Was anviling wrong for 3 years until yesterday

Tbh I always set my work right at the edge of the anvil face thinking it gave me more leverage. Turns out I was just making the metal bounce weird and killing my hammer control. My buddy Dave watched me for like 2 minutes and goes 'dude you're never gonna hit clean with your piece hanging off that far.' Pulled it back to center and my next ten hits felt totally different. Anybody else have a basic setup habit they stuck with way too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire_hart5327d ago

Took me way too long to figure this out too, my anvil probably thought I was training for some kind of off-center striking competition. I used to blame my hammer for everything, yelling at it like it had a personal grudge against me. Switched to dead center and suddenly my hammer and I were best friends again.

mila_murphy2128d ago

And then your hammer head starts glancing off weird and you think you're just having a bad day... it's crazy how much that edge placement messes with your whole rhythm. I was doing the same thing for like two years, always had my work hanging off thinking I was being smart about it. Then I saw this old timer at a demo just set everything dead center on the anvil face and his hits were so clean and even. Switched my setup that night and it felt like I'd been fighting my own anvil the whole time.

harpery4726d ago

That whole 'fighting your own anvil' thing hits hard... it's wild how we'll blame the tool or the day or whatever else instead of looking at what we're actually doing. Makes me think about how I do the same thing with my truck tires or even the way I load the dishwasher, I always think there's a shortcut but really I'm just making more work for myself.