The best hammer for forging and why ???

[ozzy1040]

I am a student at the National School of Blacksmithing in Hereford, UK. one of my projects is about tools but i have chosen to be more precise and look at hammers I am trying to find what the best hammer for GENERAL forging is and why. I am looking forwarder to see your responses.

[David Gaddis]

Investigate the style of hammer that Brian Brazeal has made. Many swear by it, but mostly the power and magic of the hammer is owned by the ability of the smith.


Good luck



Carry on

[John B]

The one that is comfortable to use, and achieves the best results for the task in hand,

If you are going to be more precise you are going to have to concentrate on specifics,

Hand hammers to power hammers, there is no universal best hammer, its up there with the Holy Grail

[Rashelle]

I agree with David,

The best hammer for forging is the hammer that works best for you.

Some people prefer the Brian Brazeal style, other a Hofi, some make their own, still others will swear by a farriers rounding hammer or a Peddinghaus, other people make their own ,etc. There's a good chance with any given hammer style that the owner of the hammer has modified the handle, a lot will also have the pein and face of the hammer modified.

What it comes down to is what the individual is comfortable with, which may go back to initial training, nostalgia, physics (such as how the handle shape fits and works in the hand and the weight of the hammer. ) For some projects one hammer may work better then another depending on what you are doing. For example yesterday I turned an old ball pein into a hot cut, I initially used a 3 lbs Hofi hammer on the horn, I finished the edging with a 2 lbs Hofi hammer ( with a handle I made myself) on the face of the anvil, still later I was directing a striker who was using a sledge to strike. So it comes down to comfort, preference, use. Making the best hammer the hammer that works best for the individual according to the project at hand.

[basher]

I prefer many hammers to one.
Jack of all trades master of none kind of thing.

[SoCal Dave]

I prefer different rounding hammers of different weights.

[swedefiddle]

It depends on where the Hammer got it's training. School of Hard Knocks?? :)

Neil

[Jason @ MacTalis Ironworks]

It really depends what you are doing as to which hammer is best suited to the job, most smiths have at least a half dozen different hammers that they use regularly. If you want to know what is the most versatile hammer, a largish rounding hammer in the Brazeal style is probably the winner. You can use them in the stead of dang near any other style of hammer to a greater or lesser extent. My basics are the Brazeal style rounder at 4.5#, a smaller 2# rounding hammer, A large 5# Hofi style crosspein, a 3# and 2# american style crosspien, a selection of ballpeins, and a few double jacks varying from 2-4#. I plan to make a few more Brazeal style hammers, a few more hofi style and some other specialty hammers in various weights.

[brianbrazealblacksmith]

A properly forged and ground rounding hammer is best for most general forging. Why? Because it has more forging surfaces available than any other hammer man has ever come up with. A squashed ball instead of half dome will give you many different radii according to the degree that you tilt it. Grinding the flat side with straight sides will give you a longer straight peen and cross peen when tilted accordingly. The normal farriers rounding hammer is round on both sides and does not give as many dies or surfaces to forge with.
I also have many different hammers that I use from time to time for very specific reasons, but for most of my work I choose the rounding hammer that has been ground to give me the widest range of surfaces to choose from. Hofi's rounding hammers are a good example of a properly ground rounding hammer.

[ThomasPowers]

THERE IS NO *BEST* HAMMER! THERE IS NO *BEST* HAMMER! THERE IS NO *BEST* HAMMER! THERE IS NO *BEST* HAMMER!

Frankly if I was your instructor I'd flunk you for just asking that!

One that is perfect for forging pins will be *terrible* for forging 4" stock!
One that is great for forging smooth flats on knife blades may be terrible for making textured surfaces for ornamental work.
One that works perfectly for one smith may damage another so much they require surgery on their arm.

Now *you* tell me what is the *best* vehicle to own---and I won't tell you if it has to haul 8 people; or 8 tons of gravel or travel to the moon or under the sea---What's the best vehicle?????? Pretty meaningless isn't it.

[ozzy1040]

thank you to every one that has commented up to now it has been really helpful, I should have been more clear on what I meant. I did mean just forging in general nothing specialist

[SoCal Dave]

Wow ThomasPowers: "Frankly if I was your instructor I'd flunk you for just asking that!" Maybe you missed that part in the beginning of his statement that he is a STUDENT. Now is the time for him to ask the many questions he's been thinking about. I see you have 13, 122 post. More than most people will every accumulate. Other blacksmiths have offered their thoughtful opinions. See Brian Brazeal and Jason above. A statement like yours reflects more on you than on the question asked by the student.

[Frank Turley]

The best hammer is the hammer being used by the best blacksmiths.

Lots of us just inherited what was popular in our country or region, but with the internet, things are becoming more homogeneous. The German square faced, cross peen hammer is common, especially on the Continent. The Hofi hammer evolved with original thought and from Hofi's time spent in Czechoslovakia. The ball peen is typically British and is still used. The 'Swedish' is a cross peen with a slenderized peen and round cheeks either side of the eye. The French hammer typically has a rectangular face and a stepped, offset cross peen. Many of the American, manufactured forging hammers were cross peens with round faces. The Japanese hammer has a lengthy head in proportion to its poll; the round head is used for forging but the poll is not. Diagonal peens were used by some smiths. Straight peens were commonly used by coopers. Brian has some good comments on his style of rounding hammer.

Most smiths when they set up shop, will acquire an arsenal of hammers.

[george m.]

There is a good argument that a "balanced" hammer is less stressful on the arm. That is, one with as much mass on one side of the eye as the other. A symetrical shaped sledge type hammer would be an example. That said, I've never noticed that one type of hammer made my arm more tired than another. Weight, yes, a handle that didn't feel comfortable, yes, anything else, not so much. It may only be noticable if you're spending 8-10 hours every day at the anvil.

Tirelessly,
George M.

[coolhand]

You need lots of hammers. How many clubs does a golfer use? and they are just hitting a dumb white ball

[Bob S]

Wow ThomasPowers: "Frankly if I was your instructor I'd flunk you for just asking that!" Maybe you missed that part in the beginning of his statement that he is a STUDENT. Now is the time for him to ask the many questions he's been thinking about. I see you have 13, 122 post. More than most people will every accumulate. Other blacksmiths have offered their thoughtful opinions. See Brian Brazeal and Jason above. A statement like yours reflects more on you than on the question asked by the student.

Just another day as a 'been there, done that, know it all'.

[Judson Yaggy]

I've always been partial to the grace of a Beaudry and the straight up utility of a Fairbanks. But for all around performance it's a 3 way tie with Nazel, Massey and Beche. ;)

[matto]

For general forging it can be a straight pein a cross pein a rounding a ball pein a double face a carpenters framing hammer it all depends on what you want to accomplish and if the hammer you are using will do it. I use a cross pein or a rounding hammer as my two main forging hammers. Best advise would be to try as many as you can and figure out what works best for you. That means all day forging. So you can really see what each hammer can do. And what you can do with each hammer. Matto

[brianbrazealblacksmith]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pCiMitLk5GI

[billyO]

I always thought the best hammer was the one that someone else was swinging... ;)

[Old N Rusty]

I am very impressed with my RT straight peen hammers. RT makes the BEST!

[brianbrazealblacksmith]

I am a student at the National School of Blacksmithing in Hereford, UK. one of my projects is about tools but i have chosen to be more precise and look at hammers I am trying to find what the best hammer for GENERAL forging is and why. I am looking forwarder to see your responses.

thank you to every one that has commented up to now it has been really helpful, I should have been more clear on what I meant. I did mean just forging in general nothing specialist

A properly ground rounding hammer with a squared flat face has more dies or surfaces available to forge with.

[basher]

THERE IS NO *BEST* HAMMER! THERE IS NO *BEST* HAMMER! THERE IS NO *BEST* HAMMER! THERE IS NO *BEST* HAMMER!

 

Im with Thomas on this one.

  The hammer is the interface between the smith and the steel.

 

 I have met many talented smiths , sculptors and bladesmiths who use a plethora of different forging hammers .

 

 hammers are great in that to my knowledge they are not jealous when you find a new one .

[Borntoolate]

A properly ground rounding hammer with a squared flat face has more dies or surfaces available to forge with.

I was going to link Brian's rounding hammer vid but he already did. One other thing that is pretty important but unsaid. Brian relies on a high level of accuracy in regard to where he hits the hot metal and with what specific part of the hammer face he hits with. So most any hammer has a lot of dies but if you can't hit accurately with all those dies then maybe it doesn't matter as much. So accuracy counts and having a plan counts even more perhaps.

[Francis Trez Cole]

Ozzy there not stupid questions. The hammer dose not make the smith. If you are looking for a answer it is techniques that is more important than the hammer.