Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Extra blows


Recommended Posts

Dear All,

I was watching some blacksmithing videos on Youtube last night and noticed several smiths (all apparently good smiths) doing extra blows while forging. That is, while forging doing one or two quick blows on the anvil face between blows on the work. They don't seem to serve any purpose and don't seem to be some kind of time filler while changing the position of the work. It almost seems some sort of nervous habit.

Is there any rational reason to do this?

I have to admit that I am largely self/book/video taught and have not worked with that many other smiths. Maybe this is a common tic and I just haven't been exposed to it. It still seems odd to me, though. Obviously, I don't do it. Should I?

Puzzled,
George M.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 72
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Some say they keep the rythmn up that way. Most think it's a waste of energy. When the old timers were asked why they did it they said that in coming to this country it was the only thing that they could bring over from the old country that was duty free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

personally i see it as a waste of time and energy, if i am going to swing a hammer i swing it to forge, not to bounce on my anvil. i never see strikers sounding the anvil with their sledge, so why would i do it with a hand hammer??.
it would be just as practical and keep up the rhythm if i were to flip the hammer in my hand everytime :P turn it into a circus juggling act :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the best smiths I've ever seen (son of an Italian immigrant whose father earned a living smithing in Williamsburg, Virginia) appeared to do this, but when I watched him carefully, he was basically just setting his hammer down on an anvil with an incredible rebound, which made it look like a strike. I'm not saying everybody with extra blows is doing this, but I watched his arm pretty carefully and his muscles seemed very relaxed, like a pro dribbling a basket ball. The muscular energy went into moving metal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good observation clincher breaker. I've been asked the same question many times over the years. I tell them that I am usually just laying my hammer to the side and it naturally bounces. You would have to be stiff and bear down to prevent it or hold your hammer in the air. It can also serve to help pick your hammer up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been at this craft for 49 years and I never saw a smith or farrier who did not rest the hammer on the anvil while working, especially when free-handing something on the horn, as in making a scroll or turning a horseshoe. I saw the Japanese bladesmith do this in Santa Cruz, California, in the 1980's, when he was working on his tooling. If a smith is simply drawing a bar to a smaller dimension, it doesn't seem to be necessary. The rest is as Clinker Breaker described. We don't ever want to HIT the anvil. Who wants dents on their anvil face?

I was born in Missouri, and its motto is "Show me." I would like to see a smith forge something that involves curves and/or bends and requires some thought processes, and not rest his hammer on the anvil.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's just a way of keeping rhythm in the pause where you're turning the metal or thinking about the next move, it's not a full blow so I don't think it's a waste of energy, and hardly would put a dent in the anvil! I don't know about a rational explanation, no one ever taught me to do it, it just sort of naturally developed. Woody, I would love to see a video of you hammer flipping between blows, could work as a great demoing gimmick!! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Good observation clincher breaker. I've been asked the same question many times over the years. I tell them that I am usually just laying my hammer to the side and it naturally bounces. You would have to be stiff and bear down to prevent it or hold your hammer in the air. It can also serve to help pick your hammer up.


this is exactly what i do. It took a while in coming but when i started letting the hammer bounce off the stock before a turn or for a split second thinking pause i found my arm got less tired.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me, mostly, it's hit the material two or three times, and then looking at what happened. There are times when you can keep hitting for many blows before resting and seeing the results. But, your going to really increase your work load if the material gets out of shape when you don't look at what you've done. It's easier to correct a small change. I like working on the power hammer as I can see what is happening better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moderation in all things. I've seen excessive tappers, and some of them think they're hot spit. As Sam mentioned, there is also the light tap/heavy hit. This is usually done on struck tools like a center punch or cold chisel. What is the tap for? Beats me. I call them dink blows, and I believe that the person using them thinks that they are "aiming." I've corrected people who do this, and they continue to do it because it's ingrained in their psyches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can tell pretty good in this video that the hammer arm is relaxed. My dad is doing it when he turns the steel, and he is more or less dropping the hammer on the anvil and letting it rebound to him to rest his arm as he turns. From what I've noticied doing it keeps the rythm, gives your arm a small break, and is easier than holding the hammer in mid air while you turn.

http://s535.photobuc...8-37-18_614.mp4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand the resting and ruminating purpose of more or less dropping the hammer. I recently worked at the state fair and there were a few smiths who were working small stuff (not thinking stuff) and the pattern would be piece, piece, anvil, anvil...
Drove me nuts. I asked oue or two about it and the response was along the line of "that's how you're supposed to do it". I then picked up my hammer and made proceeded to make the horseshoe oyster shuckers and intentionally did NOT "rest" my hammer. just kept on bangin'. If you're not whaling away, it takes a long while to get tired.
rant off

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/10/2012 at 3:32 PM, Spots said:
You can tell pretty good in this video that the hammer arm is relaxed. My dad is doing it when he turns the steel, and he is more or less dropping the hammer on the anvil and letting it rebound to him to rest his arm as he turns. From what I've noticed doing it keeps the rhythm, gives your arm a small break, and is easier than holding the hammer in mid air while you turn.


why wait while you turn? a power hammer doesn't wait, you just turn between blows...
i also noticed that he is deliberately hitting twice each time..... while the job cools on the anvil.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, my observation is that we have two similar but distinct hammer techniques being discussed here.

One, the first technique shown, is a "master" smith driving the work of one or two strikers. If you watch both the hammer and tong hand you will note that even when the hammer hand is in rest mode the tong hand is actively engaged in the forging. The light hammer blows on the anvil interact with both the movement of the tong hand of the master and the blows of the strikers. The master is keeping time (possibly subconsciously) because he knows that reintroducing his hammer into the striking pattern in the wrong way would be big trouble.

Two, single smiths who tap the anvil are dong so because their brains are receiving a lot of conscious input; time, temperature, cross section, curve, blow force, tempo, muscle fatigue, where did I put my beer, etc. and along with muscle training to move the 6# hammer we need brain training to filter the above data so the brain can tell the body what to do in order to forge a nice widget. The better you get at blacksmithing the less time your brain will take to process all of the permutations and the stronger your muscles will be. Smiths who tap tap WHAM tap tap WHAM are in the learning stage of this calling.

I would suggest that a rest/rebound/thinking/timing blow to the anvil is ubiquitous no matter your skill, HOWEVER advanced smiths will strike far fewer of these blows than a newbie. If a master smith with striker(s) makes a few more then it is is because he is processing more information about what is happening on his anvil than a smith working alone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I am listening to good music when I work I may tap with the rhythm of the song on occasion. In the
work day it is wasted effort. I try to conserve my energy the best I can. But if you are working a crowed at a demo there is nothing like the ring of the anvil to get people to stop and watch. I try not to think about it to much my focus is getting the task done and money in the bank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've noticed that I've transitioned into resting my hammer on the anvil when I'm not hitting.

I used to whack something a couple of times, lower my hammer, peer at the work to see what happened, then lift the hammer and whack a few more times, then take another look, etc.

Now, I'm seeing what I'm doing better and/or more clearly, and it's save energy to set the hammer down on the anvil for a second to take a quick look, have a quick thought, and go at it again. If I find myself needing a serious think, the piece goes back in the fire while the gears grind away.

It isn't a conscious 'hey, this sounds cool/I sound like a real blacksmith' kind of thing, the anvil is convenient place to put the hammer for a moment. I do seem to do it more with things that need eyeballing - like straightening the reins on a pair of tongs, or a knife blade, or something like that. Doesn't happen much when I'm shaping a RR spike head or using a chisel/slitter or whatnot.

And the light tap/heavy tap on the drills/punches, etc. I don't understand - I used to do that, until I realized that the light tap does nothing but move the tool from where I had put it to someplace I didn't want it. My slitting especially got much prettier when I stopped the light pre-tap before the one I was counting for score.

PS - not that I know anything. I'm still a noob. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok the rules I learnt in anvil work, dont let your hammer go below the face of the anvil as then you have to pick it up to there again, do that for a day you have lifted a hell of a lot of steel just that much further. You can hear and tell a good blacksmith working by his rhythm. Make every blow do something/count, maximise your effort. Dont lift your hammer off the anvil in a dead lift, its easier to bounce it up, thats why good anvils have life/bounce. Dont the pro basket ballers bounce the ball a few times before they go for a shot, to get the feel of the ball, it helps to do the same with your hammer. The hit the steel hit the anvil thing is to be confined to the movies. If you are hitting a punch/anvil top tool, just hit it, hitting the anvil is just wasting time the job is getting cold the punch is getting hot. Anvil work is not rocket surgery.

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never used to do it when I started smithing because I thought it was a bit daft. But then I got told that it was done to give you a rest.

Think about it, you can let the hammer fall to your side, then pull it all the way back up. Or you can tap the anvil, then you only have to draw it up half the distance.

That's what I've always thought anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...