Striker hammers...what's the best size/style? Pics appreciated!

[Robert33usa]

I would like to try my luck with a striker, but not sure what type of hammer to get. I have read that the heads ranged from 6 to 12lbs and bigger. I also read some people preferred shorter handles, around 24 inches. So if anyone has experience striking, what type of hammer would you look for? My big anvil is 250lbs plus. Probably working stock 1/2 inch to 2 inches. Any suggestions on where to find one would be appreciated too. Feel free to post pics to give me ideas! So what is your perfect striking hammer.

[arftist]

My striking hammers range from 8-20 pounds in 2 pound increments. Hammers for striking tools often have shorter handles for better accuracy and a different swing is used as well. The tool striking swing is as follows; I am right handed. 

my left hand grasps the handle near the end with my palm towards my body. 

my right hand grasps the handle about one third the length of the handle from the head, with my palm facing away. The actual strike is different than any other sledge swing and feels strange at first but is very comfortable once you are used to it. 

 

My left hand moves up while my right hand moves down with the hammer pivoting in my right hand while it moves towards the work. 

 

This is not as powerful as a sliding overhead swing yet it hits very hard none the less and is extremely accurate and controlled. 

I was taught this strike by a man who was a striker for Francis Whitaker. I will try to find a video for you. 

 

When striking the hot metal itself, sometimes a full overhead blow is used, it depends upon how much power is needed. 

 

Also the strength and skill of the striker help determine hammer size. 8 or ten pounds would be a good starting point. 

[arftist]

Hmm, maybe not. Saw quite a few examples of poor technique, nothing I would recommend. Maybe I can talk the guy I am working with into shooting a short vid on striking. Check back next week. 

[windancer]

Guess that would depend on who is swinging it!

Dave

[JNewman]

I know the continental striking method has become very popular in North America but I was taught by the late Charlie Sutton, an English smith who apprenticed in the shipyards  and some industrial smiths from the steel company here in town.  They swung/swing sledges like an axe swing but with less of a hand slide than you might do with an axe.  With practice it is just as accurate as the cross handed swing.   I do think the anvil should be set a little lower for the British style of swinging.  I know Charlie mentioned the shops he worked in when he was young had the anvils set as top of the kneecap height.  The anvil was set at the best height for the striker as they were providing the power and the smith was more or less just pointing with his hammer by hitting with his hammer.  

 

Charlie used his thigh on the butt of the sledge handle to help raise the hammer.  That would help keep him striking after guys much younger ran out of stream. 

[JNewman]

Watch these guys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1XLUg9pQ-s They are not swinging their sledges cross armed,  and I think they know what they are doing and they seem to have no problem hitting the hotcut.

 

Watch these guys at about 5:40 and beyond. 

[Der_Hannes]

Hi Robert33usa!

 

This is my baby i use to work with as a striker.

 

 

 

 

The head is 3kgs -> 6,61 lb; the handle to the head is 425mm -> 16,73inches.

 

The parts i work with is mainly toolsteel for making hammers, hatchets, small anvil swages.

i do have others ( 4, 5, 6 and 8 kgs) with different size of handles but i shorten the ones i use more often down.

The head is quite soft so i get good power into the workpiece. Also the hammer is light enough to use it as a hand hammer for some situations.

This is the hammer i take with me to every smithing job and i always took it to a friend of mine ( where i help with hatchets) who only had a 6kg hammer until i gave him a 3kg as a birthday present. First thing he did: Shorten the handle and grind the face as he also liked working with mine.

 

I also like the head itself with the bulged eye.

 

I got all of my striking hammers at flea markets in rural areas for cheap money.

Sometimes you have to buy a new handle, but as most come with a long handle you can just cut the head of and set it lower.

i've got a straight peen with 4kgs which managed to destroy a whole brick barn. The head looked quite bad ( but nothing which can't be reshaped) but he knew how to use a sledge, the wood didn't have any dent.

I try to look for old ones or tradionaly made ones. I had a new one which was "machine hardened" and it sprung back like a rubber ball. After a short time my arms hurt and i never touched it again.

But this also depends on your prefers, many like the bouncing hammers!

 

By the way i do both cross armed and not.

 

Greetings,

 

Hannes

 

[Mainely,Bob]

One of the ways I learned to swing a large sledge was what was called a "full round" swing, Like the men in the background of welding up the ring in the first video were using. The advantage to this is you hit, the hammer falls away after the hit and you use the momentum of that fall to begin the follow on swing. You add force by acceleration spinning the head in a circular path. Rather than lifting the head up and powering down you just keep it spinning. I found it far less tiring than any other full power swing I was shown. As for accuracy, we used this technique to hammer up pipe unions in the oil field and could maintain a steady pace for for extended periods of time while maintaining accuracy. The length of the handle depended on the person swinging it. The only modifications we made after cutting the handle to length was to pin a ball from a large ball valve onto the end of the handle to help keep the hammer under control while maintaining a relaxed grip on the end of the handle. Some hands drilled thru the end of the handle and tied a loop of nylon line that they stuck their hand thru in order to maintain hand placement but our crew from Texas favored the ball ended hammers as we could drop them at will in order to "wing up " the unions before hammering.
   When I began striking for others I just naturally reverted back to this same oil field method. The folks I was striking for were amazed at the pace, power, and accuracy of it. I knew a few hands who could swing 2 hammers, one in each hand, using this technique but they were just showing off when they did this.

[forgemaster]

I know the continental striking method has become very popular in North America but I was taught by the late Charlie Sutton, an English smith who apprenticed in the shipyards  and some industrial smiths from the steel company here in town.  They swung/swing sledges like an axe swing but with less of a hand slide than you might do with an axe.  With practice it is just as accurate as the cross handed swing.   I do think the anvil should be set a little lower for the British style of swinging.  I know Charlie mentioned the shops he worked in when he was young had the anvils set as top of the kneecap height.  The anvil was set at the best height for the striker as they were providing the power and the smith was more or less just pointing with his hammer by hitting with his hammer.  

 

Charlie used his thigh on the butt of the sledge handle to help raise the hammer.  That would help keep him striking after guys much younger ran out of stream. 

Must be a British Commonwealth thing to strike this way, its the exact same way as I was taught to strike, (especially using the thigh to help raise the hammer).  If we were smoothing out a large crane hook (45/50 ton MS hook) on the anvil we would take it in turns, using a roundhouse style of swing, but without sliding the hand, you just held the handle near the end and went round again and again, if we were doing this we normally ended up using a flatter towards the end of the job, but at the start we would just try to smooth out all the powerhammer marks using the sledgehammer alone, (the smoother you got it on the anvil, the less time you had to spend with the angle grinder grinding (normally took about 2 full days to grind a big hook)).

 

Phil.