This is a really good video of a Japanese knife maker. Pretty nice hammer.:

YouTube - Moritaka hand forged santokus

Thanks for the link Grant. Although I'm not into the dark side, I do like to see forging applications regardless. I might add that the speed that the smith works is a key issue for me. The shop setup has a lot to do with this.

Edited October 2, 200916 yr by Ten Hammers

nice link there wish i could see the hammer to see what it looks like looks as a interesting design

Anyone notice:
He took one step from the forge to the power hammer
Turned and had 3 job specific anvils

one square bar maybe 4 inch square
one anvil with no horn
one anvil with a horn
slack tub located between horned anvil and the forge

Everything was located one step from the forge? He could touch the forge and any other work station at the same time. Each work station was set up at the optimum working height and he lost no time or effort getting from one work station to another. Definitely set up for ease of use and production.

Couple interesting things I noticed:

(1) It looks to me like he's using an oil burning forge.
(2) Anyone else notice that he appears to have an automatic water spray/drip of some kind on the ram of the hammer, so he can wet forge without having to stop and apply water manually? The dude is nothing if not efficient.

And yes, I also wish I could see the hammer better.

there is a hammer like that in the tailgating portion of this site

Mike Tanner

Shame those photos are so small, I would have a hard time laying down the scratch for a hammer with an ad with such small photos, can't see any details. There are some very good photos in the gallery of a similar style hammer, under the "vietnam blacksmith" gallery I think, good luck with the search function though, searches for "vietnam blacksmith" return nothing. Some more videos of an American smith using a hammer like this can be found here:

YouTube - WesAtCarterCutlery's Channel

Three things I was hoping people would notice. First was the water for blasting scale off. Second that he is using an oil forge. Third is that the base of the anvil is a huge block of concrete. Even though I'm a big proponent of steel anvils, I've come to realize that for home built hammers, concrete would be a nice answer if it worked at all well.

I am familiar with the hammer being sold and its owner and indeed this is the same type of hammer. I have seen some amazing Japanese knives made with this set-up.

Great video Grant-
The part about the water, I watched one a while back with a guy doing finish work on a blade. He kept dipping his hand held hammer in water every few blows. Not being a blade maker, I had to ask a friend why. I use that same concept after I set the rivet when finishing tongs. Makes 'em work real nice!

Glenn, for the 4 inch bar do you mean the concave swage block he forms the spine on?

Grant, it looks to me more like a bar of steel set into the concrete base, not concrete directly under the steel die holder. As he steps away there is more shown in the front of the supporting structure, like there is a cavity for the bar with some irons holding it in. I will agree that the supporting structure looks like just concrete.

Phil

Good observation, pk. Still can't tell how far it goes down. look at the one in the tailgate area, though.

That sure looks like a block of concrete under the die bolster there in tailgating.

I'll admit to looking at that video several times to see the machine base and the oil forge. I did catch the 2 anvils and a swage block, and the semi-automatic water the first time. That is a funny thing about these videos, the real information is not what they are trying to show, but I suppose that is dependent on the audience.

Is the water just to remove scale?

Phil