Working at the anvil.

[ishoe]

Which way does your horn, bick, beak, point? Having spent most of the last 18 years at or near anvils and being instructed on their use by some pretty talented and skilled farriers and blacksmiths, I was taught that the horn points to the left (for right handed people). The reason I ask is because I have seen pictures and videoes of several apparently right handed people working at the anvil with the horn pointing to their right. I have found a rare occasion to work from the other side of my anvil on a certain bevel but 99.9999% of my work is done on what I consider the proper side of the anvil. How about the rest of you?
Troy

[ThomasPowers]

Depends on what I'm doing. If I'm predominately working on the horn I orient it so the horn is convenient. if on the hardy, I flip it around---or really I just have a number of different anvils in different orientations in my shop.

Why would someone think that there was only *1* way to do it? Shoot I've even flipped an anvil over and used the depression in the bottom before!

[CurlyGeorge]

Troy, I prefer to have the horn to my left, and yes I am right handed. I tried it both ways, when I first started forging. But having it to my left just seems more natural to me. Like Thomas said, I too have had special times when it was better on the right for a particular project. But most all of my forging is done horn to the left. :D

[thingmaker3]

The horn has to point NORTH. :lol:

[KST1-Derek Fultz]

For the first 3 years of my blacksmithing experience I had the horn pointing to the right (I'm right handed)believing it didn't matter either way. Recently I've turned it around so now the horn is pointing left. I did this because most of the demos and videos I've been watching have the demonstrator working with the horn to the left. Using the radiused edge of the anvil(off side) and the tight edge (near side) similar to the way the demonstrators are doing it helps me in the learning process.

I don't normally do things just because the majority do it that way, but this time it's beneficial to me. Just something to think about.

-Derek

[Marksnagel]

Right now my horn points to the right and I am right handed. I was never taught how the horn should point and I am used to it that way. If I need a different angle or side I merely go to that side. I haven't tried the horn to the left because I haven't found a need to. Regardless of what everyone else does, until I find that it is more beneficial one way or the other I won't change. But I am always open to improvement.

Gulliver's Travels = Blacksmiths Anvil orientation.

If your anvil is made in Japan and you spin it really really fast in a circle, will it become dis-oriented?

Mark<><

[Frosty]

Point it as you please. Folk who believe there's "only one right way" either don't have enough experience to have a valid opinion or don't have enough to do. Seriously, it's NOT something critical like which end of a rifle you put against your shoulder, orienting your anvil is a matter of what works best for you at the time.

The height of the face is a different matter though there is room for adjustment and personal preference. The #1 most important thing to remember is playing with fire and hitting things with hammers is FUN! Make it so.

Frosty the Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Right handers dressing their anvil left MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE NOTHING IN THE HARDY HOLE as your hammering hand will be coming down in that area sometimes while you're looking to the left! (good "lab technique" too.)

[Swamptroll]

Perhaps the question show be which side do you prefer the hardie hole on for convenience

[CurlyGeorge]

Left or right is truly what ever works for you. One of the reasons why I like the horn to the left is that when I am making chain links or rings, my tongs are in my left hand and it's just easier for me to move from the face to the horn if the horn is also on my left. :)

[FieryFurnace]

I'm a righty and my horn faces to the right!

I have two reasons!

When working on the horn bending a loop, you have a lot more visibility of your piece. When the horn faces left, the mass of the horn and he face is between you and your piece! Just the way I look at it.....literally!
When cutting on the hardy, you can go straight from the hardy and use the rest of the heat if needed, without worrying about "hot cutting" your finger!

My $.02!

[ishoe]

FF, I guess I can't understand what is impedeing your view of the material if you were turning a loop either with the horn facing left or right, unless you were hammering under the horn, then it wouldn't matter which way the horn was facing. Actually even put some brief thought into it. I reckon getting over the top of a unattended hardy with their hammer shaft probably deserves to lose a digit or two.
Troy

[K. Bryan Morgan]

An article I read from the FABA said that which way the anvil points depends on what your doing. If you doing ornimental work the horn should go right and if your doing tooling the horn should go left. Reason being where the hardy hole is. Not the horn. that was based on old pictures from the 18th and 19th centuries. Any way, my two kopeks. I would look the article up but I'm too lazy today. :P

[Anvilfolk]

When I was training we used to have the forge to our right, and the anvil in front. If you're doing bending, I can understand why one would say the horn should be to the left. We're holding the metal with the left hand anyway, so you don't have to get intro strange positions or shift yourself around much to use the horn. I also recall quickly moving to the other side or to the front of the anvil when I really needed unimpeded sight of the piece and the anvil face was in the way, but that wasn't often in my experience.

I'm sure there are situations where the same is true for the anvil table on the other side though, so having a moveable anvil stand is a plus :)

[macbruce]

I recon the only master smith you could get an absolute, definitive answer from has passed.....RIP, Francis Whitaker.
He was a righty and the horn was left.......I think I know what he would have said.

[ThomasPowers]

Well a lot of my historical pictures of working smiths they are using either double horned anvils or no horned anvils making the question rather moot.

I would not take what may have been a personal preference as a carved in stone rule! (remember the story about the lady who always cut a roast in two before cooking it because her mother had always done so? When someone asked why, she explained that her mother was a great cook and had always done it that way when she was growing up and so she did the same. The next time she met her mother she asked her about it and the reply was that when her daughter was little they lived in a small apartment and the small oven wouldn't fit a full sized roast and so she cut it in two...)


I tell folks that there is only ONE way to do stuff in smithing and that is "Any way that works for you!"

[Mainely,Bob]

I`m not real big on blind obedience or pat answers.I like to understand the theory behind why something is done the way it is.Then I try it that way and see if it fits my way of working.
If you come to understand why then you can make informed decisions to change something if need be.

Many times the best answer is to make the mounting of your tools as flexible as possible.If nothing else this flexibility allows you to make others more comfortable while working in your shop.

[Bad Creek Blacksmith]

I'm right handed and have the horn on the right side. The only reseason it puts less strain on my back not having to reach over the anvil to bend something, without cracking my knuckles on the anvil. I have also moved the anvil around to suit my needs.

[tlreif]

When I first started I had the horn to the right. I am right handed. But somewhere along the way I have switched. I dont know how or why but that is how i am doing things these days. But i do have to say that I can use it either way.

[peacock]

I think I may have missed something here. I just walk around my anvil
to use what ever part I need to my best advantage. It's sure easier
to walk around than to move 400 lbs of anvil and stand.

[viking-sword]

Well, for starters, I'm right handed, though as a blacksmith and knifemaker full time I'm finding myself using either hand more and more, even while forging. That being said, I position my anvil horn to the left because that seems to be the way this anvil was always used from the begining, and it's a really old Peter Wright. I believe this simply because of the condition this anvil was in when it came my way, and what I mean is that the face was severly radiused in certain sections on the far face edge( with the horn facing left) and it just makes sense that the previous users worked the far edge for most off the time as it would be much too awkward to use those radius's as a near edge position. I personally am more comfortable using the horn on my left because I don't like working the hot steel while it's held across my body to reach a horn thats on my hammer hand side, I just don't have as much control and manuverability that way. I wish I had the option of having a double horned anvil with a hardy to the left just behind the horn base as many of these newer anvils do, oh well, maybe someday!

[ThomasPowers]

Just depends on how your stand is constructed and how the anvil is set on it! Walking around to the other side of my anvil is a pretty long walk as it's mounted on a 8' length of bridge timbers, so having other anvils near it in different orientations is what works for me---but you are tempting me to make a "lazy susan" for my 410# trenton, it's my hot spare in case I ever have problems with the 515# Fisher---and will be the primary anvil in the armoury once the Fisher moves out to the forge extension.

[double_edge2]

one is pointing east, and the other is aimed south....they have to point the perpendicular axis of the equinox for the correct magnetic alignment....and best rust proofing properties taking advantage of the correct use of the polar magnetic resinance...thing...stuff!

there was another post like this....

.....a "blacksmith" came over and said i was a hobbyist cos my anvil was the wrong way round (he could tell by the orientation of the anvil)...he moved it to suit him....which was fine by me.....and i move it to suit me. sit it any way you please and feel comfortable with.

the only thing i could come up with as an argument, would be for beginners to have the horn point right...less likelyhood of removing fingers if a tool is left in the hardy by a right handed forgetfull, and the shoulder over the job for hammering thing.

i draw out on the horn, so it suits me to the right....or if im punching alot, ill put the holes closer to the forge (horn left).

[Maillemaker]

Wait a second....

Magnetic resonance?

I've heard a lot about how the anvils should be oriented geographically, to take advantage of the Earth's magnetic field.

To be honest, I think its a bunch of malarkey. If you forge above critical, then the Earth's magnetic field does jack, as does any magnet. Even if you cold forge, the field is too weak to noticeably affect the crystal structure. Hence, there really is no benefit, besides tradition.

(note: these are only my opinions, and as such, should be taken with a liberal serving of salt)

Anyway, I'm right-handed and my horn points left. Thankfully, I don't have any hardy tools to worry about separating my digits from my hand.

[ThomasPowers]

I know of *NO* tradition of orienting the anvil WRT the magnetic pole; but have heard of several urban legends about it; some obviously untrue as they reference a london pattern type anvil being used several centuries *before* that design was used...