Anvils, Hammers & Tongs: Outfitting a First Forging Setup

Nobody ever quit knifemaking because their anvil was too small — plenty quit because they spent the whole budget on a 250-pound showpiece and had nothing left for steel. Blade forging is small-stock work: what you need under the hammer is a solid mass of hardened steel, and there are more ways to get one than the anvil catalogs suggest.

Anvil Anatomy (and What Actually Matters)

• Aface - the flat working surface; hardness and rebound live here
• Bstep - soft shelf for cutting on
• Chardy hole (square) - holds tooling
• Dpritchel hole (round) - for punching
• Ehorn - for curves and bends
• Fstand: stump, steel tripod, or timber box - solid and dead quiet beats pretty

For knife work: 75-150 lb is the sweet spot, but any solid STEEL mass works - rail track on end, a forklift tine, a sledgehammer head in a stump. Avoid cast-iron "anvil shaped objects" - dead rebound, dented faces.

Values marked on the figure: ball bearing from ~10″; half the drop height; lively bounce / dead rebound; dented faces.

Anvils: What Actually Matters

• Steel face, period. A real anvil is cast or forged steel with a hardened face that returns hammer energy to the work (“rebound”). The cheap cast-iron “anvil-shaped objects” at import tool stores are dead under the hammer and dent like cheese — the one purchase to actively avoid. Quick test on any used anvil: drop a small ball bearing on the face from ~10″; lively bounce (say, over half the drop height) means a live face.
• Weight: 75–150 lb is the classic sweet spot, but blades don’t demand it — plenty of working knife smiths run smaller. Mass resists moving under blows; mounting solidly (see below) multiplies what mass you have.
• The legit alternatives: a length of railroad track stood on end (small face, deep mass under it — much better than laying it flat), a scrapyard forklift tine, or a 16–20 lb sledgehammer head set in a stump. All hardened steel, all serve until (and honestly, past when) a real anvil appears. Watch estate sales and farm auctions for the real thing at non-collector prices.

  

• Mount it dead solid: a stump, timber box, or steel tripod, anchored so nothing walks. A well-mounted anvil sounds quieter and hits harder — ringing is energy leaving your work.

Hammers: Control Beats Weight

Start with 2 to 2.5 pounds — a cross peen or rounding hammer is the bladesmith default. Heavier moves more steel per blow and exhausts your accuracy by blow forty; blade forging is a precision game, and an accurate 2-pounder out-forges a wild 4-pounder every session. Two details worth doing early: dress the face (ease the sharp factory edges, aim for a gentle crown — sharp hammer edges print half-moon dents you’ll grind out later), and pick a handle that lets your grip stay relaxed. One good hammer is enough for years.

Tongs: The Most Underrated Purchase

Bad tongs are how hot steel ends up on the floor (or your boots). The rule: tongs must fit the stock — jaws that close fully and grip flat bar along its faces, not just at two points. For knife work from flat bar, wolf-jaw or flat/bolt-jaw tongs in a size matching your steel (usually 1″–1.5″ bar) cover almost everything; a second pair arrives when your stock size does. Until the tongs show up: buy steel long and hold the cold end — the classic first-knife move, and honestly a good one.

The Rest of the Kit

• Magnet on a stick — your heat-treating thermometer (why)
• Quench container + proper oil — see the quench oil guide
• A post vise or sturdy bench vise — for filing, straightening, and (later) twisting damascus
• Safety kit: ANSI glasses always, natural-fiber clothing, hearing protection, and leather boots that hot scale can’t fall into

  

Add the forge from the first-forge guide and a few bars of 1084, and you’re forging. Full startup math across both paths of the craft lives in the cost guide.

Sources

• Red Label Abrasives — choosing a knifemaking anvil
• BladeForums — anvil weight discussions
• Forging World — anvil size for knife making