SJS

Yep, your grip is probably most of your problem... You can't choke the hammer to death! You have to consciously maintain a loose grip on the hammer. Sword grip, and Hofi style grips you are only holding on enough to keep the hammer from flying off on its own, and to guide it where you need it to go. This is one of those things that if you had someone who knew what they were talking about with you, they could show you in less than 5 minutes, but is hard to put into words. Part of what I am preaching when I say let the hammer do the work is, tell the hammer what to do (provide the guidance), get the hammer to the jobsite (swing at the steel), then kinda stand back and see what the hammer does with your instructions... You should almost disconnect yourself from the hammer's blow. You lift the hammer, you begin the swing, you accelerate through the arc, and you aim at what you are aiming at, (with the appropriate angle to the hammer face), and you hold on only enough to keep a hold of the hammer. After you give the hammer its instructions, its up to the hammer to get the job done... After the Hammer has delivered the blow to the metal, you lift it up, to see what work was accomplished, and start the next blow. You impart the energy to the hammer, but you allow the hammer to deliver the energy. You cannot grip hard enough to do more work by sheer force of will, or push the hammer deeper into the metal. You have to rethink those ideas, you have to be conscious of the fact that they are false, and destructive. When you try to do that you are ultimately hurting yourself. When you are hammering correctly, you let the hammer do the work. You just pick it back up, and guide it swiftly back to the work. You don't really want to be holding on that hard when you hit, because that feed back can do damage. Swinging "harder" doesn't do more work, swinging "faster" does. But "faster" doesn't have to be strenuous. If you learn good technique. If you learn to stack accelerations by raising your hammer higher, swinging the handle, as well as your arm. If you time your movements properly you can crack the whip, and get a great deal of acceleration. Which translates into kinetic energy that will move the steel. If you learn to do it right, and you don't work past your endurance, so you start using bad technique again, it shouldn't hurt, and you should be able to do this for a long time... The other issue is DON'T wear a glove on your hammer hand, it will cause you to want to gripe harder than you should. With the size stock you should be working as a beginner you don't really need a glove on your hammer hand, and it will cause considerably more problems than it solves. You should wear the appropriate protective gear for the job you are doing, there are LOTS of jobs where you need to wear gloves, hammering smaller stock (under 1") isn't one of them. Another consideration is finding your rhythm, when you are swinging you will hopefully find a nice natural rhythm for the hammer you are working with. It helps to play into that rhythm and look for it. Don't rush things work at the pace that your body thinks is appropriate for THAT hammer, and THAT work. Pushing too fast is more strenuous and is harder on you. Find the natural rhythm that works for you, with the tools you have. It helps

I try to do the crude heavy forging before the detail work. So I develop my pattern for a hook let's say, forge out the hook end and punch the screw hole then work on the horse head or the dragon finial. Don't want to loose any of the details you forged in or mar them with the tongs... The other thing I do is stack 3-20 pieces in the gas forge and do each step on all the pieces before moving on so they stay consistent. Haven't read up on the academic opinions. Can't help you there;-)

Jesse you are going to have to take it easy, tendonitis doesn't just go away if you keep irritating it. Order a copy of Hofi's "Ergonomic Hammer Technique", and maybe Doug Lockheart's "How to Swing a Hammer Like A Girl" or if you are a member of a blacksmithing group (ABANA or one of it's affiliates) get one or both through the library. I haven't seen either video, but I have seen Hofi's techniques taught before and done right it works beautifully, for people who are learning I generally suggest that they use his technique, retraining is harder. Doug's video was developed out of some problems he was having with tendonitis, so I think it might help, and I like Doug. But to not irritate your arm and cause an ongoing problem you are going to need to learn a really good hammer technique! You should also scale your projects to your physical limitations for the moment, don't be so ambitious to start with, learn technique then focus on the cool projects. Work HOTTER, most beginners make the mistake of pulling the steel out at just about the temp they should be putting it back into the fire... If you are trying to forge 3/4" coil spring, it had better be at a Yellow to start, and a dull orange to quit. Even if you scale things back to more reasonable stock for a beginner, you should get in the habit of working the steel in the best forging range for that steel. Everything works a lot better at the proper forging temp for that operation. Planishing, and breaking corners, and shearing the biscuit out of a punched hole all can be done a much lower temp, and work better at lower temps. Heavy forging, deep bending, hot cutting, and punching should be done HOT, Yellow to Orange, the steel is just so much more plastic at those forging temps. More controlled bending and twists I think should be done in a middle range in the Dull Orange to Cherry Red. Try making a smaller set of scrolling tongs, out of 3/8"-1/2" coil spring if you are set on tool making. There is a nice picture I posted in another thread on tong making of Steve Parker's tong making story board. You should be able to search here for it... Lots of good information, here on IForgeiron. Read on

I had a cute girl at the optometrists office talk me out of big glasses years ago, and go with some stupid stylish glasses. Then I had a chunk of scale jump off the work and cartwheel over the worthlessly small safety glass "stylish" glasses and adhere to my cornea!!! Had an ER doc knock the scale off, then had to make a second trip for an ophthalmologist to use a tiny dremel to remove the rust from my cornea. They didn't give me cream or anything, but letting someone use a dremel on your eye, isn't something I want to repeat, not that it hurt or anything, just goes against all your natural defenses, letting anyone touch your eyeball... Of course the next time I got glasses I got the largest frames and the biggest lens available... Over reacting is a specialty I suppose;-) My nose was bruised for 3 months the glasses were safety "Glass" cause I was also tired of the plastic and polycarb scratching... Lots of lessons learned: not too small, not too big, not too heavy, but still good coverage, and a few scratches never hurt nearly as much as Coke bottle glasses bruising your nose;-) I am unashamed about letting other people learn from my mistakes, I try to learn from them, and I don't want people getting hurt or wasting money when they can learn the easy way, instead of the hard way... A wise man can be taught, a fool is lucky if he learns the hard way, most fools are untrainable...

Bacha I worked for years with just a right angle grinder, and most of the time not even a very good one. I could practically do hollow grinds with it;-) Look around down in South America you might find some cool tools, a friend of mine has knifemaker facebookfreinds and saw some pictures of a very interesting 2x72 belt grinder design from Argentina, and he started building them here in the US. You might look around in the neighborhood so to speak;-)

I go to church in my safety glasses, they are a given... You only have to protect anything you would like to keep, or don't want damaged. I almost never wear shorts, or shoes without a protective rating;-)

I used to go into the shop, put on a respirator, and the work tunes hearing protection...

Traditionally a top tool had a smaller eye than a hammer... You were supposed to use a lighter handle, just incase the striker missed, or glanced off and hit the handle or kicked the tool out of your hand. It also left more mass in the area where the force was being transferred through, less likely to deform the eye...

The Blu Max's ratio isn't nearly as good as the Iron Kiss's, so the Blu will bounce things around a lot more... But if you use an isolation footing, separate from the slab, it should dampen the vibration quite a bit. Depending on the subsoil and how good a job you do actually getting it isolated;-) Lots of options that work for some people and sometimes not for others. There are lots of threads on this topic, read, and reread them, and see what works for you. My hammer was 15 yards from the house, and I could be whaling away on steel at 2am and my wife wasn't bothered by the vibration or the sound... YMMV;-)

Grant Sarver's thumbnail rule is 25 CFM per 100# of weight of the hammer for a Utility/Steam hammer. You can get a 7.5 HP single phase compressor that will do 22-23 CFM for around 2k new. Which if you are mainly using it with top tooling flat die style is just fine 90-95% of the time. You would notice the lag doing production drawing where you just blow through the free air... They do make 10 HP rotary screw compressors single phase units, but they are expensive 6-11K but you get like 35-45CFM. The Utility style hammers are very versatile, but honestly are a little more expensive to set up and run because of the expense of the separate compressor. BUT they have great control, and most of the time a good amounts of space between the dies. The Iron Kiss 100, and the KZ100, are probably superior to the Blu Max 110, but they all are very versatile and worth having in the shop. A decent sized compressor is pretty noisy if it is just in your shop, and you will want to isolate it from the main shop to protect the air intake, and to reduce the noise. You will be better off piping your hammers exhaust out of the shop completely, wether it is a utility or a self contained, you don't want the sound or the oil droplets causing problems for you. The self contained hammers chug on along when they are on. They have great control also, and you can sneak up on your tooling if you are doing light work, something that is hard to do on a mechanical hammer at all. Most of the hammers available in the states have decent air between the dies, about the same as the Big Blu or a little smaller. They are available with options to enable you to run them on 230 single phase, and for a big purchase probably offer the best value and control. Here the old used industrial hammers are the cream of the crop, the Massey Clear Span, the Nazel, the Beche. The new hammers that are still in production like the Sahinler, the Anyang, the Striker are all good hammers, and I would prefer them to a LG or a tire hammer any day of the week... If money weren't a factor, but it always is... so its not really a fair statement;-)

Isn't L6 designed to NOT break, but to bend and smear instead. I think doing a differential tempering, instead of hardening would improve proformance... The other comments might be true and useful as well, but I think I would harden the whole thing, and then temper the struck end two or three times. It is much less likely to spall badly being L6... Keep it dressed of course, but it won't be as bad as some other steels...

Agreed Jim they would look better in my shop too;-) I need to get around to making top tools... They do look good as they are, a little more cheek would be nicer, but they look good as they are.

I am right handed and have the horn to the left, but I shoe horses. I also often stand very close to the anvil with my hip almost touching the anvil. Which would put the hardie dangerously near my hammer hand. If you have ever seen or used the Hofi Ergonomic hammer method? You often hammer with your hand over the face of the anvil quite a bit... If you have a London Pattern anvil with the hardie in you could end up over it inadvertently... I don't make nails very often, but if I was setting up to do that, I might stand on the other side of the anvil to keep the hardie away form my hand, (since I shoulder the nail stock with my handle parallel to the near edge of the anvil...) then I could forge the taper, nick and twist off in the header stuck in the pritchel hole, nice work flow right to left... with just a little repositioning... There are lots of ways that people present themselves to the anvil, you might not be in any danger, or it could be impossibly small. For me the way I forge, it is a good practice to just pull it out. You might be very attentive and aware of your surroundings. I get totally absorbed in what I am doing, and become less aware of things around me. I have struck my hand on a turning fork that I left in the hardie hole, if it had be a hot cut I would been in a world of hurt... I am willing to entertain the idea that I an idiot, but I doubt it;-) Seat belts save lives, statistic prove that, if being a little overly cautious save me a finger or two I'm all for that. I know industrial smiths, who wont put their hand under the dies of the steam hammer without a block set between the dies, to provide a kiss block to keep their hand from being inadvertently forged out too thin... The older I get the less I like to risk, anything I would like to keep...

They are worth having, and despite peoples comments, I loved them, but I am a power hammer GEEK;-) The sound quality is bad, and the video is bad in places, and there are places where Clifton is just shuffling around the hammer with the motor running, but the information is priceless. It's kinda like the internet you have to wade through the stuff you don't want or need, to get to the good stuff.

Thank you all, and it was nice meeting you Jim, wish I could have made the trip up to your shop... Here is the link to the groups website where you can see the finished sign. I forged the big dragon head finials for the uprights, but I didn't get my square finished in time to be added to the initial rows of squares. Hopefully they will do a new round of squares with some of the new members, and they will all get added to the sign. '> Sorry I couldn't figure out how to just paste it in,,, properly

I was over at the forge masters shop for our local blacksmith's group and saw this grill section I did in 2007. Still pretty cool. I did a historic style shoe, the knife, an anvil, and the dragon heads. Need to take a dremel in and polish the bits that were shiney... It will get added to the Rocky forge sign if they ever get around to running another row of sections...

You have to be smarter than your smart phone and the stupid windows 8.... Hopefully this works;-)

I would carve the tank down to where the inside volume of the forge was about 1000-1400 cubic inches, and stick adjustable doors on each end. The doors will help with fuel efficiency, you need to vent the forge, but you don't need the ends completely open all the time. Having the burners 5" or 6" apart should be adequate I would guess if you cut it down to about 18" in length. With two 1" burners you might want at least a 40# cylinder or a 100#, if you run both burners off of the same tank I would bet you will freeze up too quickly on a 20# cylinder. I haven't tried the 1" burners yet, so I don't have real experience with this...

Non competition clause in their work contract could help, but basically you have to hire people who "seem" honest, and hope that they don't rip off your idea. The problem with blacksmithing is if I can see it, I can replicate it, and anyone who has been in your shop and done it is just that much better equipped to beat them out on their own...

Why is What We Do Important? I think that the "can do" attitude that blacksmithing engenders is one of the most important aspects of blacksmithing. The knowledge that you can make things is empowering, the feeling of competence is reassuring. We have specialized down to the point that people often don't think that they can do for themselves. A self imposed helplessness. Since we have shifted from a society of producers, to a service society we have hairdressers, nail salons, lawn services, arborist, laundry services, cleaning services, tax preparers, daycare services, schools, butchers, green houses, dairies, etc... Don't misunderstand me I am not advocating for being completely self-sufficient, living off the land and shunning modern technology or services, but it does seem like some people can barely take care of themselves. Does it take a village to raise an idiot? I believe a certain amount of self-sufficiency is healthy, being untrained and inept at basic skills to survive, can hardly be a good survival skill. Learning to blacksmith teaches you that you can make things for yourself, and as pointed out previously those items are uniquely your own, if not superior to what you can buy. Learning to cook, or to sew, or to garden can also be empowering, and give you a sense of contentment and fulfillment. Learning that you can do. That you can make things yourself is a step in the right direction, passively accepting how things are will generally not get you to a place where you want to go... In a consumer society you can create wealth by becoming a producer. Sometimes learning skills, changes your perspective, and your attitude. Sometimes that makes all the difference. Psychology has show that people are happier if they have meaningful work to keep them busy, and meaningful relationships to help them feel connected and secure. I would maintain that blacksmithing is meaningful work;-)

The article list the forge sizes as 12" diameter by 9" deep with 2" of Kaowool, and then you put doors on it. If you were to use the whole cylinder you would need several burners

We are made in the image of our Creator, it would stand to reason that we might want to be creative as well... There is job satisfaction in mastering the processes, and in seeing the fruit of your own hand. There is also the value of the unique handmade products in a world of mass produced disposable consumer goods. If I could produce a thousand trinkets a day, they would be of a certain perceived value. If I can only make one a week, there is generally a higher perceived value. Plus when I make something, it is REAL, it doesn't feel hollow and cheap, or chintzy. On a slightly more dysfunctional note... Often times social and psychological issues stress people out and make them feel out of control. Learning to blacksmith (or any other craft or skill) provides them with something to focus on, and sense of in this small "important" area of my life, I have control. For many people who have no greater ambition than to relax and enjoy themselves, the physicality of the work, and having something to show for their efforts pays emotional dividends. A lot of people have no job satisfaction in their occupation, but derive great satisfaction from pounding on hot iron, and producing a humble bottle opener... On a more positive note... Blacksmithing allows you to produce your own tools, hardware, and historical household goods, that you might not be able to find or afford otherwise. This displays a healthy psychology, an optimistic self reliance, and a can do attitude. Some people never allow poverty or anything else to be a hindrance to them achieving their goals. For me personally I love being creative, in all kinds of different ways, but particularly blacksmithing. I really enjoy making tools. I really enjoy coming up with designs that are visually interesting and unique. I like being self reliant, but I have to admit blacksmithing is something of an obsession with me, it occupies my thoughts, and holds my attention, more than is reasonable or healthy I suspect... Not quite dysfunctional enough to make me a great artist, I suspect;-) but I am pretty good... I think about how people think, and think about blacksmithing...

Hopefully the sight of a little blood will keep everyone honest... Just because it hasn't killed you (or someone else) yet, doesn't mean it wont!!! Being stupid is 100% fatal, with some people it just takes longer...

I have it in the oven, @ 350 right now... I wire brushed the bit back to where it hardened to, and left the oil blackened scale on the rest of the body. I left my sword quenching tank, and the 5 gal bucket of ATF at a friends house across the state, along with my hammer making tongs, so I didn't have any way to oil quench the thing. Steve did a marvelous job, a file would barely make it shine, and the eye is much softer. It looks real good two tone black and silver like it is. I have had it in for an hour, I will rub it with bacon grease, and call it a finish. I have the handle ready just need to apply the bacon wax;-)