When I first took my blacksmithing classes, the instructor/artist had this amazing block of metal that featured a host of concave indentions with which the ‘smith could hammer hot metal into to take on the rudementary shape of scoops, spoons, etc.

I subsequently spent two weekend beating a piece of 1/2″ x 1/2″ bar stock into a
“spoon” and learned the value of this device . . . but unfortunately not enough to remember its name.

A few weeks back, at the July Fredericksburg Trade Days, I talked to The Old Tool Guy about the block of metal, describing it in arcane, imperfect terms, while keeping my 3-year old from cutting himself (or others) with an over-sized  wood chisel, and my 6-year old from . . . crap . . . wherever he disappeared to . . .

It’s a swedge block, or swage block . . . and thanks to Google images, looked something like this:

Now he told me what they sold for . . . I decided I’d be without one for awhile.