Hello there! What hammer should I use?!

[Flint Steele]

Hello!

 

I recently got my forge up and running. Right now I have a hammer and one pair of functioning tongs. My hammer is decent, but I'm wondering if there's a better hammer. I have an old Heller Bros. farrier's rounding hammer. I've asked around and a lot of people recommend the Japanese Cutlers Hammer, with all the weight on one side. I've also heard cross-peens are really good too. I know it's all on personal opinion and on the internet people say the best way is to try them out one by one. there's only one catch, I have no idea who has any! And I don't want to buy one to find out i don't like it.

 

So essentially, three questions:

 

what's the all around best hammer?

 

Where would i get said hammer?

 

And if necessary, how do i make it?

 

[Dogsoldat]

As everyone else would say put your location up in your profile there may be someone right close by.  All the information you seek is somewhere on the forums, just start looking and see where you end up.  Be advised there is a lot of cool info laying around so pack a lunch. 

 

As for the best hammer, it's the one in hand doing the work.  :)  So many variables on what you may be thinking of making...  the possibilities are endless

[Charles R. Stevens]

As dog, has said. The hammer at hand. Rounding hammers have their place and are very versital, but cross peins, strait peons, angle peins, ball peins, planissing, dishing, raising etc, etc...
All have a place at the anvil. As do most shapes in weights from 1-4# in 1/2# increments.
A 6-8# sledge is also a good addition.

[Flint Steele]

Just updated my account. I've been searching for a while, i was just hoping for people to shorten my search. :) and on the making the hammer part, it's very unlikely i will and succeed, it's really a last resort as opposed to a real option. (again only been doing this for around a year and i still have a lot to learn as I'm not old enough to take a class, this makes a lot of intermediate projects seem inconceivable to me.)

 

Is a rounding hammer a sufficient beginners hammer? 

 

Ben

[Charles R. Stevens]

If its heavy enough how old, and how big are you?

[Flint Steele]

it was sitting in my granddad's toolbox for ages. it looks like this

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Heller-Bros-Vtg-Farriers-Horseshoe-Turning-Rounding-Hammer-Blacksmith-Anvil-Tool-/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/VW8AAMXQ56ZSCDh5/$(KGrHqR,!n4FIE6j4lFmBSCDh5QVFg~~60_35.JPG

 

perhaps a little smaller.

 

I'm 15 and around 150 lbs, so i know some smiths who are lighter than me now. 

[arkie]

That hammer will work just fine for you.  Now start working some iron. :)

[swedefiddle]

It's a funny thing about hammers, there is no perfect hammer. The best hammer is the one that you have and you have trained it well. They have a memory and the hammer will remember if you treated it wrong, it will have a knick or something like that. When you ask it to do something it hasn't been trained for, it will say "You should see my Brother, He can do what you are asking", so you go and talk to the Hammers Brother, etc............... :) :) :)

[SJS]

A rounding hammer is fine to start with.  You can look at flea markets, antique stores, and garage sales.  ALL good places to ask about blacksmithing tools.  A lot of blacksmiths have a favorite hammer that they end up doing 90% of everything with.  Others use a ton of different hammers depending on the job.  Save your pennies and buy cheap old hammers when you can.  Investing .25-2$ at a yard sale for a hammer to try is money well spent, and even if you don't like that hammer, you can heat it up and reforge it into something you do like... Antique store prices are a little higher, but still cheaper than new from a Blacksmith or Farrier supply house, and much cheaper than getting a fancy dancy hand made custom blacksmithing hammer.  Get involved with a local blacksmithing group, and meet some people ask to play with their toys, and see if you want to cough up 85-125$ for a hand made custom blacksmithing hammer. (They are generally very nice to use, but when you are young and money isn't just squirting out your ears it is very daunting...) Uri Hofi, Brent Bailey, Brian Brazeal, Dave Custer, Nathan Robertson of Jackpine forge, all make really nice tools.  Brian and Nathan both teach hammer making workshops at hammer-ins and conferences.  If you can get a buddy to swing a sledge safely for you, it is pretty easy to YouTube up, and try making your own.  If you have your own set up you can push things as hard and as far as you want. You can do it.  Perseverance is one of the most important virtues in blacksmithing, don't be discouraged by how long something takes, it won't take as long the next time... and by the time you have done it 100 times you will be down right smooth and quick.  Observe, analyze, adapt, and overcome.  If you watch what you are doing, and ALWAYS look for ways to do it better, you will get better...  There is a difference between 20 years of experience, and 1 years experience repeated 20 times.  Challenge yourself, prepare, and then just do it.  You are already vastly different from most people, and I mean that in a POSITIVE WAY.  You have pursued a dream and are actually doing something useful, most people barely get to the dreaming part.

[Glenn]

The one thing folks will NOT tell you is that you HAVE permission to fail. You DO NOT have to do it right the first time, or the second time, but you DO need to keep going and getting better EACH time

 

You look at the blacksmith that has been working for 20, 30, 40, years or longer. Well you can be just as impressive as that blacksmith in 20, 30, 40, years or longer. With the internet, blacksmith gatherings, classes, schools, etc that are available today you can cut that time by half or more. There are blacksmiths on IForgeIron that started at your age or younger and by 20 were respectable smiths. It takes practice, the willingness to learn, and then to take what you learned to the forge to try it out.

 

As to hammers, look for used at flea markets, yard sales, etc. The hammer I used most when I started  was a Harbor Freight hammer for under $10 new. Then came a ball peen hammer for $1 from the flea market. In time I bought some some high dollar hammers to try out. The HF hammer is still within arms reach of the anvil even today.

 

It is not the tools that make the blacksmith, but the blacksmith that makes the tools.

[neg]

I think a Heller brothers rounding hammer IS the best hammer to use. Every heller hammer I have is amazing, I especially love my cross pein. They go for big money too, so I'd hang on to it if I were you. :)

[Aden Cassidy]

I generally use a small sledge hammer, I think it was originally a plumbers hammer that I bout for $25-30 here in aus at bunnings years ago. Started forging when I was about 13-14 and now am turning 21 soon. I started off with a smallish ball pain, less than 2 pounds. Then after a few months of the basic leaves etc... I bought this 4 pound sledge and use it for almost everything, after you find the size and shape of hammer you like don't just switch to it right away. It takes a while till you can use a significantly heavier hammer all day long just by itself, pace yourself and switch between them. Hell I even use this when my blades are forged to size and to refine the bevels and straighten the blade. I can basically finish a blade in less than five hours from a piece of coil spring, use a file for about 10 minutes then sandpaper to polish etc,.. using this hammer and one pair of tongs.

[arftist]

Even though I am a straight pein proponent, Sears sells a nice crosspein blacksmiths' hammer for around $25 or so.  Then start looking for used ballpein hammers wherever you go. Eventually you will have more hammers than you know what to do with, but you will always use the rounding hammer and the crosspein. If you are very lucky you might find an old straightpein somewhere and then you will have more or less have all you need for the first few years. 

[Eddie Mullins]

The one thing I don't think I saw mentioned was the handle, to me its a critical component, the handle has to feel right in my hand. Don't be afraid to reshape or replace a handle to better suite you. Handles are also often cheap at flea markets and the like.  I have several hammers now, but a couple I have gotten from Harbor freight and modified are my 2 goto hammers.

[ThomasPowers]

I have over 100 handled tools on my "hammer rack"; most of my work is done with about 5 hammers and I try to have duplicates of them for when I teach and students are sure that it's the *hammer* that makes a difference; so I can have them using the same hammer---or I will ask for their hammer and use it to fix the problem they are having.

 

Some basic advice:  as mentioned Modify the handle to suit your hand and work style!    Do NOT work with too large a hammer for your arm/muscles; what you may save in time on one job is lost in the months of downtime when you get "blacksmiths elbow"  (Now that I'm getting to be of an age; I tend to start with a lighter hammer, switch to my 1500 gm swedish crosspeen or 6# sledge with short handle for heavy work and taper down to smaller hammers as I tire.)

 

That rounding hammer is a fine one to get started with while you look for cheap used hammers at garage sales and fleamarkets.  (gotta be a pretty special hammer for me to pay more than US$5 for one though I did once run across a lynch collection sledge that I cheerfully shelled out $35 for as I remember---at a Pennsic.  My most recent high dollar hammer was a British Military issue, broad arrow, 7# straight peen; paid $10 for it in southern NM about 20 years after it's issue date....got a matching one from WWII so I can have strikers swinging the same hammer...)

[Charles R. Stevens]

You'll want to read up on dressing and modifying hammers, olds of info. A store bot hammer will give you no end of trouble until you dress the faces, and a simple hand sledge is a great starting point, to other forge or grind to shape.
I personally like rectangular profiled handles, so I go after them with my rasp and block pane.
As pointed out, joint the flee markets, old heads sands handle or with a loose handle are great!

[ThomasPowers]

Loose heads, (no handle), generally sell for a lot less and generally you have to put a handle on it anyway as the old one is shot---or they have put on a new one so badly you have to remove it anyway.  (One fleamarket once had a smithing hammer I wanted but the price was too high.  The dealer kept harping on the fact that it had a new handle---which was so badly fitted that I pulled it out of the head with my bare hands and handed it to him and asked "how much for just the head?"  I'd have to buy a new handle for it anyway and didn't want to pay handle prices for firewood...)

 

I always pick up handles when I find them cheap at the fleamarket, or store (sales, closeouts, shop damaged, etc)  You never know when you will need to replace or place a handle and having a supply to hand makes it cheaper and easier to do.  I like to store them using a fence staple in the hand end and hung vertically on a rod so they stay straighter.

 

My most used handle modification tool is a farrier's rasp.

 

Once you know your "style" you can often pick up good handles cheap that have cosmetic damage in places you will be removing anyway!

 

Learn to be able to follow the grain from one end of the handle to the other---much less likely to break than handles where the grain runs out between the head and the hand.

[rockstar.esq]

I was at a flea market a few weeks ago and saw some things that are worth passing on to you.  Lots of people abuse hammers.  I found lots of hammers with chipped heads or spalling faces where they'd been used as struck tools.

 

Hitting hardened hammers against one another is how this happens.  Hitting hardened tooling will do the same thing.  Chipped faces are a warning sign that you'll need to address before the hammer can be safely used.

 

Other than that, whatever get's you started is fair game. 

[Frosty]

Something I want to add to Rockstar's advice bout striking hammers together. Do NOT DO IT!! Those chips don't just drop off, they take off on a ballistic trajectory. If you've ever chipped a piece of hard steel the snap or even CRACK sound you hear isn't the steel breaking it's the chip breaking the sound barrier.

 

The most common serious bad result of chipping steel is losing an eye. In fact if you look at the ancients, think Odin, Zeus, Hephaestus, etc. you'll please note they're all called ONE EYE! The most common short retirement plan for blacksmiths is losing the second eye.

 

A rounding or turning hammer is a good hammer, yours will serve you well for decades or longer, I'm a big turning hammer fan, they're my most used hammers. I'm a straight pein fan as well, they really make drawing long tapers so much easier and faster.

 

I hit garage, yard, etc. sales whenever I go by one and rarely pick up anything but hammers. I started making my ow handles a while back and have really come to love slab handles. A slab handle is basically a rectangular cross section, carving a piece of straight grain 1" hickory to fit the head and shape the grip is a slab handle at it's finest. I adapted the handles Uri Hofi puts o his hammers with a few improvements of course. <wink>

 

The thing I like best about slab handles is how they index in your hand, you know exactly how the hammer face is oriented on a reflex level. I radius the edges of the handle facing the pein more heavily than the edges facing the face. That little tactile cue means I never have to double check to tell which side of the hammer I'm using. A well balanced hammer head hafted with a standard handle can be much harder to tell without looking and believe me you dot want to give a piece a hearty smack with a pein when you wanted to use the face. Think ball pein dents rather than a nice smooth plannishing blow. OUCH.

 

Let's see. . . Failure has been covered, good. As you take this ride you'll discover you fail oh so often. I think of blacksmithing as mostly failure analysis. Mistakes are not a bad thing, they're just lessons and often reveal a new trick that'll come in wonderfully handy on another project. Here's a quote I really like, I thought it was by Henry Ford but it's not on a list of his quotes so . . .

 

Men don't fail, they quit.

 

Here's one that is Henry's, "If you believe that you can do a thing or you that you can not do a thing. You're right."

 

Welcome to the craft, it's an endless learning curve. Oh, about your age; Dave Custer was about your age when he started asking questions here and he's not only selling top shelf hand forged tools he's teaching classes. Questions are good things, as is the ambition to put them to use.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Ben,

 

You ask for suggestions and you sure got a bunch...  I will add my 2c...   I start most of my young students out with a 2 pound Vaugn cross peen .  You already have a good usable small rounding hammer but I would add cross peen to your start up hammers...  Look up dressing hammers on this thread it will help a lot with your choices..  Craftsman makes a nice two pounder also and should be available in your area..   Just a note ..  One of the finest Blacksmiths that I have been privileged to know most of the pictures of him out there is him using a ball peen...  I would also add to your inventory a few ball peens ...  That should give you a great start..   Good luck on you venture. 

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

[Flint Steele]

hey Guys thanks for all of the useful tips and tricks! I wouldn't have learned half of that stuff in 3 years haha you guys have really helped me out. and inspired me! time to heat and beat!

[caintuckrifle]

Another thing to consider to is the handle on said hammer. The handle is nearly as important as the working end of many tools including hammers. I have had hammers that I just could not get to do what I wanted. For example some handles force You to really grip to hang on to the thing, add a larger meatier handle and the problem is solved. A "junk" hammer just became a whole lot better.

[Francis Trez Cole]

for your $ a good old cross peen you can shape the face to be more rounded if you like. The most important thing is just get started.

[horse]

I have been whacking away for a couple of years now and very part time at that.  My first and only hammer at the time, was the one you pictured.  I made a lot of stuff with it and knew no better.  It worked for me at the time. As time went on the projects I was working on told me what I wanted for the next hammer.  I now have a cat's head straight peen, a few ball peens (different sizes are nice depending on what you want to do) and I recently acquired a nice diagonal peen that I really like.  I still use the original hammer a lot as it feels good to me on light work.

 

As others have stated, as a pure novice I can tell you the most important thing is to start hitting some steel, getting it to move in the direction  you desire and you can have all kinds of fun with the only hammer in your  possession.  Yep just start hitting some steel, get a simple plan or project and see where you land.  You will also soon learn how to best shape your handle.  Take a little off at a time until it feels right for you.

[Admanfrd]

If you ever see a picture of an old blacksmiths shop, you will find an entire army of hammers. Each has their place, and you want the most you can get (excluding claw hammers.) but, as some will say, including me, rounding hammer with a slightly more radiused face than bought condition.