Forge & Anvil

at the Delnero Old Time Blacksmith Shop

The Forge & Anvil at The Delnero Old Time Blacksmith Shop   Blacksmithing is simply hammering hot iron into a desired shape. A way of heating iron and something to hammer it on is all the basic required equipment needed. Early smiths would heat their iron in a wood fire. They soon learned that wood converted to charcoal produced a better fire. By blasting a flow of air into a fire, they were able to produce a much hotter fire.   A forge is basically a container for the fire with air inlet for an air blast, connected by a pipe to some sort of bellows or blower. My forge, a Buffalo forge, came out of the H.B. Smith Company of Westfield, Mass.. It's base is laid up block and has a solid steel bottom which supports the Buffalo Tyre. It has an electric blower for the blast and also an exhaust fan in the hood. On the right side there is a four foot by one foot water trough for quenching steel. Attached to the trough is a metal table with a hammer rack. On the left side is a tong rack and a handy leg vise.

Once the smith has heated the iron, he needs a significant support underneath to take the blows. The anvils' solid mass on a good foundation maximizes the smiths effort. A swedge block works the same way, but also offers the smith a variety of contours to help him shape the iron.

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