brianbrazealblacksmith

Nice, Mike!

Thanks, Lyle! I was hoping you would chime in on this. Hey, Alec, why don't you chime in a bit.

I've been using a rounding hammer from day one. I started as a farrier. I did a lot of forging as a farrier and used mostly the round side for most of my forging especially when distorting and changing the dimension of the material because the surface area contact is so much less than the flat side. I don't call it my style, but several others have. I forge my hammers with a striker and top tools like they have been done for a long time. Similarly in the way Alfred Habermann was teaching in the Chech Republic where they would forge smaller repouse' hammers. This is an old way of deviding a piece of metal up and forging a hammer. Also, for those that believe I am trying to claim that I claiming the best hammer and peddling it to the gullible. I never maid any such claims. I don't have any hammers for sale, and I will only make one if someone asks. I'd rather show and help someone make their own. I have only stated that a properly ground rounding hammer has more surfaces available to forge with. It does not have to be mine. Hofi and everyone that learned from Hofi, like Tom Clark and others, make rounding hammers with a very good grind. I get calls quite a bit from people wanting a rounding hammer like mine, and I refer them to Hofi, Brent Bailey, and Nathan Robertson.

Timothy, I've been trying to communicate the choices of surfaces of my hammer and anvil since I have been around other blacksmiths. They did not seem to understand very well when I would just do it. It was too much too fast, so I started slowing down, and I had the anvil in my avatar made to help explain. I started using a striker with top tools to show what I was doing with my hammer and anvil. To me there is not much difference in hand work, working with a striker, or forging with a power hammer, and choosing the appropriate dies and holding your material between them will do what it will do. It is a simple matter, but can be challenging to communicate with others.

Dan P, you still have not answered the question that I asked. You may have answered the question that you think I asked. I'll ask another way and I'll just ask one question. What would be the surface profile or outline of hammer face that you would choose to strike the surface of a1/2 inch square bar while cutting that bar hot with a hot cut hardy in your anvil?

Francis, Alfred Habermann stressed the importance of the cheeks to give more surface area contact on the handle and dissipate stress. He called it the house for the handle. What does that have to do with this thread?

Dan P, the reason I call it a die is because I am trying to communicate the best surface of the hammer to use. So would you please answer my question and tell us what surface of the hammer you would choose to cut a piece of steel on a hot cut hardy. What type of hammer and what surface of that hammer you would choose?

Fancy? I thought I was being plain. Top die means your hammer surface, top tool, top die in a power hammer or other device. Half hammer faced blow over thenear or far side of your anvil is where you strike with your hammer half on and half off the edge of the anvil with your material between. You can see what I'm talking about in the video.

Dan P, when you cut a piece of steel on a hot cut hardy, what do you use as a top die? When you do half hammer faced blows on the near or far edges of your anvil, what do you use as the top die?

A properly ground rounding hammer with a squared flat face has more dies or surfaces available to forge with.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pCiMitLk5GI

Francis, I have shown this very same use of the rounding hammer long before I got around any other blacksmiths. The first blacksmithing conference that I attended and demonstrated at was in 1998 at Vista, California. I demonstrated the same type of leaf in steel. I never had heard of Hofi or Habermann until 2002 while I was with Tom Clark. I made my first rounding hammer for Alfred Habermann in 2006.

A properly forged and ground rounding hammer is best for most general forging. Why? Because it has more forging surfaces available than any other hammer man has ever come up with. A squashed ball instead of half dome will give you many different radii according to the degree that you tilt it. Grinding the flat side with straight sides will give you a longer straight peen and cross peen when tilted accordingly. The normal farriers rounding hammer is round on both sides and does not give as many dies or surfaces to forge with. I also have many different hammers that I use from time to time for very specific reasons, but for most of my work I choose the rounding hammer that has been ground to give me the widest range of surfaces to choose from. Hofi's rounding hammers are a good example of a properly ground rounding hammer.

Ok, trying this again..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E18lLSoQPc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

You've come a long way Dave. Nice job!

Thanks, Jason! I could not have said it better.

Too much surface area contact.

The tapered shank allows the hardy to wedge in tight so it does not wobble. A sharp blow to the side will release it. Hold onto it while you release it. The first hit while you are cutting should set it. I am not able to post any videos right now, but maybe someone else out there can do so. Once you evidence it, you'll see. If I could I'd show both styles and others, so the whole world could see. I've been showing it for many years now, but not many have ever tried it until these past three years. You'll see, or you can stay behind with the rest.

Thanks Alec but my trouble seems to be making a file in imovie to get it on You Tube.... ay suggestions? :0

Picture frame.

Ridgeway forge, it is already in "Slitter Geometry", a thread started back in 2009. It covers thin and thick stock and different shaped holes. Try all the different ways out, and report back. I've done that, Dave's done that, and a few people I've shared it with have done the same. "Knowledge comes from experience." Einstein

It is a drift that is forged in such a way that it opens up a slot that you have punched to a square hole diagonally to the rod or bar that you punched a slot into. I can't post any pictures, but it is posted in a thread called " Slitter Geometry".

Looking good, Gaylan!

Here's the video explaining half hammer faced blows with the flat die of my hammer with the material held at an angle on the anvil. Thanks, David, for coming by and taking the video, and thanks for the smoked turkey, also. P1010604.MOV

Good job, Dave! MOblacksmith0530, you will get the "bow out" when opening a slot on the diagonal. Using an undersized diagonal slot opening drift and a larger or true sized square drift next will help a lot.