ANVIL, a smith's utensil, serving to place the work on to be hammered or forged. The face or uppermost surface of the anvil, must be very flat and smooth, without flaws, and so hard that a file will not touch it. At one end there is sometimes a pike, bickern or beak-iron, for the rounding of hollow work. The whole is usually mounted on a firm wooden block.—Forged anvils are better than those of cast work, and the belt have the upper part made of steel. Locksmiths have a smaller kind of anvil called the stake, which is moveable, and placed ordinarily on their work-bench. Its use is for setting small cold work straight, or to cut or punch on with the cold chisel or cold punch.