A blacksmith working iron with a hammer and anvil

An anvil is a manufacturing tool, made of a hard and massive block of stone or metal used as a support for chiseling and hammering other objects, such as in forging iron and steel items. It can also be used to drop on someone's head. Look up anvil in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Download high resolution version (1600x1053, 177 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1600x1053, 177 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A modern hammer is directly descended from ancient hand tools A tool or device is a piece of equipment which typically provides a mechanical advantage in accomplishing a physical task, or provides an ability that is not naturally available to the user of a tool. ... This balancing rock, Steamboat Rock stands in Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs, CO The rocky side of a mountain creek near Orosí, Costa Rica. ... It has been suggested that Properties and uses of metals be merged into this article or section. ... Steel woodworking chisel. ... A claw hammer For other uses, see Hammer (disambiguation). ... This article is about smithing. ... General Name, symbol, number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ... The steel cable of a colliery winding tower. ...

History

Anvils have been used since early Bronze Age times by smiths of all kinds for metal work, although the tool was also used in much earlier epochs for stone and flint work. It has been suggested that Properties and uses of metals be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about the sedimentary rock. ...

There are many references to anvils in ancient Greek and Egyptian writing, including Homer's works. The anvil was perfected during the Middle Ages when iron working was commonplace. Homer (Greek: ) is the name given to the supposed unitary author of the early Greek poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... General Name, symbol, number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ...

Structure

A single-horn anvil

The primary workspace of the anvil is known as the face. It is hardened, in order to reduce the amount of force lost in each hammer blow. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

The horn of the anvil is a curved area used to form various round shapes, and is generally unhardened. ^[1]

The step or pad of the anvil is used for cutting, to prevent damaging the face by conducting such operations there.

The hardy hole is a square hole into which specialized forming and cutting tools are placed. The hardy refers to a square hole in an anvil and various tools that fit inside that hole. ...

The pritchel hole is a small utility hole that is present on some anvils. It can be used with special punches, or as a lever with which to break partially cut stock. ^[2] A pritchel is a type of punch used in forging, particularly in making nail holes in horseshoes. ...

Types of anvil

Anvil of a farrier

Small anvil

There are many designs for anvils, which are often tailored for a specific purpose or to meet the needs of a particular smith. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (3488 × 2616 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (3488 × 2616 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Amboß_klein. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Amboß_klein. ...

The common blacksmith's anvil is made of either forged or cast steel, tool steel, or wrought iron (cast iron anvils are generally shunned, as they are too brittle for repeated use, and do not return the energy of a hammer blow like steel). Historically, some anvils have been made with a smooth top working face of hardened steel welded to a cast iron body, though this manufacturing method is no longer in use. It has at one end a projecting conical bick (beak, horn) for use in hammering curved pieces of metal. Occasionally the other end is also provided with a bick, which is then partly rectangular in section. Most anvils made since the late 1700s also have a hardy hole and a pritchel hole where various tools, such as the anvil-cutter or hot chisel, can be inserted to be held by the anvil. Some anvils have several hardy and pritchel holes, to accommodate a wider variety of hardy tools and pritchels. An anvil may also have a softer pad for chisel work. A smith, or metalsmith, is a person involved in the shaping of metal objects. ... The term hardened steel is often used for a medium or high carbon steel that has been given the heat treatments of quenching followed by tempering. ... Events January 1 - Russia accepts Julian calendar. ... A Hardy hole is a square hole in an anvil, suitable for holding hardy tools in place. ... A pritchel is a type of punch used in manufacturing horseshoes. ... Hardy tools are metalworking tools, used in forging. ... A pritchel is a type of punch used in forging, particularly in making nail holes in horseshoes. ...

An anvil for a power hammer is usually supported on a massive anvil block, sometimes weighing over 800 tons for a 12-ton hammer, and this again rests on a strong foundation of timber and masonry or concrete. A trip hammer (alt. ... A foundation is a structure that transmits loads from a building or road to the underlying ground. ... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction or wood... Masonry in action; a Mason at work. ... This article is about the construction material. ...

Cheap anvils made from inferior steel which are unsuitable for serious use are derisively referred to as "ASOs", or "Anvil Shaped Objects".

Some modern anvils are made mostly from concrete. While the face is steel, the horn is not and can be easily damaged. These anvils can be hard to recognize because the gray paint used is the same shade as the steel face. They tend to weight about half as much as a comparable steel anvil. ^{[citation needed]}

Etymology

The word "anvil" derives from Anglo-Saxon anfilt or onfilti, either that on which something is "welded" or "folded," cf. German falzen, to fold, or connected with other Teutonic forms of the word, cf. German amboss, in which case the final syllable is from "beat,", and the meaning is "that on which something is beaten" and has likely influenced the English word "emboss"{fact}. Old English (also called Anglo-Penis[1], Englisc by its speakers) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ...

Anvils in art and entertainment

Television and film

A typical metalworker's anvil, with horn at one end and flat face at the other, is a standard prop for animated cartoon gags, as the epitome of a heavy and clumsy object that is perfect for dropping onto the villain of the story, a convention started and most often used in Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts (mainly Road Runner shorts) and later animated properties based on or influenced by them. An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn (or made with computers or type writers to look similar to something hand-drawn) film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot (even if it is a very short one). ... “Bad guy” redirects here. ... Warner Bros. ... Looney Tunes opening title Looney Tunes is a Warner Brothers animated cartoon series which ran in many movie theatres from 1930 to 1969. ... Merrie Melodies end title Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. ... Wile E. (Ethelbert) Coyote (also known simply as The Coyote) and the Road Runner are cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, created by Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Brothers. ...

Musical instruments

Anvils have been used as percussion instruments in several famous musical compositions, including: A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. ... // Music is an art form consisting of sound and silence expressed through time. ... Musical composition is: a piece of music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new piece of music // A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation or as a single acoustic event (a live performance or recorded track). ...

• Giuseppe Verdi: Il Trovatore featuring the famous Anvil Chorus
• Richard Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen in Das Rheingold in scene three using 18 anvils and Siegfried in act one, notably Siegfried's Forging Song (Nothung! Nothung! Neidliches Schwert!)
• Gustav Holst: Second Suite in F for Military Band, which includes a movement titled "Song of the Blacksmith".
• Aaron Copland: Symphony No. 3 (Copland)
• William Walton: Belshazzar's Feast (Walton)
• Juan María Solare: Veinticinco de agosto, 1983 and Un ángel de hielo y fuego
• Pieces by Jean-Baptiste Lully
• Howard Shore: The Lord of the Rings

Albert Parlow: Anvil Polka Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (either October 9 or 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. ... Il trovatore (The Troubadour) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvatore Cammarano, based on the play El Trobador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. ... The rousing and well-known Anvil Chorus (Coro di zingari or gypsy chorus) from Act 2, Scene 1 of Giuseppe Verdis Il Trovatore (The Troubador) (1853) depicts Spanish gypsies striking their anvils at dawn and singing the praises of hard work, good wine, and their gypsy women. ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or music dramas as they were later called). ... Der Ring des Nibelungen, commonly called in English by its translated title The Ring of the Nibelung, is a cycle of four epic music dramas. ... For the famous train, see Rheingold Express. ... Siegfried could refer to: The opera by Richard Wagner; see Siegfried (opera). ... Gustav Holst Gustav Holst (September 21, 1874, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire - May 25, 1934, London) [1] [2] was an English composer and was a music teacher for over 20 years. ... The Second Suite in F for Military Band (Op. ... Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. ... Aaron Coplands third and final symphony was written at the end of World War II. Its the essential American symphony that fuses his distinct Americana style of the ballets (Rodeo, etc. ... Sir William Turner Walton, OM (March 29, 1902–March 8, 1983) was a British composer whose style was influenced by the works of Stravinsky, Sibelius and jazz. ... Belshazzars Feast refers to an event described in the Book of Daniel, in which the Babylonian king Belshazzar profanes the sacred vessels of the enslaved Jews, and is miraculously slain, leading to their freedom. ... Juan María Solare (born August 11, 1966) is a composer and pianist. ... Veinticinco de agosto, 1983 (August the 25th, 1983) is a chamber opera by Juan Maria Solare, composed in (1992/1993). ... Jean-Baptiste de Lully, originally Giovanni Battista di Lulli (November 28, 1632 – March 22, 1687), was an Italian-born French composer, who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. ... Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is an Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy Award-winning Canadian composer, best known for composing the scores to The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and films of David Cronenberg. ... This article is about the novel. ...

The Beatles use an anvil in Maxwell's Silver Hammer of their Abbey Road album

Heraldry

The Norwegian municipality of Hol has three anvils in its coat-of-arms. Hol is a municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway, has 4,578 inhabitants as of January 1, 2002. ...

Notes

References

• Andrews, Jack (1994). New Edge of the Anvil. ISBN 1-879535-09-2. 
• Hrisoulas, Jim (1987). The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way to Perfection. Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press. ISBN 0-87364-430-1. 

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Anvil

• smith
• forging
• iron
• steel
• blacksmith
• silversmith

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... A smith, or metalsmith, is a person involved in the shaping of metal objects. ... This article is about smithing. ... General Name, symbol, number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ... The steel cable of a colliery winding tower. ... A blacksmith A blacksmith at work A blacksmith at work A blacksmiths fire Hot metal work from a blacksmith A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by forging the metal; i. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Metalworking:
Metalworking smiths: Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Turned chess pieces Metalworking is the craft and practice of working with metals to create structures or machine parts. ...	Smiths | Blacksmith | Coppersmith | Goldsmith | Gunsmith | Locksmith | Pewtersmith | Silversmith | Bladesmith | Tinsmith | Whitesmith A smith, or metalsmith, is a person involved in the shaping of metal objects. ... A blacksmith A blacksmith at work A blacksmith at work A blacksmiths fire Hot metal work from a blacksmith A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by forging the metal; i. ... A coppersmith is a person who works with copper and brass. ... A goldsmith creating a new ring A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with precious metals, usually to make jewelry. ... A gunsmith is a person who designs, builds, repairs or modifies firearms to blueprint and customer specifications, using hand tools and machine tools such as grinders and lathes. ... Locksmithing is the science and art of making and defeating locks. ... Pewter plate Pewter is a metal alloy, traditionally between 85 and 99 % tin, with the remainder consisting of 1-4 % copper, acting as a hardener, with the addition of lead for the lower grades of pewter and a bluish tint. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A whitesmith is a person who works with galvanized or tinned iron, or white iron. ... A whitesmith is a person who works with galvanized or tinned iron, or white iron. ...
Metalworking tools:	Anvil | Forge | Forging | Fuller | Hardy hole | Hardy tools | Pritchel | Slack tub | Steam hammer | Swage block | Trip hammer For finery forges (making iron), see finery forge. ... This article is about smithing. ... A fuller is a hand held form tool usually with a wooden handle, but often an air cooled wire handle. ... A Hardy hole is a square hole in an anvil, suitable for holding hardy tools in place. ... Hardy tools are metalworking tools, used in forging. ... A pritchel is a type of punch used in forging, particularly in making nail holes in horseshoes. ... A slack tub is usually a large container full of water, brine, or oil used by a blacksmith to quench hot metal. ... The steam hammer is a power-driven hammer used in forgings. ... Top view of a swage block showing various sized holes and sections Right side view of the above swage block A swage block is a large, heavy block of steel used in smithing, with various sized holes in its face and usually with forms on the sides. ... A triphammer is a massive power hammer, usually raised by a cam and then released to fall under the force of gravity. ...
Metalworking topics:   Turned chess pieces Metalworking is the craft and practice of working with metals to create structures or machine parts. ...	Casting | CNC | Cutting tools | Drilling and threading | Fabrication | Finishing | Grinding | Jewellery | Lathe (tool) | Machining | Machine tooling | Measuring | Metalworking | Hand tools | Metallurgy | Milling | Occupations | Press tools | Smithing | Terminology | Welding Casting may be used to create artistic sculptures Casting is a manufacturing process by which a molten material such as metal or plastic is introduced into a mold, allowed to solidify within the mold, and then ejected or broken out to make a fabricated part. ... A CNC Turning Center A CNC Milling Machine The abbreviation CNC stands for computer numerical control, and refers specifically to a computer controller that reads G-code instructions and drives the machine tool, a powered mechanical device typically used to fabricate metal components by the selective removal of metal. ... a Cutting Tool, in the context of Metalworking is any tool that is used to remove metal from the workpiece by means of shear deformation. ... Drilling is the process of using a drill bit in a drill to produce holes. ... A typical steel fabrication shop Fabrication, when used chas an industrial term, applies to the building of machines and structures by cutting, shaping and assembling components made from raw materials. ... Metalworking finishing is the activity of making things out of metal in a skillful manner. ... Rotating abrasive wheel on a bench grinder. ... Amber jewellery in the form of pendants Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal ornament, such as a necklace, ring, or bracelet, made from jewels, precious metals or other substance. ... Conventional metalworking lathe In woodturning, metalworking, metal spinning, and glassworking, a lathe is a machine tool which spins a block of material so that when abrasive, cutting, or deformation tools are applied to the block, it can be shaped to produce an object which has rotational symmetry about an axis... A lathe is a common tool used in machining. ... A machine tool is a powered mechanical device, typically used to fabricate metal components of machines by the selective removal of metal. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Turned chess pieces Metalworking is the craft and practice of working with metals to create structures or machine parts. ... Metalworking hand tools are hand tools that are used in the metalworking field. ... Georg Agricola, author of De re metallica, an important early book on metal extraction Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. ... Endmills for a milling machine. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Smith (metalwork). ... Power press with a fixed barrier guard A press, or a machine press is a tool used to work metal (typically steel) by changing its shape and internal structure. ... A smith, or metalsmith, is a person involved in the shaping of metal objects. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. ...