Not having had much experienc I am wondering why should an anvil have bounce? I was reading the steel ball bearing tip and got to wondering.

ghostdog

Hey Ghostdog,

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Bouncing a steel ball bearing off of an anvil face is meant to indicate how hard the face is. The theory goes that a softer face won't bounce a bearing as high as a harder face. There is another use of the word "bounce," and I have heard it referring to the action of the hammer upon the work on the anvil- in this case "bounce," is bad. I have a RR track anvil and when I work large steel on it my hammer "bounces," back and it clearly does not get as much work done per blow as when I work on my #125 Nimba Titan, where each shot sinks in like a big rock in mud...

The bounce is your best friend in forging.
It keeps you from having to raise the hammer yourself each time.
The bounce should bring the hammer back to where it strarted, so all you have to control is the down stroke.
I hope that explains it OK.

Yup,

What he said. I think the bounce on my RR was so severe that it made the Titan feel unbouncy by comparison- and I think weight is the factor there. I'd have to say that there is enough bounce going on with my heavier anvil to bring the hammer back up as described- and that is actually a good thing.

thanks guys. Makes sense to me. I have a mild metal anvil that does make the pounding harder but at the same time i can get some good hits on it. jloose i too have a railway track for my other anvil which I really improved by putting plates under it. I found the plates on the rail bed...they are made to go under the track on top of the ties. I was getting too much bounce on the track, hammer rebounded as well as what eve I was working on. With the plates I feel I have much beter control of my work piece and also the track does not ring quite as loudly, and I still get good bounce.

ghostdog

There is one other reason...........transmitted shock from the hammer. A soft faced anvil, coupled with improper hammering technique is what causes carple tunnel and "tennis elbow". Anvils that are soft not to absorb the shock, but rather direct it back into the hammer, this in turn travel up the handle and into the smith's arm. The anvils that are hard faced with wrought iron bodies are may favorites. Trenton, Peter Wright, and a few others have a body of wrought iron, with a steel face which makes the anvil absord most of the shock, rather then sending it back to you.

Rebound is what you want from the surface of the anvil to the hammer. It helps to raise the hammer for the next blow and imparts energy of the blow to the side of the work away from the hammer. Bounce is when your anvil is moving around, two factors that cause this are. A heavier blow than is needed for the anvil (that's where we get hornless anvils) example, using a 16 lb. hammer on a light anvil.

The anvil is not well made and doesn't reflect the blow back to the work but transmits though the anvil to the base. IMHO

Ahhh,

Rebound vs Bounce is a really good way to put it, Sweany.

Rail Anvil= all Bounce not much Rebound
Nimba Anvil= Good Rebound no Bounce

That very much clarifies what I was trying to express above.

Not to change the subject but I was wondering if anybody could tell what make anvil I have. It has a diamond on the side but I can't make out what was written in the diamond. Has anyone got an idea of the make.
Ray