Rob Gorrell Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 This is probably a pretty dumb question, but here goes. I recently took a weekend coopering class in which we made a piggen with steel bands. To get the correct taper in the bands we cold hammered the one edge to stretch the metal before bending the hoops into a circle and riveting. My question is does this damage an anvil? I have been doing mine on a small "beater" anvil I have to avoid using my better anvil. I do not have a cooper's bick iron yet for the purpose. I am using 1" wide strips of 16 guage steel. It seems like from what I read on here that this is going to ding up and anvil but it seems to be the way guys are doing it. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 depends on the anvil and how hard the anvil is and how much you miss....if the steel is between the anvil and the hammer it gets smooshed but if the hammer hits the face... it might leave a ding depends on how hard the hammer and anvil is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 My HB wouldn't notice it, my PW might depending on hammer control. Yours???? If you plan to do this a lot why not make your own cooper's anvil from a chunk of fork lift tine and not worry about it. Or you could make a stake anvil from a sledge head (see stake anvil thread) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric sprado Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 There is a discussion on here from just a week ago about stake anvils in the "ANVIL" section of all places. I posted a picture of a really old stake anvil. If you'd like more pictures I can send you some. Wow- that sounds like a REALLY interesting class!! You folks back East seem to have lots of classes in old skills! I'm envious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teenylittlemetalguy Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Sounds like a fun class, one thing I would point out is that "mild" mystery steel that we get today sometimes can harden. If you are beating on it a lot I would make sure it didn't harden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ten Hammers Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Hammering the edge of the stock on the near side or far side with half the hammer off the face of the anvil would be my choice. My choice of hammers would be my 3# ball pien. Assume the sheet is sheared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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