canman Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 I am thinking and studying on Hammers? What is the most used size,type of hammer? How many hammers does one need? What is the best material to make a hammer out of? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Murch Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 There's a thread somewhere on here with a poll of what size hammers people use most in their shop.... You can never have enough hammers. Hammers are usually made of a medium carbon steel. Plain carbon, alloy, spring... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Good questions canman, probably there are many answers. Blacksmith hammers most used are probably between 2 and 3 pounds in weight. The cross peen might be used slightly more than the straight peen, but almost everyone will have both. A ball peen is necessary as a third hammer, a light one, and a heavier one makes four. A 4 pound hand sledge is five, an 8 pound sledge is six, a rounding hammer is seven, a deadblow or a soft hammer is eight and nine, a leather mallet and a wooden one is ten and eleven. Then there are different weights of any of the mentioned styles and there are diagonal peens, sharp peens, blunt peens, no peens, Quadra-Peens, etc, etc. Some people have three or four dozen hammers, but you can do most everything you want with only 5 or 6. As to what to make one out of, most any steel 1045 and higher carbon can be used. 4140, 4340, and O1 are steels I have used as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Admin Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 what size hammer do you use? POLL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Lets not forget that the sweedish crosspein is very different from the french version which is different from the "english" version; or that Japanese hammers are very different from european ones (except for sawyers and cutlers hammers) Size is based on what you are doing and how good of shape you are in. A heavier hammer will move metal faster; but if you blow out your elbow and can't forge for 6months then you haven't gone any faster... When I'm in good forging shape I like a 1.5 kg sweedish cross pein, when I'm out of shape it's a 2.5# straight peein with a very rounded pein---looks like a piece of 3/4" stocl attached to the hammer. I have hammers from 4 oz ballpeins to 17# sledge Note that hammer size is also correlated to anvil size, you can break your anvil using too big a hammer on it. Materials: as stated before a medium carbon steel---you want toughness over brittlness! (though I'm thinking of making a Ti hammer this winter for use when I have blacksmith's elbow...) Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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