Hammer Question

[kyblacksmithin]

I am just starting to blacksmith. I will mostly be doing knifes out of railroad spkies and some bar stock knifes. I was wonder what hammer or hammers would be the best for me starting out with these knifes, what style and weight. Thanks, Travis Cain

[Alec.S]

The style is completely up to you...try loads of styles and use the one YOU prefer. In terms of weight... It is advisable to start with 2.5 pounds and over.

alec

[fluidsteel]

I'm an apprentice bladesmith. One hammer I LOVE is my Caffrey angle pien. It allows you to draw out your bevels with your arms in a normal position. Ed Caffrey makes a real nice one. Blacksmith Depot has some too. Also, a doghead, also known as Japanese cutler hammer....
I started at a Bladesmiths shop, I tried many of his to find what I Liked.
For bladestock, try starting with 1/4" thick for forging...
Have fun!

[ThomasPowers]

Well can you tell me how much weight *I* can lift? If you can maybe I can tell you how much hammer you can swing.

Let me say this though. Don't try to over amp your arm with too heavy a hammer to start. It's pretty easy to mess up the tendons and be out of smithing for a long while or permanently! "Blacksmith's elbow" is a pain!

As mentioned a bit over 2 pounds is generally a good weight to start with and then work your way up to a bigger one as you get in practice.

Nowadays I tend to start with one like that, switch to a 3.3 pound once I'm warmed up and then cool off with the lighter one as I get tired.

Getting one with a nicely dressed face is probably more important than if it's round, square, octagonal, etc.

I started out with the first one I found at a fleamarket in good shape cheap---about a 2.5# doublejack. Used it for years till I started wanting a heavier one and got the 1500 gm swedish crosspein and now also use a light fast hammer for some jobs.

(Insert rant on why RR spikes make lousy knives and why would one want to use them when track clips have sometimes twice the carbon content of a HC spike!)

[Francis Trez Cole]

Stanley tool 2 pound and 4 pound and Eastwing 3 pound have cross peen hammers for sale at home depot and Lowe's it is a real good starting point they cost $20.00 fiber glass handle it will help you while you learn to hold and swing a hammer to protect your body. you only need to start with one.

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Travis, glad to have ya. Get involved with the local blacksmithing organization, a couple hours with an experienced smith is worth days, weeks, sometimes months or years of teaching yourself.

A good turning hammer is good and effective as a general smithing hammer and I prefer a straight pein to a cross pein but that's a matter of taste.

Rr spikes only make knife shape objects or letter openers, they're not even particularly good training for bladesmithing. Still, lots of folk are using them so we get to my philosophy for making a living at this; follow the market, forget "educating the Public" make what THEY want and charge a healthy price. Folk who buy hand forged are buying bragging rights not quality or many objects, including RR spike knives wouldn't exist.

Again, glad to have ya.

Frosty the Lucky.

[kyblacksmithin]

Well I'm about six foot one and weight about 240 and I can lift my share of weight, but I think I will take everyones advice and start out with a 2 and a half punder or so. I think this will help me get in the swing of things. I swing all kinds of hammers at work and Im in good swing shape but I will just take advice from people that do this. Thanks for the good advice and help I will try and posrt some pics soon, Im gonna try to get started this weekend. Thanks.

[kyblacksmithin]

Welcome aboard Travis,<snipped>

Frosty the Lucky.

I tried to send you a personal message but it would not let me. Thanks for the good info.

[ThomasPowers]

See how useful that info would have been at the start?

Most of my students have minimal to no hammer skills when they show up. If you do; then you will probably already know what you like in a hammer you swing all day as per weight and type/length of handle.

Really it's the skill of the smith rather than some special hammer and I've done better work with a US$1 fleamarket special than some folks do with a $100 big name hammer.

One thing I will add I like a nice fat peen on the cross peen or straight peen---my favorite looks almost like it has a rod of 34 or 1" round stock welded on for the peen---old straight peen cost me a couple of bucks and I wouldn't trade it for ten times what I paid for it! Most store bought crosspeins have sharp peens on them which are not real handy for fullering metal though OK for ornamental hammer dings...

I generally pick up hammers at the fleamarket or even scrap yard; though I did pick up a dozen or so of Lynch collection hammers at Quad-State over the years whenever I could get them cheap (are you noticing a pattern yet?)

[Borntoolate]

I used a 3lb hammer on occasion at first. It used to where me out! NOw it is what I always reach for. My smaller hammers are too much work.

[pkrankow]

I dressed to death a couple store bought hammers...literally.

I use a "drilling" hammer, 3# with one face dressed "watch glass" and the other face dressed like a fuller, about 1 1/2 inch in diameter.

I also use a 3# cross peen hammer that I dressed the face "watch glass" and the peen I dressed to very similar to 1/2 inch round, which involved removing a lot of material.

I dressed the handles with a spoke shave and made them sorta conical, but with flat sides, and more comfortable to grip.

Both of these hammers are inexpensive, wood handled tools available at many big box type places for about $10 apiece.

I can't stand fiberglass handles, mainly because they are difficult to adjust the size of the grip area. My hands are not small, I wear a large or x-large glove size, but factory hammer handles have too much meat to hold comfortably.

Phil

[fluidsteel]

My Double Draw angle pien and my angle pien by Ed Caffrey. The Angle pien is around 2lb14oz and the double draw angle pien a few ounces less...
The Tai Goo hammer is 3#. I used on of Tai's hammers a few weeks back, but it was a bit heavier.
I'll be forging out a few blades this weekend. Up until now I borrowed hammers trying to figure out what I like.

[FieryFurnace]

I use a Lowes 2.5 cross peen every day. Knock out the fiberglass handle and replace it with wood if you buy new. It is much more comfy and you will gain pride by the amount of polish that your hand applies with use.

I also have a short handled 3 pound double face sledge hammer that I use frequently for general forge work.

Start with the 2.5 as recommended!

[GunnySGT1911]

I am new to all of this too. I wish I had found this forum before I started gathering some tools, but I think I did all right. I really appreciate all the good information.

[pkrankow]

Fluidsteel, what is with the slot in the handles of those hammers?

Phil

[Tom Allyn]

Fluidsteel, what is with the slot in the handles of those hammers?

Phil

I imagine that was done to lessen the vibrations transmitted to the hand. You used to see hammers, especially ball peens, that had very narrow handles below the heads. Easier on the hand and wrist.

But I've never seen a slotted handle before. Should do the same thing.

[Greenbeast]

Indeed, i used one of DClaville's slotted handled hammers at a forge in recently, that is the explanation he gave for it.

[Drewed]

I would suggest starting out with lighter hammers ( 2 lb-ish.) I have found it better to hit faster and more accurately than harder. Think of it kind of like starting off in golf. Everybody wants to hit the super big bertha diver, but all that does is knock it 50 yards farther into the woods. Better to start with a 3 wood and keep it on the fairway.

[Greenbeast]

Quite, there's a reason new young riders are restricted on bike size in the UK, first comes control, then power

[Jason @ MacTalis Ironworks]

I actually recommend a larger 4# + hammer, smaller hammers require you to whack endlessly away at a piece of steel at a million RPM, while a bigger hammer moves more metal with considerably less effort and RPM, although there is some technique to it for sure. I WAS a fan of smaller (2#-ish) hammers before I learned the methods used by Brian Brazeal, and after switching to his styles of moving metal, I am more and more of the opinion that anything less than a 4# is almost useless for general forging. I am also a huge fan of rounding hammers these days, but I still find occasional use for a crosspien.

Large hammers seem to be getting a bad rap by those who use them improperly or inefficiently these days. You don't drive a big hammer full force from the end of the handle as most tend to do with smaller hammers, instead you tend to hold them loosely closer to the head, and only wind up when you need to set something down hard, but that is still low RPM blows.

In the end, it really is a matter of just trying every hammer you can beg, borrow, or steal, until you find ones that do what you want them to do and are comfortable for you to use. Heck, I have a friend who made a hammer from the ram off a 25# LG power hammer who uses it for welding 25 layer billets of damascus by hand. It really is all in what does the job you want it to.

[ThomasPowers]

Wow, I weld 25 layer billets on a regular basis with a 3.3 pound (1500 gm) hammer with no problem.

HOWEVER if your muscles are not built up a too heavy a hammer for you can cause problems NO MATTER WHAT METHOD YOU USE!

Short handles let you use heavier hammers in my experience but if you are a 120 pound new smith I would NOT advise a 4# hammer to start.