A forged steel leaf is one of the most satisfying things you can make at the anvil. It teaches the three core skills of blacksmithing in a single afternoon: tapering, spreading and veining. Once you can make a decent leaf, you can make dozens of them, and a scattering of leaves along a gate rail or a garden arch instantly lifts a plain piece of ironwork into something that looks hand-made — because it is.

Why the Leaf Is Worth Mastering

Leaves are forgiving. Unlike a hinge strap or a set of tongs, a leaf has no working tolerances to meet. If the tip is a little long or a lobe sits slightly low, the piece still reads as a leaf. That makes it the ideal practice piece for hammer control, because you can concentrate on the movement of metal rather than on hitting a dimension.

It is also economical. A single leaf takes perhaps ten minutes of forging and offcuts of bar stock that would otherwise go in the scrap bin. Many smiths keep a jar of finished leaves on the bench and weld them onto commissions as the mood takes them.

Steel, Tools and a Sensible Fire

For a first leaf, use 6 mm round mild steel for the stem, or start from 20 mm x 5 mm flat bar if you would rather spread the blade from flat stock. Both forge beautifully at a bright orange heat and are cheap enough to ruin without tears.

• Cross-peen hammer — the peen draws metal out quickly along the stem.
• Flat-faced hammer — for planishing and flattening the blade.
• Hot chisel or veining chisel — a blunt-ish edge with a rounded profile gives the best vein.
• Anvil, vice and a pair of flat tongs suited to the stock size.
• Wire brush — keep it close, and use it every heat to shift scale.

Set your fire so you are working in the bright orange to yellow range. Dull red steel will tear and crack; white-hot steel will burn and crumble. If the metal sparks, it is too hot — pull it out and let it cool a moment before you touch it with a hammer.

Drawing Out the Stem

Take your heat about 40 mm back from the end of the bar. Bring the steel to the anvil and begin tapering with the cross-peen, striking with the peen running across the bar rather than along it. Work in overlapping blows, rotating the bar a quarter turn between passes, and you will draw the metal down evenly rather than flattening it into a blade.

Start the taper roughly 25 mm from the tip and aim to finish with a stem about 5 mm square, tapering to a rounded point that will eventually become the leaf's tip. Rinse the work in the brush between heats. It is tempting to skip this, but clean steel shows every hammer mark clearly, and it is much easier to judge your taper on a bright surface than on a scaly one.

Spreading the Blade

Now heat the middle section of the bar — the part that will become the leaf body — and spread it sideways. Lay the bar flat on the anvil and strike with the flat face, working from the centre of the leaf outwards towards the edges. This is called spreading, and it is the opposite of drawing out: the metal moves sideways rather than lengthways.

Keep the stem off the anvil edge so you do not thin it, and turn the work frequently. Aim for a blade roughly three times as wide as the stem and slightly thicker at the centre than at the edges, which gives the leaf a subtle domed profile. Resist the urge to flatten it completely — a completely flat leaf looks like a cut-out, not a forging.

Once the width is close, refine the outline. Chop or chisel a shallow notch on each side to separate the lobes if you want a simple stylised leaf, then dress the edges with light hammer blows to round them over. Work the tip last, drawing it out to a point while the body stays broad.

Veining with a Chisel

The vein is what sells the illusion. Bring the leaf to a good orange heat and lay it flat, blade supported fully by the anvil face so you do not bend it. Place the chisel on the centre line, a little behind the tip, and strike once firmly with a hand hammer.

Then walk the chisel down the leaf towards the stem, in overlapping blows of equal weight. Do not chase the chisel with heavy strikes — a light, rhythmical series gives a much cleaner line. Turn the leaf over and repeat on the reverse, using the first vein as a guide, so the chisel marks register front and back.

For a more convincing leaf, add two or three side veins branching from the centre at a shallow angle, using a lighter blow. Keep them short and get progressively fainter towards the edge.

Finishing and Fixing

Wire-brush the leaf while it is still warm, then let it cool slowly in air. A light rub with a hand file or flap disc will soften the worst hammer marks without erasing them — a few visible facets are a virtue here.

Finish with a coat of beeswax applied to warm steel, or a brushed-on metal lacquer if the leaf will live indoors. For outdoor work, black wax over a hot wire-brushed surface weathers to a handsome dark grey and needs only an annual touch-up.

To attach the leaf, either weld the stem directly to the rail or drill the stem and rivet it through. A leaf welded at a slight angle, so it appears to droop under its own weight, will always look better than one mounted dead flat or dead vertical. Make half a dozen in an afternoon and you will soon find you have an eye for where each one belongs.