One of the most important aspects of smithing is the use of tools and understanding how various tools can be used. There is much more to the craft than just a hammer, forge and anvil. And knowing the different tools and how to use them will significantly increase your skill and reduce the amount of time it takes to forge objects.

As a good example of this you might think about how you would go about forging and hammering a simple hook in the shape of an "S".

This picture shows two pieces of metal in the form of an S. The one on the right is store bought and the one on the left I created in the forge. How would you go about making this shape? Well, you can do it by heating and carefully hammering and you also can get this shape by hammering against the horn of the anvil. But a much better way would be to use a Hardie tool. With a hardie tool it becomes much easier and much faster. And if you are making a lot of these shapes (Like I did) you can get them all to be very regular in size and shape.

If you haven't yet read my look at the anvil page here is a quick explanation of the hardie hole on the anvil. But here is a quick look:

The hardie hole is a square hole in the anvil that you can place tools and jigs into.

This picture shows the Hardie tool called a bending fork. This makes it real easy and real fast to form the curves and the S Shape. Watch the video below to get a look at this technique in action.

I have more information about Hardie tools right here including a look at a cutoff and a swage.

Let's continue on to the next lesson and take a look at the eight basic hammer blows that a blacksmith uses

Blacksmithing Coal - 25lbs of high BTU Stove Coal. 1.5" to 2.5" nugget size. Coal can be used in model railroading, stoves, forges and foundrys as well as landscaping. Comes shipped in a 12"x12"x6" box.

Wolf's Jaw Tongs (12") - Compact 300mm wolf-jaw tongs are great for a variety of small stock, up to 1/2" round or square. Picard has been producing blacksmith tools with German precision for over 150 years.

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