where to get a decent hammer

[inuroku842]

i just joined a blacksmithing group and they said that the hammeres I have been using are just xxxx. they are too flat and too harsh on the metal, and the peen is too sharp to be of any good use, causes more pits and valleys than does any actual useful work. I got these hammeres from Lowe's and Home depot sells the same darn thing. I checked on the blacksmithsdepot website and all the hammers look to be the same flat face kind of hammers I now have. Does anyone know where I can get a decent hand hammer without having to go through an entire file set just to face it? (exaggereation, but ya get the point)

[pkrankow]

Use an angle grinder with a flap wheel or paper disk, or use a belt sander. Lock the hammer in a vise and go to town. It's a cheap hammer, learn with it in more ways than one. The peen should be about 1/2 inch round, compare to a piece of stock. It can be fatter. The face should be "ball like" but not a ball, just a portion of one. Dome it slightly, then radius the edges. Make sure you take all the swirls off from manufacture.

Since you are in a group, they may have sources, or may help you dress what you have so you can learn better. You can also look in the IFI store for the next Hofi hammer pre-order.

I am using cheap hammers too right now. I have altered them, redressed the handles and faces, and destroyed at least 1 by removing too much metal. For $7 it was a learning experience making a piece of junk. I have 3 hammers that I like the weight and dressing of, and a fourth hammer I use with tooling since these hammer have relatively soft faces. I use a 3#, a 2#, and a 3# that I hot twisted the peen on. Another advantage of cheap hammers is the soft face rarely marks the anvil, so they are good for learning hammer control.

Phil

[brianbrazealblacksmith]

Uri Hofi, Brent Bailey, Big Blue and I'm sure there are others, all sell nice hammers that are nicely ground. I just got a 12 pound sledge in the mail a few days ago from Brent Bailey, and it was perfectly ground.
http://picasaweb.google.com/brianbrazealblacksmith/Sledge

[brian.pierson]

Inuroku842

Here is an article on how to grind a hammer for sinking metal. You can use it as a guide to work on your hammers. You should not need to go as far as what the author has in getting a rounded face. It is as Phil said a slight dome on the face and a more rounded fuller on the pein. If you are starting out it is better to work out on an inexpensive hammer with the shaping. Brian is right on the hammer makers he suggested too. I might add he makes a mean hammer himself so he should know. You can search on here for other examples of either face dressing or hammer making.

http://www.arador.com/articles/index.html


Brian

[bruce wilcock]

if you have a cheap hammer and want to ease the edges ,find a big flat sandstone ,take a can of water wet the stone and rub the face on the stone working on the edge until you have a face like a flat watch face 10 minuts work ,then spend the rest of your life learning how to use it .

[ThomasPowers]

Dressing your hammers to work properly is a basic skill. As you gain experience you may even find you prefer a subtle variation on your hammers to what others use. The big box stores are *not* selling you tools to do blacksmithing with and so you are at best buying a "kit" to modify into a proper tool.

I prefer to buy my tools used at fleamarket, prices are lower and the variety is much greater---just picked up a hammer made in the USSR at the Las Cruces NM fleamarket recently! Every once in a while you luck out and find one with a perfectly dressed face or a great pein (my favorite straight peen the peen looks like a piece of 1" dia round stock---great for fullering! Cost me $3...)

[pkrankow]

The only thing I disagree with in the article Brian linked is the comment on drawing temper. These cheap production hammers are hardened and tempered. They are drawn to a soft state for safety and lawsuit reasons, but they can get a good bit softer! The hammer I twisted was left normalized, and gets redressed rather frequently (frequent enough I am considering taking it apart to harden). If while grinding on a hammer you cannot hold it in your bare hand due to heat, it needs to cool off.

Phil

[Cross Pein]

Uri Hofi, Brent Bailey, Big Blue and I'm sure there are others, all sell nice hammers that are nicely ground. I just got a 12 pound sledge in the mail a few days ago from Brent Bailey, and it was perfectly ground.
http://picasaweb.google.com/brianbrazealblacksmith/Sledge

Brian, I covet one of yours! ;)

[bigfootnampa]

Nathan Robertson's Jackpine hammers are pretty nice for the price. Old World Anvil's is stocking them. I can't seem to find any direct link for him.Old World Anvils

[Iron Clad]

No matter what store bought hammer you buy you will probably have to dress it. I used a belt sander. However, don't over heat the hammer when doing this, I would dunk the hammer in water every few seconds. As said before, you want a slight dome and no sharp edges.

[781]

Nathan Robertson, Jackpine forge, does not have a web site.
His hammers are more afordable than most custom hammers but a lot more than flea market hammers.
If anyone wants his email or phone number email me direct at 780@mchsi.com and I will send it to you

[brianbrazealblacksmith]

I should have mentioned Nathan Robertson in my first post. I just saw him when Lyle and I were down in Louisiana at the LAMA conference. He makes some nice hammers at a very reasonable price. Nathan said he was going to try and make it to the Mississippi conference the weekend before the ABANA conference and I'm sure he'll have some hammers and other tools on hand.

[Jamesrjohnson]

I met Nathan (jackpine hammers) at the 2005 Ironfest in grapevine TX. Nice guy, I kept stopping by his booth, just chatting with him. I really liked his hammers profiles and the price. By lunch time that day I was sold. Everytime I would stop by his booth I would purchase another hammer. By the end of the show I spent close to $375-475.00 His hammers have held up great in the last 5 years. I hope to see Nathan at the ABANA show, I'm glad to see he's still making hammers.

[winterbear]

Just recieved my brent Bailey hammer I won off of his website a couple weeks ago, and I have to say it is the nicest dressed hammer I have seen in my limited experiance. I have only got a few hours in using it but I love it if I would have known the differance before I would have spent the $ on a decent hammer long ago, or done alot more serios work on my flea market hammers
Chris