Why this sudden interest? Well:
This last weekend, I was honored to teach a small “Artisans’
Row” style class in raising vessels. (No…not “Nuklayar wessels…” though
that question was asked numerous times…)
And in my raising class, I was using a swage block. One
of the good people, kind enough to come and listen to me blather, asked
about swage blocks, in general, and wooden blocks in particular. I had been
using a wooden swage block, myself that day. (And also asked: who I was…and
why he had no idea who I was…and from whence had I sprung…It was a little
awkward…and I hadn’t even brushed my hair.)
So. Here we are.
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| Shaping Notch, and Bench Pin |
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| Fluting Horn |
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| Hardie, and Tool Holes |
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| My personal wooden Swage Block, constructed from Red Oak, with Hardie Hole, Raising Horn, Fluting Horn, Tool Hole, Shaping Notch, Pierce Work Bench Pin, etc... |
There are few to no references to swage blocks in ancient literature,
and this is a shame. SHAME!!!
From the Bronze Age find, the Cape Gelidonya Block, we know that
swage blocks have been in existence for over 3200 years. How many more
years? We cannot tell, off hand. As yet. So, for argument’s sake, let’s
call it 3201 years, with a hedge of up to maybe 5000 years. Give or take. Yet,
they do not show up in various works of the time, such as Cavelli’s
Ars Malleus. Even the 1500’s paintings
of St Eligius, and the 1450’s woodcuts by Durer of St Eligius, all fail to
depict a swage. Swage free…the lot of them. Plenty of depictions of anvils, many of stakes being used. One or two images of "shaped stumps." Why?
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| Swage Block from Cyprus, 3200 years old. |
The above pic is of a swage block found by undersea archaeologist George F. Bass and his team at the site of a Bronze Age shipwreck off Cape Gelidonya, Turkey. The shipwreck from which this was pulled is estimated to have occurred roughly 1200 bc, which makes this thing, as the experts say, "freaky old, yo!" This is the era of the stories of Homer, the vessel probably from Syria or Phoenicia. Hammers found on the site were the ovoid pierced stone type. This may be the oldest known tool of its kind.
Look closely at the image above, would you? The cut grooves are both V shaped, AND half rounds. There are two different sized tool holes. 3200 years old. In function, it looks like one of my modern steel blocks. The uses HAVE NOT CHANGED IN 3200 YEARS!!!
WOWZERS!
I would speculate that the majority of artists depicting medieval jewelry and metalsmithing studios didn't know quite what they wee seeing in many cases.
So, where is the swage block? It is such a ubiquitous tool. To all kind of
metalsmiths, not just jewelers. It is labeled "indispensable" by
some, yet judged unworthy by others? There are numerous reasons, of various
level of opacity.
The Cape Gelidonya block is an excellent example of a small anvil of that
period. There are so few Bronze Age metalworking tools extant, that little
can be said about style or development. Most of the metal of that era has
been recycled numerous times and those pieces found in museums quite rare
compared to the popular use of the time. Why? Materials are expensive. Were then. Are now, too.
The Bronze Age anvil had developed
into more of a multi-function tool than either the modern swage block or
anvil. Most of these tools developed over the ages in a dependable series
of material steps, starting with wood, stone, bronze, iron, steel, to high
grade steel. And to save on material, studio space, and money (whatever moneys that era required) having both and anvil and an independent swage block was not always feasible.
"The Anvils of Bronze Age Europe", by Margaret
Ehrenbery written (exhaustively) in The Antiquaries Journal,
she describes a plethora small bronze anvils, not to be confused with bickerns, which are located in museums in Western
Europe and the British Isles. Most have been dated from about 1200 to 700
BC because of the material comprising them. They are not just little blocks with
a flat side, but some of them have horns, punching holes, swages of various
shapes in them and a stake for mounting them. Relatively small, (it’s not a
contest!) they contain just about every complexity or feature that has been
used on smiths’ anvils we see throughout the history of people banging on
metal.1
Above, an engraving of a Bronze Age anvil found in France at Fresné la Mère
as described by both Ehrenbery above and John Evans in Ancient
Bronze Implements of Great Britain2. It is believed to be a typical
multipurpose Bronze Age anvil. It can be used in two positions. The genius of these tools lay in the metal in
the stake not simply being used to hold up the other end, but in being usable in multiple possitions.
John Evans has this to say on Bronze Age anvils,
“In my own
collection is what appears to have been a larger anvil of bronze, which was
found with other instruments of the same metal, at Macarsca, Dalmatia. In
form it is not unlike an ordinary hammer-head about 5 inches long; but the
eye through it appears to be too small for it to have ever served to
receive a haft of the ordinary kind, though it probably held a handle by
which to steady the tool when in use. One end is nearly square by slightly
convex; the other oblong and rounded the narrow way. Both ends are much
worn. On one face and one side are rounded notches or swages. This tool has
been cast in an open mould, as one face presents the rough surface of the
molten metal, which contains a large proportion of tin. The other face and
sides are fairly smooth.”2
This passage concerning the "eye" Evans speaks
of is probably a punching hole, or Pritchel hole, not a hardie hole. Though,
it may have served both purposes.
Taking these ideas into account, the Bronze Age anvil had features of both
anvil and swage block. Which was a good idea for people with limited
resources. The block was generally not a separate tool and when it appears,
as in the Cape Gelidonya block, it is actually a simplified anvil of that
time.
Beyond the Bronze, and into the Iron:
While many manufacturing techniques carried over from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, one did not, and that is casting. The bronze age smith was largely a
foundry worker; the Iron Age Smith was not. The Iron Age smith forged
wrought iron with his hammer and anvil. The Bronze Age smith was primarily a casting metalsmith, who also did forming and refining, where his spiritual descendants, the Iron Age Blacksmiths, were hot-work fabricators first, and then may have done casting to accentuate their iron and steel workings. Under these later men, the anvil
became a different kind of tool. The anvil developed into a larger, flat and sturdy work
surface. It was much less a multi-function tool than the Bronze age
anvil.
When forging iron, it was common to use helpers with large mass moving
hammers, and the delicate features of a multi-function tool would quickly
become battered, broken, and useless. Anvil/swage abuse. It ain’t pretty.
In the Western Iron Age, the smith had to
forge an anvil to shape, a difficult job requiring several men and
significant effort, and a material outlay different from their predecessors.
This new material was vastly valuable. And with a new large tool came more
outlay of time and materials on the array of smaller tools, as well. Anvils with a variety of shaping stakes took over from the swages with the shaping curves and divots built-in.
So anvils developed and simplified in form, with the
multi-function swage falling forgotten and replaced by separate, smaller tools.
However, by the 16th century we are seeing anvils with distinctly shaped
bodies. “Church windows" began to appear on anvils, as need for the
multi-utility of the anvil’s shape grew in the absence of swage blocks. It
is speculated that the sides of these anvils could then be used as swages,
particularly for the plate workers such as armorers, and even the later steam engineers and tinkers that followed. In fact, examples have
a distinctly flat side where no feet extend so that the anvil can be used
on its side.
It would not be until the Industrial Age that the anvil started to develop
into the multi-function tool it is today. However, it has developed as a
completely different tool than the Bronze Age multi-function, “Swiss Army
Knife” style of tool represented by the true swage.
The Shapable Shapers:
Possible other reasons for the absence of swage blocks
in many shops is the substitution of temporary materials for many of their
utilities. The swages were there but they came and went. It would be easy
for authors writing about the tools of the smith to overlook them.
In 1122 Theophilus describes a shop with anvils "broad and flat, long and
round as well as swages on stakes."
There he also describes the use of lead
backing and "wood blocks with troughs or notches." Illustrations of a gold
smiths shop in 1576 by Stephanus show depressions cut in the wood stumps
supporting the shop anvils and stakes3. The tools of this shop
are unchanged from those of Theophilus from the 1120's, and are probably
not different from earlier work shops and studios, as technologies had not drastically changed in those eras.
"Stumps," a great shape changing tool for shaping metals, are used for both hot and
cold work. Thin material such as iron table ware can be dished hot
in a wood block the depression forming as the wood burns.
This leads to the burned
depressions, which can then be scraped and used for cold forming work. Wood blocks, and dapping blocks are also
carved in positive and negative halves for a variety of work. This method is especially useful for thin
and nonferrous metal work. A great deal of light and heavy sheet metal work
such as armor is produced in wood blocks that seem to be nothing more than
a short section of log, unless one looks close. (This presumes One knows at
what One is looking, and that is problematic, too.) After a wood block, dapping block or swage becomes too worn for continued use it just becomes more fuel that is added to fire the forge. Thus there is often no evidence left behind for we, the curious researcher.
Lead blocks were used for hundreds of years as a standard tool
in the metal working shop. It was used for file cutting and straightening,
dishing, repousse' and embossing. For dishing the depression in the lead
block was not cast but was hammered, or chased, into the block as needed.4
(For the sake of full disclosure: I hate Lead Blocks…they
are as unto a plague upon the world. Like 18 K White Gold…and Marshmallows.)
After a time when the lead block became too battered on
both sides it was melted down and re-cast in a simple slab or block shape
again. It was an ephemeral tool and easily overlooked by those writing about
the tools of the smith. Today the lead block is frowned upon due to both its
toxicity, and its invasive nature in interacting with other metals, but they still have uses. Evil, horrifying, soul wrenching uses.
Break out the PIG!!!
It was not until the 1400’s that the Western world began
casting iron in real quantities. This changed the character of iron working
in Europe and was the beginning of what we now call The Industrial Age,
beating the Renaissance bloody, lifting its wallet, and leaving it shaking
in the gutter.
Swage blocks as separate, unique tools would come roaring
back as foundries spread and the cost of metal dropped. However, until the
18th century, and the Age of Machinery, cast swage blocks were tools made
by individuals and quite rare, each one, like a thumbprint, showing the
versatility of use and the methods of the user.
Changes in Form and Function:
Sometime in the mid-17th century the square hardie hole
became a feature (not a bug) of blacksmiths anvils. Originally intended to
hold a small steel chisel upright for hot cutting, drifting, and other uses for the hardy
hole developed. Miniature bickerns (narrow round anvils) and bottom swages
started to become standard anvil accessories. Having a hole to key then in
place and prevent them from hopping off the anvil during use made bottom
swages a popular tool. An innovation that changed anvils versatility, and brought smiths added benefits, as well. The metal swage, and the practice of making custom wooden swages, returned its status as a common shop tool.
With industry and modern machines of
the steam era came the need for machine bolts of all sizes. At first the
smith forged all the bolts, upsetting and heading them by hand and dressing
with a file. And here is where anvil top swage tools, and stakes of greater variety came into popular use. When a smith
needed a great number of stakes, a swage block would become an economical
alternative.
As industries that became more complex, relying upon engines, and mechanisms developed, the smith was relegated to making the large machine
parts that were not mass produced. The factory smith was also
called upon to make numerous axles and shafts with shoulders that were
dressed with swages. Slowly but surely those “Smiths” became “Machinists” by usage and trade, and this
was the era of the industrial factory blacksmith and the Industrial Swage
Block. Blocks for these purposes were the first block manufactured in
production quantities. Industrial swage blocks became popular enough that
they were found in common store catalogs by the late 1800's.
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| Modern Jewelers' Small Swage Block, available on most jewelry supply catalogs. |
1. Ars Malleus, Cavelli, Translation by K. Smith and W Coleman, Grohman u. Son, 1968
2. Anvils in America, Richard A. Postman,
1998
3. Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain,
Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland, John Evans, 1881,
Longmans, Green and Co. London.
4. Theophilus On Divers Arts - 1122,
Translation by John G. Hawthorne and Cyril Stanley Smith, 1963
5. Sheet Metal Workers' Manual, L. Broemel,
1942, Frederick J. Drake and Company, Chicago.
Further reading:
The Complete Metalsmith, Tim McCreight, Davis; Revised edition 1991
Moving Metal, Adolf Steines, (Translation by Berger and Berger) Blue Moon Press, 2001
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