Rounding Hammer ID

[Grant]

Good Morning all

Does anyone know the maker of this 3 lb rounding hammer or have any other information about it? Mabe Erin is looking for a hammer he made in one of your classes. Any who, I find a tool preformes much better if one knows its provenance.

-tks grant

Edited November 16, 2009 by Grant

[Confederate Forge]

I have a hang made hammer a farrier friend of mine in Atlanta gave me that looks a lot like this hammer. It is also stamped Erin almost the same as yours. I showed it to a farrier friend of mine in Oklahoma that said the hammer was made by a man named Erin in Cali and more than likely of truck axle. Thats all I know about it. I will try to get some pics of it. Its in a lot worse shape than yours.

[Fe-Wood]

Erin Simmons out of Shingle Springs Ca.
Blacksmithing and Farrier Tools

[Grant]

Thanks Fe-wood.

Do you have an E-mail address for Mr. Simmons? His Web page seems to be lacking any contact information. I would like to know significance of the "41".

thanks again -grant

[mcraigl]

My guess is that the head weighs 41 ounces. Erin's tools are nice, and well made. Not my favorite styles, but still well and nicely made.

From the CBA Curriculum reading list:

Erin Simmons

[email protected],

530-622-7803

Edited November 17, 2009 by mcraigl
added contact info

[Grant]

Good Morning All

Thanks mcraigl for Mr Simmons contact information. It is cleaver of Mr Simmons to forge a 41 ounce hammer head then add a 7 ounce handle.

Are you not a fan of rounding hammers is general or Erin's style of rounding hammer in particular? I assumed all you left cost guys were disciples of Mark Aspery and he certainly is an advocate of rounding hammers.

Thanks again -grant

[Fe-Wood]

I have used Erin's rounding hammer once. It doesn't have the nice compact control the the Hofi/chech style hammer has. They seem a little top heavy to me. Just my .02$ worth....

[mcraigl]

Disciples.... Sorry, but I had to stop laughing before I could respond. Yea, I suppose I'm one of the devout. Though I am branching out and grinding my slot punches to the Hofi / Brazeal geometry now.

I do use a rounding hammer a bit, particularly when drawing. My only "issue" with Erin's design is that I don't care for the boss protruding above the faces if that makes any sense. Not that one is frequently hammering up against a verticle that interferes with the boss. Just something that I'd grind level with the top of the faces if I were making it. I do like the fact that Erin makes each one himself, and thus there's a whole lot of blacksmith love put into them as compared to a "factory made" hammer.

[KYBOY]

Im a big fan of rounding hammers. Most of my basic forging and drawing is done with a 2 1/2 pound rounding hammer. I have a 2 pound Champion cross peen (the old style) that I weld with.Those are the two that I use most. Ive noticed that Farriers seem to like that style of rounding hammer(they also seem to like a longer handles than smiths too). If you notice most of the big name rounding hammers have a similar design.

[Bentiron1946]

I have noticed that the hose shoe gang do love very long handles but always seem to choke way up on them, more than half way. Now why is that? I have tried it and it seems a bit uncomfortable to me. I used a rounding hammer when I first started smithing but switched to a cross peen. Erin's hammer is a fine looking one.

[Fe-Wood]

From my understanding, ferriers like a lighter hammer with a longer handle because they tend to use velocity rather than mass to move the metal. They tend to "whip" the hammer and the leverage offered by the longer handle gives more speed to the head.

personally, I like what I call a lump on a stick, about a