Hammer Racks

[HWooldridge]

For tool racks, I build frames out of 3/4x3/16 flat iron set on edge (in various LxW sizes) and then weld the same size material inside the frame so I have several rows (similar to JPH). This configuration works for both tongs and hammers. I do not use many hafted set tools so about the only thing I have with wooden handles are hand hammers but counting sledges, I have about a dozen total; maybe 40 pr of tongs and a myriad of chisels and punches. Instead of handled tools, I have several pair of "ring" tongs that I can hold short bits in for struck tooling.

[the_sandy_creek_forge]

Rusty,
Not all of us are professionals (I'm far from it but trying), but most of us are members of DACUoCEHIE- the Dignified Admirers, Collectors, and Users of Classic Examples of Human Ingenuity and Engineering. This differs from tool collectors in one major way. Tool collectors buy tools to hang on the wall and look pretty. We buy tools (amongst other things) to hang on the wall in the hopes that someday down the road we might find some use for them, and when that time comes we will be equipped for the situation

In all seriousness I spent my first three years "blacksmithing" with 3 hammers (one of them a sledge), an anvil, two pairs of tongs and an old rivet forge. My work wasn't anything near aesthetic beauty, but hey, i was just learning.

Then I got a job, and started buying tools whenever i saw any that i could afford. While my collection is nowhere near as large as the collection is in Glenn's photo, it is what I am eventually shooting for, and now I have twelve lineal feet of space on my rack so everything I buy can have a home.

What I am finally getting to is: Worry about the smithin' first. The collecting can wait 'til later if it needs to.
-Aaron @ the SCF
Merry Christmas and a happy and safe (even if it is crazy) New Year !

[Mikek]

"DACUoCEHIE- the Dignified Admirers, Collectors, and Users of Classic Examples of Human Ingenuity and Engineering"

i want a tshirt!

[Ted T]

Rusty, I, like many other tool junkies have more tools than it realy takes to do the job. Our sick minds tells us that success among other measures is: "he who has the most most tools wins". Just kidding! "I think".
I believe people like myself likes the luxery of having the option of using the tool that seem just right for the job.
To have several hammers is not "just" for ego. I do REPOUSSE work also. The head shape, head weight, speed, and force applied to the swing, density of mass, mass size, tempture of mass, and several other factors contributes to the out come effect of the blow. I use several hammers with different head shapes and mass.
You would not hunt elephants with a rabbit gun, nor would hunt rabbits with an elephant gun and everything in between. Same principel applys to hammers. Just my thoughts.
Be safe, be safe!
Ted

[yesteryearforge]

My contribution to the thread

[ThomasPowers]

I could do most of my work with just 1 hammer; but sometimes I'd be having to hold it back doing delicate work (hard on the arm) and really over amping it doing heavy work (hard on the hammer)---so I usually bring at least 3 to demo's---And what if I teach? the 1.5 kg sweedish crosspein is not suited to the beginner---though I have a couple of 700gm? ones to show students that it's the skill not the tool.

So while most of my work with just a couple of hammers having the *right* hammer for a specific task really speeds things up---try dishing a pot with a standard hammer and look at all the pretty dings you have to remove...

[blacksmithtech]

Got a camera for Christmas so here is my demo hammer stand. Holds the swage and piece of rail. I have a mount that lets me put the cone mandrel on also. I need to add another layer of hammer rings to it next.

[rthibeau]

I would agree with everyone who said only a few hammers are really needed to do general blacksmithing; however, the accumulation of hammers and other sorts of tools is a natural habit of the trade. I made this rack hoping it would hold almost everything in one place. It replaced 3 or 4 other racks so I guess I did gain some room....somewhere...

[irnsrgn]

my hammer rack is decieving, there are not that many hammers on it, most are top tools. All my hammers are made by me and most of the top tools too.

I try not to collect anything I don't use for the sake of collecting. I have too much that I use now.

[Jacob]

I made a quick, simple hammer rack for my new shop. I've got more height than floor space to work with, so I took an old free wooden pallet, knocked out a board or two in the middle, and stood it up on end behind a workbench along a wall. I'm using the bottom side out, so I have hammers in the top and in the middle rung. I added wood spacers inside where the forklift tines would go to keep heads from falling through. I need to go back and remove a few spacers, because I seem to have a lot more large handles than small handles.

It cost nothing in materials and required no power tools. So far, all of the stakes and hardy tools are piled up on the shelf under the workbench.