An anvil stake is a small, bench-mounted forging tool combining a flat working table with a tapered horn, set on a steel shank designed to be secured in a bench vice or a dedicated stake holder. It occupies a central place in the hand-fabrication jeweller's toolkit, providing a stable, variable-height working surface for hammering, forming, and shaping metal components including rings, bezels, collets, and curved decorative elements.

Form and Construction

The typical anvil stake is machined from hardened tool steel. Its working face — the flat table — must be smooth and true, as any surface irregularity will be transferred directly to the metal being worked. The tapered horn, projecting from one end, allows the jeweller to work curved forms: a ring shank can be trued on the horn, or a bezel can be gently flared by directing hammer blows along the taper's gradient. The shank below the body is sized to fit standard stake-holder apertures or the jaws of a heavy bench vice, and its length can be varied to position the working surface at the most ergonomically appropriate height for the task.

Better-quality anvil stakes are case-hardened or through-hardened to resist peening and denting from repeated hammer impact. A softened or pitted working face quickly becomes a liability, marking the reverse of every piece formed upon it.

Use in Jewellery Fabrication

The anvil stake is employed across a range of hand-fabrication operations:

• Ring forming and truing: A ring shank that has distorted during soldering or stone-setting can be returned to round by placing it over the horn and working around its circumference with a rawhide or planishing hammer.
• Bezel and collet work: Bezels are seated on the flat table for initial shaping and on the horn for flaring the top edge prior to stone-setting.
• Forging and planishing: Sheet metal and wire can be forged — worked under hammer to move metal, refine thickness, or harden the structure — directly on the flat table.
• Curved element forming: The graduated taper of the horn serves as a mandrel substitute for small curved components where a full ring mandrel would be too large or too unwieldy.

Relationship to Other Stakes

The anvil stake belongs to a broader family of bench stakes — interchangeable steel working tools that fit a common holder. Related forms include the mushroom stake (a domed surface for dapping and doming sheet), the T-stake (for right-angle forming), and various mandrel stakes. The anvil stake is distinguished by its combination of a flat table and a horn in a single compact body, making it one of the more versatile members of the family and often the first stake a jeweller reaches for in general fabrication work.

In the Trade

Anvil stakes are standard stock items from jewellery tool suppliers and are described in technical references on hand fabrication such as those published by the Jewellers' and Silversmiths' trade schools in the United Kingdom and equivalent programmes in North America. They are not precision instruments in the metrology sense, but their quality — particularly the hardness and flatness of the working face — varies considerably between manufacturers, and experienced bench jewellers typically prefer heavier, well-hardened examples that resist deformation over years of use.