Butcher Hardy

[bigfootnampa]

I would like to relate this thread to the "Make A Hot Cut Hardy" thread below as these two tools are very similarly made. It does seem to me though that a butcher hardy ought to usually have a pretty straight across edge as I might often want to use it to butcher tenons and the like. I don't currently have a butcher hardy and have used my anvil corners to do this job, but it seems to me that I could do cleaner quicker work with a proper butcher hardy and so it is on my list of things to make. Besides tenon work I have other uses in mind... like when I make a Christopher cross pendant I like to turn an eye with the excess metal on the top leg... if this is not butchered cleanly you'll get undesirable rounding of the top of the cross. In my imagination, the butcher hardy makes this transition easy to do. I am interested in any details that any of you might want to share about the nuances of design and methods of forging such a tool. I have developed a few items that I create which are of extremely high quality levels and my aim is to expand my repertoire at that level and maybe have some fun and learn a few NEW tricks along the way. This is my way of saying that I am NOT looking for a "it'll get you by... till" type solution. I want a quality tool that I can use to do UPGRADED work.

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

I make a side hardy, is that what you mean? Plumb on one side, all the bevel on the other. Blacksmiths Depot has a picture of it.

I can't seem to upload any pictures.

[HWooldridge]

A butcher has a generous edge break so no cold shuts are produced while forging - a 1/8" radius is probably minimum - more would not hurt. Most are shown with a 45 degree angle on the tenon side. A straight edge is OK but I have also seen the edge made concave so the corners of the forging are slightly rounded (I hope that explanation makes sense).

A hardy can be sharp or have a small radius but it would probably cause a cold shut if used as a butcher. The two are separate tools.

Otto Schmirler's book "Werk und Werkzeug des Kundschmiedes" has some good pics.

[bigfootnampa]

I make a side hardy, is that what you mean? Plumb on one side, all the bevel on the other.

Grant, as Mike Aspery has described in old posts, he uses a slightly dulled corner for butchering. The bevel side is also fairly blunt and a bit longer than you'd typically use on a hardy... the idea apparently being to create enough space to separate the butchered out part... 3/16 inch or so so that the shoulder is not squeezing back into the main mass as you forge it out (also leaves a bit of room for a peen to reach in if needed).

A straight edge is OK but I have also seen the edge made concave so the corners of the forging are slightly rounded (I hope that explanation makes sense).

That does make sense to me. I can see how that might work. I don't know if I can find Otto's book but I will check online for it, thank you both for your input.

Another thought on the concave design... I can see that being VERY useful if you were butchering out round tenons.