The scheme is still on the anvil.
A finely crafted blade will never meet as many blows on the battlefield as it did on the anvil.
They are working two pieces of metal together on the anvil.
They believed in Kahler by mistake, entered the dangerous summer palace, became the meat on the anvil of others, and eventually ended up in a sea of snakes.
When the reinforcements of the three men arrived, they became the meat on the anvil.
The man put the iron block on the anvil.