours travel down from the body: a straw to purple colour at the tip indicated the correct temper for a punch.