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So I am dressing my first hammer (a small 2.5 lb drill hammer) based on what I have read in various threads. Despite all those description, I am a bit unsure whether I am doing this correctly, so I'd like people to comment based on those pictures. Note that I can't test it yet by beating on hot steel, as I don't have a forge yet. But I'm going to an event next week where I will have the opportunity to do it so I'd like to show up with a useable hammer. Initial configuration of the hammer: After my attempt at dressing it: Should I sand it some more or does it look fine like that? Considering that this is a small drilling hammer, is it worthwhile to make the other end of the hammer into a cross pein?

Hello everyone! Dave here from South East Pennsylvania. I have been using this sight frequently as it is arguably the best consolidated reference point on the web. I appreciate all of the input and shared expertise that this forum has to offer, and all of the people who have taken time away from forge and family to share it. I hope to some day be able to contribute to the community as well. About 3 months ago my friend and I decided we were done talking about blacksmithing and decided to dive in head first. We sourced an old 14" Champion blower and a decent 70lbs anvil of indistinguishable origin, bought some cheap paving stones and made a very basic and amateur forge from it. We designed, built, and fired our forge up and were heating steel to an orange glow in an afternoon. Shortly thereafter however, we realized that we had only made a forge capable of heating small projects (predominantly 1/2" rebar). We made a few changes based on information I read here and managed to get our forge to be more powerful. We are now confident that our proof of concept forge was a success, and are trying to get deeper into the wonderful world of smithing. Now down to the brass tax. We would very much like to find the best design for a simple coal forge for bit or anthracite coal. We are seeking good advice for where exactly to go from here. I can upload some pictures of where we are at now shortly but in the meantime I would really love some guidance to a good forge design that will keep us heating and beating. I look forward to hearing anything you guys have to offer. Thanks in advanced!