Roy Bloom, AAPF CJF recently put together a number of tool tips with video and still shots that will be added to the FPD Field Guide. This work is a continuation of our effort to produce and post useful how to info for the farrier market. Roy is the owner of Bloom Forge, a company that produces a full line of forging tools for the farrier industry. Keep checking from time to time for the info that he put together as well as numerous other shoeing and other pieces of information to help in your daily business.
This anvil has not been modified and all edges are relatively sharp.
One of the quick tip clips shows how Roy likes to see the anvil face modified to help with forging steps such as clipping and shaping. In the upcoming piece, he walks through the steps in modifying the sharp edges of the new anvil face to create working areas for shaping and modifying shoes. A simple process that requires an angle grinder with a 4-1/2 inch high density flap wheel and a flat, mill bastard file such as the Bellota 6″ or 8″ file.
1/4″ radius approximately 2″ long on both sides of the heels. This was done with the angle grinder.
Horn end of anvil face. Notice slight radius blended into the bigger radius.
Roy likes to see a good 1/4″ radius (approx. 2″ long) on both sides of the heel of the anvil with about a 1/16th” radius (started with grinder and finished with Bellota 8″ flat file) on the both sides of the anvil, ending up with another 2″ long, 1/4″ radius on the opposite side of where he stands at the horn end of the face. These help avoid cold shuts and other marking of the piece you are forging that can occur when trying to modify on sharp edges. The whole process takes less than 5 minutes and ends up saving a lot of time trying to fix unnecessary marks in your metal. The only sharp edges remaining are at the ends of the face. These modified edges also minimize the risk of chipping your anvil edges or hammers should there be a “sudden shift in the earth’s crust” that causes an errant hammer blow.
