Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it seems
that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit the anvil, and
repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a reason for this? Is
it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

Peter

In article et,
"Peter Grey" wrote:

Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it seems
that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit the anvil, and
repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a reason for this? Is
it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

Peter

A smith of that caliber oughta be fired.

Some do it just for a bit of show, also it's an easy way just to take a
one or two stroke rest of the hammer arm. You probably noticed, when
they hit the anvil, they just let the hammer drop lightly onto it. At
least I sincerely hope they do: Outright hitting a full-strength blow
directly onto the face is anvil abuse!

You may sometimes see some smiths set up a rhythm of strikes and anvil
rattling as well: It may help their concentration, it may help with the
rest I mentioned earlier, it may be just for fun, but no smith with any
experience will strike a full-force blow onto the face of his anvil
without hot iron in the way. Damn things are too expensive/valuable for
that. The result would show up at some point in every piece he made
thereafter on that anvil until the smith repaired it or learned to place
the workpiece somewhere else on the anvil face.

Two things will send a smith to Hell: One is hitting cold iron, the
other is not charging enough. A third is hitting the anvil face with the
hammer face.

--
Bring back, Oh bring back
Oh, bring back that old continuity.
Bring back, oh, bring back
Oh, bring back Clerk Maxwell to me.

Peter Grey wrote:
Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it seems
that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit the anvil, and
repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a reason for this? Is
it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

Peter

I'm going to guess that its a 'follow-through' thing.

The hammer is being swung down, with force, and its going to bounce
back down.

If it bounces back down on the work, it won't be as accurate a strike,
and maybe it will spoil the desired effect if only a light hit is
delivered.

Why not just use the bounce to reposition the hammer up for the next
swing?
I dunno. maybe the correct way to get a good hit is to aplly force all
the way down, and its difficult to stop applying force just as the
hammer bounces back.

Hopefully a blacksmith will post the real reason, and I'll see if my
WAG is even close.

Dave

"Peter Grey" wrote in message
nk.net...
Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it seems
that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit the anvil,
and repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a reason for this?
Is it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

When I use a countersink or letter/number stamps, I'll either lightly tap or
not quite hit the punch before the real strike. It seems to orient my hand
to the feel of the hammer. Eventually you get really sick of miss-hits
causing the inevitable punch-to-the-head or
punch-to-the-blackhole-under-the-bench.

And that's my.. WAG.

Regards,

Robin

I noticed my farrier gave the anvil a little double tap between blows long
ago when I was crazy enough to own a horse. He said it is just to give him
a little time to figure his next blow without breaking rhythm. I do it
now myself. Gives me time to see what the last blow did and what I need to
do on the next one. Can't do that if you are just whacking away.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Peter Grey" wrote in message
nk.net...
Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it seems
that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit the anvil,
and repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a reason for this?
Is it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

Peter

Peter Grey wrote:

Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it seems
that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit the anvil, and
repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a reason for this? Is
it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

Peter

As the saying goes, "It's a rhythm thing!"

When I first got a chance to play with hot metal, I noticed it and
asked about it, without really getting a good answer.

A few years late I noticed that I did it a lot. Once I got to the point
where I could get some real work done on a single heat, it allowed me to
work the metal, check it out and go back to working it without losing my
rhythm. It was not something that I did consciously.

You definitely don't smack the hammer onto the face of the anvil at a
working blow strength, or you get what you deserve, which is your own
hammer between the eyes hard. :-)

Three taps on the anvil calls in your strikers!

Cheers
Trevor Jones

On Thu, 18 May 2006 20:11:02 GMT, "Peter Grey" wrote:

Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it seems
that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit the anvil, and
repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a reason for this? Is
it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

Peter


Might be worth asking over in alt.crafts.blacksmithing to see what kind of
comments come from that direction.


Mark Rand
RTFM

Peter Grey wrote:
Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it
seems that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit
the anvil, and repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a
reason for this? Is it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

Peter

I saw this discussed on a TV show one time. I am having a hard time
remembering but I think it was basically just to get a rhythm going and to
keep from having to work so hard. By keeping the hammer bouncing it
requires less work.


"Peter Grey" wrote in message
nk.net...
Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it seems
that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit the anvil,
and repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a reason for this?
Is it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

Peter

Robin S. wrote:
"Peter Grey" wrote in message
nk.net...
Hi all,

Whenever I see someone shaping a hot piece of steel on an anvil, it
seems that often the smith will hit the piece of steel and then hit
the anvil, and repeat, setting up an "alternate stroke". Is there a
reason for this? Is it a rhythm thing? A metallurgical thing?

When I use a countersink or letter/number stamps, I'll either lightly
tap or not quite hit the punch before the real strike. It seems to
orient my hand to the feel of the hammer. Eventually you get really
sick of miss-hits causing the inevitable punch-to-the-head or
punch-to-the-blackhole-under-the-bench.

And that's my.. WAG.

Regards,

Robin

Robin;
There is a trick to getting a hammer blow in the right place.
Keep your eye nailed (pum intended) on the spot/thing to be hit all the
while visualizing where the hammer head is. Takes a little practice aand
mental training but it works.
Ken.
--
Volunteer your idle computer time for cancer research
http//www.grid.org/download/gold/download.htm
Return address courtesy of Spammotel http://www.spammotel.com/

In article
,
John Husvar wrote:

Two things will send a smith to Hell: One is hitting cold iron, the
other is not charging enough. A third is hitting the anvil face with the
hammer face.

one....
two....
thr..umm, uh, hmm. But you sai...nevermind. (:

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net

In article
,
"B.B." u wrote:

In article
,
John Husvar wrote:

Two things will send a smith to Hell: One is hitting cold iron, the
other is not charging enough. A third is hitting the anvil face with the
hammer face.

one....
two....
thr..umm, uh, hmm. But you sai...nevermind. (:

Dammit, Jim, I'm a blacksmith, not a mathematician!

That higher math stuff is De Debbil's work!

Ummmmm....one....two....a whole bunch....damn, I'm outta fingers and
toes.

The first sentence is actually an old saying about smithing. The second
is an add-on of my own.

--
Bring back, Oh bring back
Oh, bring back that old continuity.
Bring back, oh, bring back
Oh, bring back Clerk Maxwell to me.