Swage Blocks, and Back Again: A Hobbit-like Man's Hardie Hole.

The Humble Swage Block

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. Shaping Notch, and Bench Pin Fluting Horn Hardie, and Tool Holes 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? 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. 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  Silversmithing, Rupert Finegold and William Seitz, Krause Publications, 1983