The Japanese anvil knife traces its roots to the early 20th century when anvil knives were manufactured by blacksmiths in large quantities. Most of them were made in London even though there was an immense competition that came from other parts of the world where the anvil knives were manufactured in large quantities. Currently, there are many manufacturers who still manufacture anvil knives. Japan is one of the countries that leads in the production of the anvil knives.
Japanese anvil knives come in many shapes and nomenclature. We have the classic and the modern design. The classic anvil knife is manufactured from high-grade steel which is perfectly grounded and tempered. This type of anvil knife does not break easily or become loose. The horn is made from a solid steel while the body is made from the gun iron.
There other specialties of the anvils such as farriers, which had a bulge on one of the sides. Others have V-grooves while others have a narrow waist. Those with a narrow waist are not good but may not be used for general work. The Japanese anvils are not as big as those found in Europe. The European anvils are double horned. We have the pyramidal and the conical type. The Japanese anvil has a rectangular block that sits on the ground.
The idea of anvil knife has existed for many years. The earlier versions of the knives were made from bronze, which unfortunately could not work since bronze was not hard enough. Perhaps better results would have been obtained if they were made from granite. Later, anvils were made from ductile iron. In some cases, blacksmiths made anvils by laminating plates and welding them together.
Other specialty anvils include the ancient Mailers anvil, Sawyers anvils, Armorer’s anvils, Jewelers anvils and several of types of stake anvils.
The first iron anvils came into use in the Iron Age. This opened the way for making anvils from wrought iron. The anvil had a thin layer of steel welded on the face of the iron made anvil. The Japanese anvil are uniformly forged blade to help maintain an equal stress. This also helps the main making the material flow in an orderly manner to give the knife the desired shape. To get, the best results, the Japanese steel is forged by being hammered into the right shape when still hot. This method of forging is referred to as wet forging, it is messy but allows the blacksmith to easily scrap the scale using a file.
Ideally, during the wet forging process, the blade will be picked up after successive blows to ensure that it attains the required shape. If there are stubborn scales, the temperature is raised at the point of which the scale forms before it is hammered again and a file used to ensure that all the scales are removed. In some cases, the blade experiences warps. These are removed by grinding during the finishing process. The blade is then cut into the right sizes before they are forged into anvil knife.