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I Forge Iron

Numb Finger?


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Hey, 

 

I had the longest forging session I have tried so far yesterday.  I was trying to draw a 2" round high carbon bar.  I spent about an hour pounding it very hard and started to notice that the tip of my pointer finger started to get more and more numb.  Nothing else hurt at all but I stopped after the feeling didn't go away for several minutes.  

 

It has been about 12 hours and it still feels a tiny bit strange but pretty much back to normal.  I am thinking about wearing some type of glove that has some padding it like a bike glove next time I forge some.  

 

Do anyone use padded gloves or have any other recommendations to stop this from happening?  

 

Thanks, 

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Gloves can give you a false sense of security and often make you grip harder. You need to look at your technique and why it is making your finger go numb. Drawing down 2" high carbon is pretty hefty handwork, find someone to strike for you.  If numbness persists, see a doctor.

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sounds like your over gripping hammer... it takes time and practice to swing a hammer without gripping it hard ..i have my hammer loose in my hand till the instant before it hits the metal... takes practice but you will get a lot less tired . whatever you do gloves do not help.

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I am sure it is probably my technique.  My arm is sore as xxxx today as well.  Gonna give it a few days to recover and read about hammering technique in the mean time :).  Most of the work I have been doing so far has been with 1/2" and smaller bar so I haven't really had to go after it to hard.  Moving up to larger stock really pointed out my bad habits.  

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Thumb and first 2 fingers numb check for Carpel Tunnel problems, ring finger and little finger check for neck/shoulder problems.  Have lived with this for many years, Had both shoulders repaired helped a lot, carpel tunnel  repairs not always successful, wear a wrist brace helps some.  Repetitive motion is the problem and if you can't bend your pointing finger in the morning you have "Trigger Finger" , had that one as well.

 

If you stop and consider what you are doing with your arm and hand when hammering you will understand the problems.  Have someone video you hammering and then look and see if there is something you can change to improve.  Blacksmithing is not easy on your body, that would make a great medical research project for someone, must be a government grant available!

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Don't muscle it. Relax when holding. Shoulder, elbow, wrist, hammer, object being struck all in line. Hold loosely with fingers. Only enough pressure to keep ahold of handle. Throw the hammer down. Let the hammer do the work. Let the hammer rebound. Do not muscle it. Don't hold with a tight grip elbow out to the side and try to force the hammer down through the work. Strike by throwing the hammer down into the work and letting it pull your arm back up. Muscles should be loose and relaxed, not tight. Stretch before working and keep hydrated. Relax.

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Intrex,  Sounds to me like muscle or possibly minor nerve damage.  I've had similar problems when a machine I'm holding binded up and pulled me,  causes some pulling of the shoulder muscles.  In more severe circumstances the pulled muscle can cause strain on nerves in the area.  Takes many months to heal fully.  Maybe throwing too much shoulder in your hammer swing ?  Hammer To Heavy ? Anvil not properly secured ?  Muscle/Nerve damage can occur after extended efforts of force especially while the muscle's are tired.   Sounds like you just may have overworked your muscles.  And when muscles are tired, it takes only a little bit of the wrong movement to cause damage elsewhere in the body.  Examine your technique and equipment and make sure everything makes sense.  Other than that, I find stretches before and stretching during vigorous exercise helps loosen muscles and prevent injury.   Feel Better.

 

I'm Not A Doctor.

 

Just guesses. 

 

-Bruno

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Rashelle pretty well covered it.  If you have your finger or thumb lying on top of the handle, don't do that!  Rashelle  was pretty well describing the "Hofi" style of hammering.  There are probably some videos on YouTube where Uri is describing this and other techniques.  Also see "Tom Clark" and "Ser Sedan"

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  • 11 months later...

Just in case anyone else has this come up I wanted to post what has fixed this for me.  After this incident I really focused on technique and trying to never tightly grip the hammer.  I believe my main issue was that I was starting to clinch the hammer tightly after getting muscle fatigue.  Sometimes my thumb would also slide up to the top of the hammer.  After making those two adjustments I have never had another issue like this.   

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Good I am glad you were able to catch the problem early enough to keep it from being a chronic issue.  Both from a hammer technique, as well as a numbness/physical damage perspective.  It is absolutely critical to develop a light grip on the hammer, and allow the hammer to do the work.  If you don't you will do damage to yourself, and your tools. Think about the hammer as a missile you are the propellant, and the guidance system, you aim the hammer at what you want to hit, and 'let it go'.  You don't want to be there when the energy in the missile is released.  You don't want to be holding on tight, when the energy is transferred, because it will feed back up into your arm.  Steel handles are AWEFUL, fiberglass handles are generally bad, and wood handles can be good or bad depending. Like you said as you get tired you need to be even more deliberate to have good technique.  There are lots of ways to swing a hammer.  Uri Hofi's "Ergonomic hammer technique" is a good system especially if you a new, and don't have to retrain yourself.  Doug Lockhart has a video, that I haven't seen yet, titled "How to swing a Hammer Like a Girl" that is supposed to help guys learn from the girls how not to mess themselves up.  Brian Brazeal has awesome hammer technique, but he mainly teaches about how to use the head of the hammer, not how to hold the hammer and swing it...  Lots of good traditions in hammer technique...

 

To get the most out of hand forging bigger stock by yourself, use a bottom fuller and a cross or diagonal pein to match it.  If you haven't invested in or made a bottom fuller, you can use the horn, or the edge of the anvil, but that is what a fuller is designed to do...  When you focus the energy of your blow on a smaller area you can do more real work. If you can get a striker to help you it is still a good idea to use a top and bottom fuller set, and a set hammer, and a flatter;-)  There is a very good reason these were part of the standard kit years ago, and why there were several people working in the shop with the blacksmith...

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  • 2 years later...

I wanted to add something to this thread. Carpal tunnel is an issue that has flared up for me since working on metal. I work on computers all day long for 25 years for my profession. Never had an issue with carpal tunnel until I started working with small tools and rotary grinders. If the numbness is in the index, middle, and ring fingers, this can be carpal tunnel. Every time I wrap up, I ice my right hand and wrist for more than an hour. It may not be carpal tunnel, but I wanted to share this information in case it helps anyone else down the road. I spoke to a doctor about it this past week and ice, anti-inflammatory, and stretching helps. 

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I was in an auto accident a little over a year ago and two of the discs in my neck were herniated causing  severely pinched nerves. I had terrible pain in my neck, shoulder, elbow, and wrist. I also had numbness, tingling and pain in my pointer finger, thumb and the back of my hand. I had surgery to correct the damaged discs and my symptoms have improved a lot, but my pointer finger (trigger finger) is still completely numb. Doc says probably won't get better since it has been a year now. I guess the nerves are probably damaged beyond their ability to heal. Now when I pound on metal, if my stance and grip are not correct, or if I have a particularly long/heavy pounding session, the numbness & pain in my neck and finger get worse.

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