first hammer

[junker]

ok so i just bought my first hammer... it's light enough for me that i don't get overly tired swinging it for long periods of time and i can hit pretty accurately with it... but i need your thoughts on the hammer itself... will it serve my purposes as a beginner? don't be afraid to speak your minds, i still have the receipt. :)

[easilyconfused]

It looks like it will work for a while. Hard to tell without using it though to tell if it's hardened well or not. One thing you should do before using it is sand the varnish off and flatten the sides up a bit. Don't take too much off at once and experiment a bit to find what feels right. The varnish will tire your hands out though and make your hammer control a pain in the neck from it slipping. A smooth handle is a must to prevent blisters but a slippery hammer is bad too.

4lbs. Wowzers. I know I'm out of shape now but even when I was, I prefered 2.5- 3lbs but I know many smiths who can handle it. Just incase though, if your body starts to hurt, you may want a lighter hammer. I'd go out and say get another lighter one to use at the start and end as a warm up and cool down like one of the other smiths on here said in another thread (Can't remember who of the top). Another thing I got told is that lighter is better for evenness of the hammering for finishing because you can go faster. Just a thought for the next one, because there will be more coming home with you. The next one you might want a peen on it too, particularily a cross or straight peen. And the next one...and the next one.....until you have a variety of peens, including ballpeins.

It looks fine for a start though. Keep experimenting and don't over look flea markets, garage sales and auctions for sources of hammers that you can rework into better hammers. Do a search on the forums and you'll find lots of threads on remaking them.

[junker]

the handle isn't varnished... thanks for the concern though... im 16 so this is my light hammer, my other is 8ibs, now that things a beast , but what do you mean by smooth down the sides?

[Ian]

I'd say you should go with a lighter hammer first and keep that one for using on tools (punches, chisels etc etc) certainly until you know your swing is okay. You need a swing that feels loose but has the speed and control and power needed. Look at the Hofi technique for instance. People tear themselves up going at it hell for leather, ask around. A lighter hammer is faster and has a smaller face which means it will still hit pretty hard, you won't lose too much in the way of what you can move compared to the other benefits.
An engineers ball pein hammer of 2 1/2lbs is a good starter. They have a pretty sharp face so a flap disc to soften the edges is a good idea for a begginner, less likely to put big dents in something with a missed blow.
Failing that then a straight peen hammer of same weight is just as good.
My favourite is a left handed diagonal cross pein that I made with Glenn Moon in Oz.

[Charlotte]

I'd like to second Ian's advice. Most of the smiths I know use something like a 2 1/2 or so hammer.

If you look at the Hoffi hammer threads you will get an Idea of the fundamentals of a general purpose smithing hammer. I've only known one smith that routinely used a 3000 gm ( around 3.5 lfbs) as his primary hammer.

Hammering at the anvil is not about weight but about hitting with certainty and precision.
Please take a look at Mr. Hofi's tutorials.

[junker]

i do have a 3ibs hammer but it has an incredibly short handle... the reason i got the 4 pounder is because the 3ibs hammer felt WAY to light... i felt like i was smacking the steel with a stick

[DKForge]

Junker what type of smithing do you do or plan on doing that you use a 4 and 8 lb. hammer. Just wondering before I make my recommendation.

[junker]

anything and everything i can wrap my head around:D... and the 8ibs hammer was just an example... while i do have it i don't plan on using it for everyday smithing... i was just trying to state that im really not worried about the weight of my 4ibs hammer... im just trying to get advice on the shape of hammer i should be using (seeing as i am a complete beginner) and/ or if there is anything i should do to the hammer i posted pics of to make it any better:D

[DKForge]

Ok Junker, with that in mind I would use a 1.5-3 lb rounding hammer to start or start with a ball pein or cross pein. I just don't think the 4lb sledge you have is what will serve your purpose as a beginner looking to forge hot steel by hand. You mentioned you didn't think the 3 lber you had was heavy enough as it found like you were hitting with a stick. I saw your post with the photo of your anvil and you might want to look at a couple of things. Are you getting your stock hot enough, can you improve your anvil and are you using efficient hammering technique. All of those things can lead you to believe you need a new hammer when it might be an accumulation of issues.

Good luck.

[junker]

thank you... i'll look into it... going to re-handle my 3ibs anyways, cause it's split, i'll just put a good long one on and give it a try... course my 3ibs is a sledge- style too lol:D but i'll give it a try... i do have a 2 1/2ibs ball peen with a fiberglass handle i could give a try too :p

[Ramsberg]

Junker,

A grave word of warning!

When one is young, such as you are, ones muscles are VERY strong, however ones tenons are NOT and require a much more substantial period of time to develop then the muscles.

Thusly even if the 8 lb or 4 lb hammer "feels" light to your muscles, it doesn't feel light to your tenons! You won't notice the damage you do to your tenons now for another 10 years or so, however tenon damage is generally not capable of being repaired.

If you over do it now, at twice your age(just 32) your tenons could be damaged to the extent of an average 64 year old.

I know that you were just asking about the hammer shape, but I have known fellows who used a 4 lb or more hammer when your age and then in their 30's began to experience devestating pain from torn and damages tenons. The only thing that could be done for them was to take pain pills daily.

A 2 lb hammer with a proper and fast swing will move more metal per hour then a 4 lb hammer with a bad and slow swing!

That 2 1/2 lb ball peen hammer is the one that you should be using. Personally I don't care for fiberglass handles and would replace it with a wooden one, but that is just me.

From what you have said it sounds like you are trying to punch the iron with the hammer, this is very ineffective. Work on your swing and try to make it a snapy, very loose and smooth swing, even when working 3/4" or 1" stock I find a 2 1/2 to 3 lb hammer to be plenty heavy. When punching or drifting a heavier hammer with a shorter handle is very usefull, beyond that not so much.

I did not intend to make this out to be a lesson or such, I just don't want to see a buding blacksmith cause irreversible damage to their body when a good warning could stop it from happening.

Caleb Ramsby

Edited April 20, 2009 by Ramsberg

[jimbob]

Junker make your hand like your holding your hammer and look at the the hole between your thumb and fore finger...that is the natural shape your handle should be . also if you get/have a cross pein hammer the pein should be blunt about like your little finger is wide
with no sharp edges.also you need to remove the sharpe edges on your 4 lb hammer. if you look at each face one should be flat the other rounded; no sharp edges
look at this link http://www.abana.org/downloads/controlled_hand_forging/CHF_18.pdf
also see the whole bunch of them [ABANA] Controlled Hand Forging

[junker]

thanks for the advice guys... especially the tendon one ... could i some how convert this hammer to a cross peen and get a ball peen... sadly the ball peen i have is more correctly my father's so i can't put a wood handle on it

[jimbob]

go up to the blue print section (top right) spend some time reading them there is a load of information there.

[unkle spike]

The biggest I use is a 3 pounder, that four would seem heavy to me....

[easilyconfused]

the handle isn't varnished... thanks for the concern though... im 16 so this is my light hammer, my other is 8ibs, now that things a beast , but what do you mean by smooth down the sides?

Thought it looked varnished by the shine in the photos no problem if it isn't coated. If you look at a hofi hammer, the sides are flat. This helps you keep your hammer square to the work easier than a rounder handle does.

[junker]

ok thanks... judging from what i've heard here i'll most likely buy my dad's 3 pounder off of him and re-handle it, and then return this 1 to pay for the handle and a 2 1/2 - 3ibs ball peen:D

[jimbob]

Hey Junker, start checking out the yard sales and flee markets in your area, no telling what you'll find .

[Ramsberg]

Hi Junker,

Now your on the right track!

It is VERY easy to get into the, "Swing a big hammer" thing, especially when one is young and first starting.

It "feels" like your getting a lot more done, but in the long run you usually are not and as I pointed out before most likely causing "invisible" damage!

A few more points, some that I wish I had heard and followed when I was starting out.

1: Pay attention to how long it takes you to make a series of pieces.

It is very good practice to work with 1/2" square stock and make fire pokers or such with it.

One way to keep an eye on your progress is to make a group of items, such as fire pokers. All in one forging session, say three pokers in a row, doing the poker ends of them all first, then the handles of them and finally the center, puting in a twist or such.

Note the time when you begin and end each group section, such as the time when you start the poker ends and when you end them. Also note the number of heats it takes per operation. Write all of this down and keep a running record. This may seem like a bother, but it only takes a few seconds and can be very enlightening.

This will allow you too see your progress, especially your fatigue if you are able to work a whole day at the forge. Such as, make a whole bunch of the same thing all day, in sets of three or more. Then compare how long it took you to finish your first sets and last sets.

If there is a major difference between how long it takes for the first and last sets then you are probably still using a hammer that is too heavy!

2: It is very difficult to acquire an effecient and healthy swing, especially when working alone.

One option is to video tape yourself hammering and study the body motion before, during and after a swing. It should be fluid and not herky-jerky.

The imagination plays a major role in all of this.

Imagine that the hammer head is made of a bouncy rubber and not a hard steel. This is what it should respond like when hammering.

It is simular to bouncing a basketball. One does not force down the ball with their might, they flick it down with a loose wrist. Try pushing a basketball down torwads the ground without flicking your wrist, it will still go there, but you will have a lack of control, it will not move as fast and you will very quickly get tired!

Just prior to the strike you should almost let go of the hammer handle and give a quick flick of the wrist. Nothing drastic, but it's effect can be massive on the accuracy and power of the blow. Not to mention the rebound energy that is achieved from this loose grip, which tends to propell the hammer back over your head!

It is also simular in a way to striking a drum. If you have ever struck one you might have noticed that there is a substantial rebound from the drum head, which would be deadened if you were to try and push the drum stick through the head!

Well, I hope that this helps some and I have not been too confusing of long winded!

Caleb Ramsby

[Reid Neilsen]

Amen to all the good advice so far on this thread!

I'll give you my opinion(which aint worth a mountain of horse apples to more than a select few...):

Blacksmiths are awfully particular about their hammers - its you main tool!
I was trained to forge primarily with a German-style 2.5lb crosspien. My hammer technique is so ingrained that if I tried to work with another hammer, I'd probably short circuit! As such I am partial to crosspiens. You should pick ONE hammer that is your MAIN hammer for FORGING - and treat it better than your woman!!! I treat mine like it is solid gold - I never use it for striking any other tooling and dont use it to work anything COLD(no matter how small). Its face is ground and polished to perfection because marks in your hammer transfer to the work. I have a 4lb sledge(also with a pristene ground face) next to my anvil stump when I need a more solid blow WHILE FORGING(like when I am doing heavy drawing down or re-sizing stock. I use a cheap 3lb sledge for striking other tooling. It is sacrificial and I just keep grinding the big divits out of it when it gets bad. So it sounds like a pain in the you-know-where, but I have 2 or 3 hammers that I use a lot. ONE of which is my MAIN hammer.

The one you showed in the photo liiks like a solid hammer. WAAAY to heavy for me, but if you are a hobbyist smith or just young and strong, you can do that for a while. It is kind of like golf, tennis or even batting in baseball. No matter what hammer you pick, practice your stroke until you have ABSOLUTE hammer control in terms of angle(ie, the point of contact - face / pien), the force and economy of motion/energy. If you find yourself in a position where you might actually want to do this for a living, there will be times where you have to throw a hammer all day every day. You need a technique that allows you to do that for many years. I got tennis elbow a few years back from forging and had to re-think my technique, especially considering that I wanted to do this professionally.

Here is one I'd recommend(if you can afford it)
Item # S40 at this link:Blacksmithing_Hammers


Happy Hammerin'!:)

[junker]

thanks again for the advice... i have returned the hammer and am getting a 2 1/2 - 3ibs ball peen and a handle for the 3 pounder... as for a cross peen, searching ebay and craiglist, and such as there are no blacksmith or ferrier suppliers out where i live (supprising seeing as it is horse country), probably gonna end up having to just use the edge of my ghetto anvil until i get good enough to make 1... that's pretty much my only option with all my tools... but when i get my hammers i'll post pics so you guys can give me advice on what to do to make them more servicable

[brian.pierson]

Junker,

When I first started out, I purchased my cross pein in a home depot type store. I have seen them in our local one in Indiana. might be worth looking there. I don't remember the size i saw.

Just an FYI.

Brian

[jw223]

Junker- ask the guys at your local scrap yard to keep an eye out for old hammers with or without handles. I asked one time while unloading some shear droppings, and on my next trip back, they had a small pile of old tools that had come in from somewhere. i ended up with two ball peins, a crosspein, and a few worn autobody dollies. These were welded to some square bar and i use them as forming stakes. The hammers needed handles, but for less than $20.00 total, I ended up with six new tools. The hammers weren't great, but I'm not a pro either-they don't get used 12 hrs a day! After refinnishing the faces, and the peins, I got some pretty usable tools. Plus, for what I paid, if I find something better or trade them off, I won't feel bad at all! good luck-
jw223

[CBrann]

I kept thinking I needed a 4 or 5 lb hammer for regular smithing, but after trying to swing my 3 lb crosspein all day, I am thinking I want a 4 or 5 pounder for working the flatter, hot cutting heavy steel, or other large swage tooling or texturing.

A smaller better controlled hammer will do more work than a large sloppily used warclub. Work on good technique, take care of your body, you only get one, and replacement never work as well as original equipment. I am a rigger for a living, I need my shoulders to pull rope and chain, so working to forge till my shoulder falls off is not a good idea.

Did you know that you can strengthen your muscles so much you can pull the tendons off the bone, sometimes even pulling a piece of bone with it? Commonly done with the tricep muscle, also easily done with the muscles around the knees too!!

[new guy]

get a simple 2lb sledge. i am 6'2" and 15 but i am in the process of making a smaller hammer. 4lbs is more than you need for 90% of your work. a small precise hammer is the best. make a hammer if you cannot find one. good luck and i hope you get a proper anvil asap. and how did you get your first anvil?