About
About Forge & Anvil
An independent, educational reference for knife making and bladesmithing. Built to answer the question “what does this tool actually do, and what do the numbers mean?” — without selling you anything.
What this site is
Forge & Anvil is a reference library. It documents the tools used in knife making and bladesmithing — 28 of them — and explains what each one does, which specifications matter, where it fits in the build sequence, and what the hazards are. Alongside that it carries a database of 20 knife steels, three calculators, and four interactive 3D simulators.
The site exists because most beginner knife making advice is either a product page or a forum post with no numbers in it. Neither tells you why a 1,200 °C forge is different from a 1,300 °C one, or what happens if you temper at 230 °C instead of 200 °C. The material here tries to leave the numbers in.
What this site is not
It is not a shop. We do not sell tools, steel, knives or plans. There are no affiliate links, no sponsored posts, no paid placement, and no advertising. Nothing on the site is a review of a specific product — where a figure is given, it is a typical value for the category of tool described, and you should always work from the documentation supplied with your own equipment.
It is also not professional advice. Nothing here is safety, legal, medical or engineering advice, and it does not replace training or supervision. Working hot metal and running grinders are genuinely dangerous activities.
How the material is put together
Tool references follow the same structure: an overview of the working principle, an at-a-glance specification table, a deeper technical parameter table, the specific hazards, practical tips, and the steels and processes each tool is commonly paired with. Steel records follow the same idea — composition, hardenability, working hardness, toughness, wear resistance, and the heat treatment ranges.
The 3D tools are educational models. They approximate real material behaviour well enough to teach the motion and the sequence — a billet that deforms and cools, a bevel cross-section that changes as you grind, a heat-treat curve you can plot. They are not process simulation and they will not predict your result.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, tell us. Specific, sourced corrections are the most useful thing you can send. Use the contact page.
Safety, again
Every tool page and every article states its hazards, and the footer of every page carries the full safety statement. Please read it. Carbon monoxide from a forge, friable refractory fibre, airborne grinding dust, quench oil fires and plain hot metal send people to hospital every year — and all of them are preventable with ventilation, PPE and a bit of forethought.
Reference, not review
Figures quoted are typical values for a class of tool, not measurements of a specific product.
No commercial interest
No sales, no affiliate links, no sponsorship, no advertising, no paid placement.
Four free 3D tools
Interactive simulators that run entirely in your browser, with a static fallback when WebGL is unavailable.
Hazards stated plainly
Heat, fume, dust and fire risks are named on every page that touches them.
Start with the beginner’s guide
The minimum tool set, the first steel to buy, and the mistakes that waste the most time and money.