hammer face issues

[newsmth]

so over my past break off from grad school i threw together a forge and got some materials to start teaching myself the basics of blacksmtihing. i started off by just heating some rebar and beating the crap outta it until i was ready to actually try something. what i've noticed is that the face of my cross peen is leaving a pattern on the metal due to the way its made. would i be able to take a grinder to it and shape it to remove that pattern or do i need to anneal the face before hand?

[dablacksmith]

grind it try not to heat it up too much (shouldnt be a problem) . most factory hammers need to be reshaped a bit ...

[ThomasPowers]

Dressing the face of a hammer is standard when getting a new one. Sometimes you luck out with a used one and it's already appropriately dressed; but many times you will need to dress them as well

[mike-hr]

I guess a fellow could bring in body mechanics into this discussion. You mentioned the metal had a pattern after forging. Are we talking about a row of half circles left from the edge of the hammer? Dressing is important, but you may need to work on raising or lowering your shoulder, or planting a hip against the tail of the anvil to reduce hinge points and plant a square blow.

[matto]

use a flap disc in a side grinder 80 to 120 grit. maek aspery's first book
on the fundimentals of blacksmithing has a great chapter on facing your hammer faces
and fitting your handles to your hand.

[pkrankow]

I think I need to order that book soon.
Phil

[newsmth]

I guess a fellow could bring in body mechanics into this discussion. You mentioned the metal had a pattern after forging. Are we talking about a row of half circles left from the edge of the hammer? Dressing is important, but you may need to work on raising or lowering your shoulder, or planting a hip against the tail of the anvil to reduce hinge points and plant a square blow.

it wasn't half circles... the pattern on the face of the hammer is a spiral pattern, like they coiled wire on it with the end point in the middle of the face. that was the pattern that was being left in the metal. i had the half cirlce problem at first, but i fixed that pretty quick.

[John B]

it wasn't half circles... the pattern on the face of the hammer is a spiral pattern, like they coiled wire on it with the end point in the middle of the face. that was the pattern that was being left in the metal. i had the half cirlce problem at first, but i fixed that pretty quick.

If the face of the hammer has any marks on it, they will be transferred onto the piece being forge, Use a disc sander to remove any marks, and polish the face, make it a very slight domed shape, and a radius around the edge