anvil horn ''left or right''

[Frosty]

Maybe find an anvil with four horns so the compass is covered.

Frosty

[SGropp]

I am right handed, I use a double horn anvil and have the round horn to the right. The hardy hole is on the shoulder at that end.

I almost never use hardy tools in the anvil. I either put the tool in the vise or use the treadle hammer or flypress. Both of these have a 1" square hardy hole built in. This way I can use a top tool as well and can give a much more powerful controlled blow while I keep a good grip on the work. Even with a good fit between the shank of the hardy tool and the hardy hole in the anvil, I find that the resulting slop wastes a lot of energy and accuracy.

Almost any kind of fullering ,swaging, drawing, punching and cutting off operation gets done under the power hammer.

I actually try to use the anvil and hand hammer as little as possible. I'm 54 and do this work 40 hrs a week to run a business and support a family. I've got some more years to go [hopefully] and try to be as efficient as possible.

[SGropp]

I am right handed, I use a double horn anvil and have the round horn to the right. The hardy hole is on the shoulder at that end.

I almost never use hardy tools in the anvil. I either put the tool in the vise or use the treadle hammer or flypress. Both of these have a 1" square hardy hole built in. This way I can use a top tool as well and can give a much more powerful controlled blow while I keep a good grip on the work. Even with a good fit between the shank of the hardy tool and the hardy hole in the anvil, I find that the resulting slop wastes a lot of energy and accuracy.

Almost any kind of fullering ,swaging, drawing, punching and cutting off operation gets done under the power hammer.

I actually try to use the anvil and hand hammer as little as possible. I'm 54 and do this work 40 hrs a week to run a business and support a family. I've got some more years to go [hopefully] and try to be as efficient as possible.

[DClaville]

Hey Dan, Im pretty sure you dont mean the anvil horn buggered you

Im right handed, but usually have the horn to the right, (I mostly patternweld, and like to keep the flux shaker on the cutting shelf, by my right hand)

hmm i might have the wrong idea in what buggered means hmm like iratating me hehe
it might have to do with that way i work moving my arm around the anvil side to back end and the horn made that difficult

I use to have the flux cup(old open end bear can) on the anvil as well but after pushing it down and loosing all the flux 2 times i started using the other anvil for that


DC

[matt87]

hmm i might have the wrong idea in what buggered means

As usual it's a matter of local dialect making communication 'interesting'. In this case, 'buggered' means something quite... unsuitable for posting on a 'family friendly' forum. Wikipedia will help you.

[DClaville]

As usual it's a matter of local dialect making communication 'interesting'. In this case, 'buggered' means something quite... unsuitable for posting on a 'family friendly' forum. Wikipedia will help you.

okay Wiki says i can mean a few things some indeed not materiel for a family friendly placer like this but i meant it in the meaning of "displeasing"

:)

[Steve Sells]

OK good for a laugh, now lets not cover the non family oriented meanings of buggered anymore, its getting a bit.... off.....

[Glug]

I'm right handed, use three 'London pattern' Wilkinson anvils in my workshop: 56#, 112# and 256#.

Years ago when I first started blacksmithing I read "horn to the left for the righthanded" and so that is what did and what I've become used to.

[Bob JS]

Im just a beginner, but I have found one advantage of my small anvil is that I can move it around to suit different work.

For example I did some chain links this weekend. After doing all the forging, I moved my anvil so that I could bring the work out of the fire and onto the anvil in one swift movement to forge weld.

Im right handed, horn to the left. Just feels 'right' that way.

[David Einhorn]

I have tried both ways. I am right handed and point the anvil to the left, as that seems to work better for me. That way the horn is out of my way except when I need it.

Most of the anvils that I have seen in historic museum shops around here tend to be pointed to the smith's left. Here is a photograph of the Union Mills Homestead historic shop in Maryland with one anvil pointed in each direction. And most setups that I can remember tend to have the side of the anvil parallel to the historic forges at the various museum shops.

Whether the anvil is pointed towards the forge, seems to depend somewhat on where the smith is standing when working at the forge and where he/she ends up after taking one step forward. :D

Edited November 13, 2009 by UnicornForge

[CBrann]

Well now... I work outside.. and all my gear is portable.... I place my anvil upwind of my forge... and dependent what I am working on I place it right or left... But given a preference I put the horn to my left... a quarter turn from my forge.. so my forge ends up at my right side or left side .. depending on the wind... and since I am clumsy and I almost put the horn through my side one day it points away from my forge.... ( sometimes accidents just happen...I am a little sensitive ... I had to explain a big ding on my ribs to my wife... ) I tend to work on the heel portion of my anvil ... because of damage to the front corners near the horn...

[divermike]

right handed, left horned, with Bicks and spikes goin in all directions!!

[bodgerman]

I'm left handed, horn to the right. If it was to the left, I'd have no place to lay the hammer.

[ctp13]

Maybe there is no left or right ?

But after a very long time of anvil use and production someone in 186? asked for a Clip horn for farriers and the Makers decided it was right handed and should face to the left. Really hard to make a clip while facing it.

so I believe that since they were the makers and had been making and using anvils they should know which way they should face.

I'v tried using a left handed anvil and can't

But hey I could be wrong.

Chuck

[Avadon]

Horn always to my left. If I didn't have it oriented that way I'd probably rip a hole in space-time and banana pudding would come pouring out of my mouth.

[Frank Turley]

There are right ways, wrong ways, Army ways, and my way.

I started forging in 1963 using farriers' pattern Hay-Buddens. We had a traveling rig and would place the anvil length at right angles to the hearth front, a quarter turn to the right. We worked with the horn to the left, because we were right handed and used the horn a lot for shaping shoes. The left hand was already nearer the horn than the heel. As mentioned above, the clip horn was attached by the Hay-Budden company for this same method of working.

In 1964, I was shoeing horses and I started visiting old blacksmith shops wherever I could find them. I was curious. Lots of the shops had converted to welding shops or auto repair shops, but they still had an anvil, and infrequently, a forge. I found that about 1 out of 10 smiths had the horn to their right. Some worked with the anvil parallel with the hearth front. Some smiths used very long hammer hafts; some used short ones, especially farriers.

Some smiths, including me, leave the hardie in when making nails. This is not wrong; this is what you do when forging nails. There is something called a granite tool sharpeners' stake which is a slanted faced "anvil head," so to speak, which goes in the hardie hole and is wedged underneath through a shank slot. When used, a small, shop-made hardie is placed in the pritchel hole at the same time. The hardie stays in, because to remove the stake constantly for hardie cropping would be a time loser. This is not wrong; this is the way of working on granite tools.

In any event, as a relative youngster, when I visited the old time smiths, I didn't yell, "Hey, Old Man, your anvil horn is facing the wrong way, and your hammer handle is all wrong!" I simply observed and asked questions.

http://www.turleyforge.com

[Jack Evers]

OK, I'll be the real maverick (and farrier), my 280 pound shop anvil faces right, my 85 pound truck anvil faces left. The heel on the small anvil is so thin and light as to be nearly useless and I do most of my work on the horn end. The clip horn is also in the traditional place. The big one has a solid heel, no clip horn and straight sides. The easiest place to draw clips is off the heel so I set the heel to the left.

[gote]

This is kind of old thread but anyway...

I use a 250 pound Swedish anonymous anvil with a round conical horn to the right and a square to the left. The hardie hole is to the left and I always have it empty unless I am actually using it. I did not think about the safety issue so much as that I want the surface uncluttred so I can move tongs and piece freely. The hot cut is on a shelf less than a yard away. When I stand in front of the forge I can take one step back and turn 120° to the left and face the anvil.

Of the horns I usually use the round one. I am right handed and when I bend something over it that means that the anvil is to my left and front and clear out of my way. I can move easily to the best strinking position.

If I had the horn to my left I would have the anvil in front of me and because of the taper of the horn the stump would interfere with my feet. The anvil would be in my way and hinder my movements. When I use the square horn (which is not too often) I usually move far to the left or even around to the other side.

It seems that you guys usually have the London type and use the heel a lot. Am I right in assuming that it is rather "heel to the right" than "horn to the left" that is important?

I would appreciate your comments. Do you "left-horners" not feel that the anvil is in your way when you use the horn?

Cheers

Göte

PS

I never do horseshoes.

[Michael]

Just recently swapped my 103 lb PW on its stump so the horn is to the right. Another smith (a former farrier) showed me how you can leave the cut off hardy in the anvil while making nails, it does save time.

[Glenn]

Is the time saved worth a finger being lost?

 

General statement as anvils and work places vary.

[Michael]

With the heel facing away from me, the cut off in the hardy is out of the range of my hammer hand. I'm working over the face with the horn under my hammer hand. Had it the other way, horn to the left and was constantly concerned about moving the hot cut to avoid an injury.

[nankbrown1227]

I am right handed but I face my horn to the right of me, I actually stand with my right foot under the horn for most of my forging, this allows me to move from horn to sweet spot to draw out bar pretty quickly. But, that is not the reason I face my anvil that way, I face it that way because I prefer the hardy to be to my left when working at the anvil. So I guess that if I had an anvil with the hardy nearer the horn than the tail I would face my horn to the left!

[iron woodrow]

how does one lose a finger on a cut off hardy that is left in?

you would have to be swinging wild and all over the place to even come close to hitting your hand on the hardy!

and when you know it is there, you work around it. my hand, when holding the hammer is rarely over the anvil face, and rarer still is it over the hardy hole.... if it worries someone that much, surely painting it yellow would cover all workplace health and safety requirements..... :p

 

bottom line is- don't put beans in your ears.

 

my 250 arched window anvil has the hardy hole at the horn end, and my others are london pattern, so i work around all sides and directions.

[ausfire]

Maybe I have it all wrong but I like to work from the heel end of the anvil with the horn facing directly away.
On the Kohlswa, that gives easy close access to the hardy and pritchel holes and it's easy to work across the face of the anvil. It also gives my right foot ready access to the hold down stirrup.
And I like that horn facing away. Been 'gored' a few times.

[Eddie Mullins]

I am right handed and started out with the horn to the left as some of the old texts indicated was proper, but after a visit with Brian Brazeal switched to the right.