forgeaway

I picked up some large Ball Peen Hammers, I've found lots of info already on forging them into Tomahawks... Question: My Ball Peens seem to have a variety of hole diameters for the handle, all of which seem small for a Hawk. Do most people use a drift to enlarge the original hole for a hawk? Thanks...

So a little research has brought up some discussion about some smiths prefer normalized (soft) hammer faces because they are still harder than forging temperature steels but they won't dent or mar the anvil. They say its easier to re-dress your hammer once in a while then the anvil. Any more opinions on hardened vs. soft cutler's hammer faces? Thanks Frosty for your insight and for the warm welcome. Been lurking for a long time, happy to be here.

Hello Gents, I'm in the process of making a 2.5# "Japanese cutlers hammer" (dog face hammer). I saw a post recently that some smiths how make these hammers offer them in "fully Normalized" or Hardened. So it begs the question: why would you want Normalized over Hardened? or vise versa. Also, if your going for a hardened face, how hard do you want it? Thanks, I'll be using this hammering bevels on small -medium sized blades. Much appreciated!