The One Scythe Revolution

This may be the ultimate, ultimate peening anvil. It's a new style of a narrow scythe anvil, designed by Ernst Schoiswohl for the Schroeckenfux Scythe Factory. It is now available in a tall model. It features an adjustable support platform that can now be mounted at two different levels, a guide for the edge of the blade, plus a precisely and expertly shaped normal radius on the anvil face. The anvil is made from extremely high quality steel, hardened to 58-60 Rockwell. It is available in both a short (10cm) and a tall (16cm) styles. Both styles now have a normal radius.

The attachable guide plate and support platform make it easy to keep the edge in the correct position on the anvil face. These anvils makes it much easier for a beginner to get good results when freehand peening. Experienced peeners may remove the guide and support platform, but they will still greatly appreciate the exceptional hardness of the anvil and the expertly shaped radius. Amazing consistency is possible with this anvil.

The SFX anvil was originally designed with a support platform for use with the very narrow scythe blades sold by the Austrian Scythe Association, similar to the red one at the top of the picture here. So the support platform was designed to mount on the top hole that the guide plate now attaches to. The platform cannot go down far enough for wider blades from this position, however. For example, when peening our 50mm wide blades, the platform wouldn't go down far enough to peen the wider beard area correctly. The edge can not lay flush across the surface of the radius of the anvil, if the platform is too high. You do not get good contact this way. Since I personally prefer to use wider scythe blades, and I find the support platform to be the most useful when peening wider blades, I asked the manufacturer to customize the SFX anvils for 1SR with a second hole beneath the first one, so that our customers would have the option of mounting the platform at a lower setting.

Scythe anvils are categorized as narrow or wide, and short or tall. Short anvils are used on stumps that are either separate from your seat, or on a peening horse. Tall anvils are used on stumps or stones, big enough for you and the anvil to sit on. The advantage of this, is that mass of the larger stump, plus your own weight, create an extremely solid and stable base for the anvil. The stump will not wiggle, and the anvil will have a maximum draw.This makes peening much nicer. It makes consistency and accuracy, easier to achieve.

The wings of the guide plate must be adjusted for the type of blade that you have, so that the edge of the blade is aligned correctly across the top of the radius of the anvil surface. I find this to be the easiest to do with a small adjustable crescent wrench. Just close it on the wings, and then with the blade on the anvil, pry the wrench forward or backward, until the blade is in the correct position. When you order a scythe and a SFX peening kit from me, I assemble the anvil for you, and adjust the guide-plate for your scythe blade, but you may still need to fine-tune it.

Notice how smooth and evenly a line can be peened on the SFX anvil, with the guide plate, and good hammering technique and form. In HD you can see how the metal is smoothly drawn out by each strike. I prefer to gently draw out the edge with successive passes. Striking with more force will move more of the metal out quicker, but stretching the metal too dramatically can lead to tiny tears, or cracks. From the angle of this video, it's difficult to see how much metal is being moved. From my side of the blade however, it was quite noticeable (see photo below). About 0.5mm.

In this close-up photo, you can see result of my progress from the above videos, on the first pass with Diagonal Drawing Hammer Strike. Notice how much metal is being moved, and how even it is. Consistent hammering, plus having both wings of the guide-plate properly adjusted, makes it easy to draw out the metal this evenly. Notice how I have the right wing adjusted more forward, to accommodate the amount of metal being drawn forward.

After several passes with the "Diagonal Strike" I finish the blade with one or two passes with the Compressing Hammer strike. To learn more about my peening method read, my peening manual that comes with our 1SR peening kits.