Can this be done???

[Judson Yaggy]

4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

I'm interested to see if others have different uses.

By far the most common usage is as a backer for punching and drifting.  Pick the hole that most closely matches your workpiece and go to town.  Especially useful if you have an oddly shaped hole , for example an axe eye is much closer to rectangular than square.  Also, holes that are significantly different than the ones in your anvil(s) will be better supported with the range of sizes in a swage block.  

[Cedar Crest Forge]

5 hours ago, George N. M. said:

 

OK, this is a beginner question from an old smith

 

The interesting thing about blacksmithing is there are always new techniques to learn, "beginner questions" to ask, no matter how long we have been at it. I've had the same question, but about the hex and triangle sized holes I see in the newer blocks,. I don't have much oblong triangle stock lying around to use in those.

I have used my industrial block (500+ lbs) holes to help bend stock. Mostly I use them as tables , or to store bar stock

Honestly, I have found the smaller blocks to be much more useful, as they can be moved around easier, and have bowl shapes etc.

I was told that bar stock was not uniform, back in the day. So the smith would run it through a swage block to get it to an exact size, for use in wagon/buggy making etc.

1 hour ago, Judson Yaggy said:

the most common usage is as a backer for punching and drifting

Good point! I mostly do knives, not hammers, so I have not used them for that.

[anvil]

For me, basically what Thomas said.

My primary use of these holes in the swage block is for doing the heavy hammer  work forging the tenon and upsetting the body on hardy tools. 

Then doing the final fitting/ shaping of the hardy tool in the hardy hole of the anvil its made for.

This solves the potential breaking of the heel problem on the anvil by doing the heavy hammering in the swage block.