If you are a beginner blacksmith, you may not be familiar with hardy tools and also their uses. When I was just starting out, I always wondered what those tools with a funny name actually are. Some of you may have a small grasp of it, while others don’t have a single clue. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Both of them are reasons for writing this article.
The name comes from the term “Hardie, “which refers to a hot-cutting chisel with a square shank. Now, the common thing among all hardy tools is that they are all placed in the hardy hole. Hence the name.
Namely, hardy tools are commonly used in every blacksmithing shop for various reasons. In this in-depth guide, we will explain hardy holes, types of hardy tools, and also their uses.
Let’s start with the most important part.
What Is a Hardy Hole?
A hardy hole is an extremely important part of the anvil. Without it, no Hardy tools could be used, which are commonly used for cutting and bending techniques.
The hardy hole is that square hole on the typical anvil. It is usually located near the Pritchel hole but sometimes can also be found on the opposite side, depending on the style. The main purpose of the Hardy hole is to secure and hold Hardy tools like swages, chisels, bickers, and many others. While its size can vary, it is typically 1 inch wide.
In the past, the Hardie hole was only half-inch square with the bottom going to the side of the anvil. Later that was excluded, and only straight Hardy are now present. On the English and American anvils, the Hardy hole is located at the heel of the anvil. However, on European anvils, it is located just at the horn.
Also, before there weren’t any standards of the hardy hole size, so every anvil usually had a completely different size. That was the case until the Modern era when the size of 1 inch was standardized.
Some people confuse the Hardy hole with the Pritchel hole. The Pritchel hole is primarily used for punching the metal, while the Hardy hole mainly serves to hold Hardy tools. Also, the shape is very different between the two. The Pritchel hole is round, whereas the Hardy hole is square.
Types of Hardy Tools
Hardy tools are commonly used among many blacksmiths, including beginners. Their uses include bending, cutting, and various shaping of metals. Hardy tools are a great way to make these techniques much easier, which means good news for all beginner blacksmiths.
Primary types of Hardy Tools:
- Hardy Tools for Cutting
- Hardy Tools for Bending
- Hardy Tools for Various Shaping
Hardy Tools for Cutting
Cutting is one of the essential blacksmithing techniques that every beginner should learn. Before moving on, I should note that there are two types of cutting in blacksmithing; hot cutting and cold cutting.
Hot cutting, as the name suggests, is referring to cutting a hot piece of metal. This method is much more common in blacksmiths, therefore, it is a crucial skill to learn early on. Chisel is the primary cutting blacksmithing tool. So, for hot cutting, you would use hot chisels.
They have an edge level of 30 degrees which makes them sharp enough for cutting any hot metal. Make sure not to use hot chisels for cold cutting as they can crack easily.
The most popular Hardy tool for cutting operations is a cut-off Hardie. It has a square shank that nicely fits in the Hardy hole. Cut-off Hardie allows you to hold the material in one hand and cut it using a hammer with the other one. It is a convenient and efficient way of cutting metal. Note that there are many shapes and sizes of cut-off Hardie for various purposes.
For example, you have a Hardie that is made for making round cuts. Then you have a Hardie with a hollow shank that allows you to skip the base plate between the shank and the material. However, not every blacksmith has a Hardie, so those who don’t have it must use a hand chisel.
Cold cutting, on the other hand, is referring to cutting a cold piece of metal, usually mild steel. While it is not common as hot cutting, it is still important to learn. So, if you decide on some piece of mild steel, make sure to cut the piece first about a ¼ of both sides.
That way, it should be very easy to break. As you can already guess, cold chisels are used for cold-cutting operations. Unlike hot chisels, they have an edge bevel of 60 degrees, which makes them less sharp. The same principles apply to a cold cutter Hardie tool, which is usually tempered to be less brittle.
For those interested in forging a hardy cutting tool, down below we present you a detailed video instruction.
Hardy Tools for Bending
Here is a little bit of tough love. If you don’t know how to bend metal, you can’t call yourself a blacksmith. Sorry, but that is the fact.
Bending operation is self-explanatory. Keep in mind to heat the material before attempting to bend it. When the material is bright red, you can start bending.
While there are many different ways of bending like using a corner of the anvil, a horn, and a leg vise, in today’s article, we will mention only using hardy tools.
So, the most commonly used hardy tools for bending are:
- Bending Forks
- Bending Jigs
- Hardy Block
Bending Forks
They are incredibly useful tools for bending operations. To use bending forks, you must first place the tool in the Hardie hole. After that, place your material diagonally in between the forks. Note that you should start from the end of the bar and gradually move further.
Another option to use bending forks is to put the metal bar parallel to the forks and hammer the heated section in between. If the metal bar is thin and long enough, you don’t even have to use the hammer.
While bending forks have many different sizes and shapes, all of them have two upright poles that serve as a fulcrum point to apply enough pressure to the bar as you strike the hammer.
The benefit of using bending forks is that they allow you to have much greater control during bending. You can also use them on a vise, which also makes them versatile. Another good thing is that you can use them to bend cold thin metal. Bending forks also allow you to bend curves that are not even.
Bending Jigs
Bending jigs are very similar to bending forks. The only difference is that jigs have a large metal tube instead of a second fork. Jigs are ideal for making small items like hooks, so if you are a beginner, make sure to have them as a part of your equipment. Keep in mind that every different-size hook requires a different-size jig.
They can be either placed in a hardy hole or you can also place them on a vise. As for bending forks, jigs are also available in many different shapes and sizes.
The good news is that both bending forks and jigs can be adjustable, so you don’t have to have ten different sizes to cover all projects. Down below is a video that is an excellent example of adjustable bending forks and jigs.
Hardy Block
A Hardy block is typically 45 degrees angle on one side and 90 degrees on the other one. To bend metal using the hardy block, all you need is a hammer, anvil, and of course, a hardy block.
After your metal is heated up to forging temperature, place it onto the 45 degrees side. Start from the end of the bar and continue its way further. You can use this method for both cold and hot metals. If the stock begins to buckle, lay it on the face of the anvil and straighten it right away.
Hardy Tools for Various Shaping
Except for cutting and bending, you can shape metal in many ways, so that’s where this category of Hardy tools comes in.
The most commonly used Hardy tools for various shaping:
- Hardy Bicks
- Hardy Swages
- Bottom Fullers
- Cones
- Mushroom Hardy
- Hardy Butcher Tool
Hardy Bicks
Hardy bicks are also often called bickorns and stakes. While they are all very similar, there are differences between them. For instance, the stake is the same thing as bick, only with two horns. Now, you can think of a stake anvil as a bick, only with two horns. Namely, a bick is the other name for the anvil’s horn, which helps to explain what it is.
Usually, when someone is talking about hardy bicks, he means on the bick with one horn. As with most other tools, bicks greatly vary in their sizes and shapes. There are bicks with a shorter shaft, the ones with a long shaft, bicks with larger thickness, thin bicks, etc.
They can be used for welding and shaping the socket on socket chisels and also for small bending operations. For general work, we recommend getting a single horn 90 degrees bick while for other specific projects, you will need to make them. If you are a beginner blacksmith, getting one for general-purpose work will be sufficient.
Hardy Swages
When we talk about hardy swages, we specifically refer to a bottom swage. You also have a top swage, which doesn’t go into a hardy hole. Instead, you hold it. With that out of the way, let’s talk more about this valuable tool.
A swage is a tool primarily used to produce the desired shape of the object by shaping or bending by pressure or hammering.
Namely, top and bottom swages often go in pairs, so if you want to circle a bar, you can do it easily. Most of the hardy swages are half-round but keep in mind that there are many more shapes, including 120, 90, 60 degrees v swage, octagon swage, hexagon swage, etc.
For example, if you are a novice and want to forge your own v-bit tongs, v-shaped swages are ideal because you have a matching set of tools.
Bottom Fullers
The same way there are top and bottom swages, there are also top and bottom fullers. The easiest way to think of fullers is the opposite of swages. While swages have a concave shape, fullers have a convex shape.
The basic use of fullers is to forge a depression in the material. They range from half-round to v-shaped, so you can find them in a variety of different sizes and shapes like all other tools.
Fullers are known for moving the stock much faster in comparison with a hammer, mainly due to the narrow face. Be careful when doing heavy drawing. Striking the fuller too deep often results in cold folds when flattening.
Cones
Cones are also often called the mandrels. They are incredibly useful for making rings and various bending operations. Cones often serve as a substitute for horn, but if you are a beginner and you already have a horn on your anvil, don’t worry about cones yet.
If you already have some experience and want to move on to more advanced projects, the horn may not be the ideal choice for various purposes. A negative thing about the horn is that it doesn’t have the same radius all around. Cones solves that problem.
Depending on the type of project, you may need a different size of the cones. Most cones are hollow, so usually, they are not as heavy as they look.
Big cones are getting harder and harder to find. Even if you do, the chances are it will be very expensive. If you add delivery on top of that, the price jumps up tremendously.
Mushroom Hardy
Mushroom hardy is primarily used to fill in the empty space of objects shaped like a bowl. In other words, mushroom hardy is used for smoothing out irregularities in various objects.
It is important to note that the size of the tool must match the size of the project. It is commonly used for making bowls, spoons ladles, and many other concave-shaped objects.
What Steel to Use for Making Hardy Tools?
When it comes to tools in your workshop, you can either buy them or make them. For some specific projects, you will need a specific size of that particular tool. On the other hand, if you are a novice blacksmith, you don’t need a lot of different sizes of the same tool but rather one for general-purpose work.
When it comes to making hardy tools, some of the most common steels are mild steel, 1045, and 4140 steel. While there are more good tooling steels, these three are also very easily available and simple to heat-treat, which are a great advantage for beginners.
Mild Steel for Making Hardy Tools
Mild steel is the most popular steel for making blacksmithing tools, especially among beginners. It is low-medium carbon steel for construction purposes. Mild steel is very strong steel and is typically made from natural materials.
Its low price and high availability are primary reasons why it is such a popular option for making hardy tools and also other blacksmithing equipment. One more good thing is that it is easy to work with.
1045 Steel for Making Hardy Tools
This is one of our favorite steels for forging hardy tools. It works for most types of tools, except for cutting tools. 1045 is low-medium carbon steel with a tensile strength of 570-700 MPa, which is enough strength for a hardy tool. The hardness of 1045 varies between 170 and 210 on a Brinell scale.
The positive thing about this steel is the fact that after it is forged, you can normalize it. Also, have in mind that after heating, you should take it out and quench it in water.
4140 Steel for Making Hardy Tools
4140 steel is definitely one of the most common steels used for making all kinds of blacksmithing tools, including hardy tools. When compared to mild steel, 4140 is much tougher and stronger.
It is considered a low-alloy steel consisting of manganese, chromium, and molybdenum. 4140 is made by mixing carbon, iron, and other alloying elements in an oxygen or electric forge.