Anvil
An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually forged or cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked").
Anvils are massive because the higher their inertia, the more efficiently they cause the energy of striking tools to be transferred to the work piece.
[1] The great majority of modern anvils are made of cast steel that has been heat treated by either flame or electric induction.
Inexpensive anvils have been made of cast iron and low-quality steel, but are considered unsuitable for serious use, as they deform and lack rebound when struck.
The horn of the anvil is a conical projection used to form various round shapes and is generally unhardened steel or iron.
Upsetting is a technique often used by blacksmiths for making the steel workpiece short and thick, having probably been originally long and thin.
Common methods of attaching an anvil are spikes, chains, steel or iron straps, clips, bolts where there are holes provided, and cables.
The most common base traditionally was a hard wood log or large timber buried several feet into the floor of the forge shop.
When concrete became widely available, there was a trend to make steel reinforced anvil bases by some smiths, though this practice has largely been abandoned.
In more modern times, anvils have been placed upon bases fabricated from steel, often a short thick section of a large I-beam.
In addition, bases have been made from dimensional lumber bolted together to form a large block or steel drums full of oil-saturated sand to provide a damping effect.
At one end, the common smith's anvil has a projecting conical bick (beak, horn) used for hammering curved work pieces.
[2] Amateur smiths have used lengths of railroad rail, forklift tines, or even simple blocks of steel as makeshift anvils.
The one-off handmade products of the blacksmith are less economically viable in the modern world, while in the past they were an absolute necessity.
[3] A typical metalworker's anvil, with horn at one end and flat face at the other, is a standard prop for cartoon gags, as the epitome of a heavy and clumsy object that is perfect for dropping onto an antagonist.
This visual metaphor is common, for example, in Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, such as those with Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
[5][6] Animaniacs made frequent gags on the topic throughout its run, even having a kingdom named Anvilania, whose sole national product is anvils.
[7] Dwarves were blacksmiths who used anvils for metalworking in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, most iconically on The Magician's Nephew and Prince Caspian; as well as in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
Robert Donington pointed out that Sebastian Virdung notes them in his book of 1510, and Martin Agricola includes it in his list of instruments (Musica instrumentalis deudsch, 1529) largely as a compliment to Pythagoras.
In pre-modern or modern times anvils occasionally appear in operatic works by Berlioz, Bizet, Gounod, Verdi, and Wagner for example.
In practice modern orchestras commonly substitute a brake drum or other suitable steel structure that is easier to tune than an actual anvil, although a visibly convincing anvil-shaped prop may be shown as desired.
In Das Rheingold Wagner scored for nine little, six mid-sized, and three large anvils, but orchestras seldom can afford instrumentation on such a scale.
