AlphaWolf Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Hey people I've got a question here, just been starting out with blacksmithing and an older blacksmith told me to soften up my hammer to prevent damage to my anvil and was wondering how to exactly do this? Any help is very much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ten Hammers Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Can't for the life of me understand why someone would give you this advice. Assume this was given in person ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 NO!!! Do dress your hammer face though... softening any sharp edges with smoothly finished curves and put a slight crown on the face too. Perhaps what was meant by your original adviser! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 the joke is on you. do not soften it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 at one living history park i worked at we did have a couple of "soft" hammers for people that wanted to try hitting metal and for use on cutoff hardies. we would anneal them re-harden them then re-temper them on the "soft" side. the hammers we used on our cutoff hardies we just left annealed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolf Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Oh he probably meant what Bigfootnampa said, thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 there are many ways to skin a cat. I have quite a few softened hammers in the school as I had a few anvils trashed the first forge in I held. All of them were heated to a blue temper colour with a gas Axe and they have held up well, I can happily forge with them. A couple of students have worn the corners away a couple of times and I would rather be looking at a trashed hammer (easy fix) than a trashed anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Budd Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 likewise. My most used hammers have soft faces and I redress them fairly regularly. I would rather do that than dent my anvil, which is what has happened when I've either missed with a harder hammer or when a student has done so! My main forging hammer is in this soft state and compared to a new one of the same variety has changed shape a fair bit, but still works very nicely thank you very much :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolf Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Ok now that were past the discussion if I should soften it or not I'd like to know how I should do this, to what colour I should bring the hammer and how to let it cool off and stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshua.M Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 if you re going to soften it (i wouldn't recommend it) i would find a crappy ballpein hammer and heat it to non-magnetic in my forge then put it in a bucket of wood ash overnight, that would leave you with a softer hammer and your nicer hammer. Read up on "annealing" and "normalizing" steels Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolf Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Can some of these people please tell me why softening up a hammer is bad, cause really I don't want to damage my anvil, the hammer is really cheap and I rather have that broken then my anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob S Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Ok now that were past the discussion if I should soften it or not I'd like to know how I should do this, to what colour I should bring the hammer and how to let it cool off and stuff. when I softened my main forging hammer I put it in the vice and held the torch on it till the colors ran. then check it with a file. you want the file to bite. Then check it on your anvil. If it still leaves a ding do it again. it should be said that not every anvil requires a soft hammer. I have a Trenton that is on the soft side. I also have a Kohlswa that is VERY hard and doesn't ding. point is you want your hammer to be softer than your anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolf Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Don't have a torch (I'm 14) anyway I could do it with a firebrick forge that reaches high enough temperatures that I have to regulary replace the bricks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob S Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Don't have a torch (I'm 14) anyway I could do it with a firebrick forge that reaches high enough temperatures that I have to regulary replace the bricks? you're 14!!? well lucky you. wish I was. you may need to buy a better firebrick. sure use your forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolf Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Will cherry red heat do the trick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 as josh said heat it up to a dull orange (non magnetic) then let it cool as slow as you can. if you do not have a bucket of wood ash or vermiculite, just leave it in your forge shut the forge down and let them cool off together. the key to annealing is a slow even cool down. if you have extra firebrick put it in front of the openings to help slow the cooling. when it is done cooling it will be as soft as it can get. try it you can always harden and temper. when you temper you want to get to the blue and purple colors. but you may like it the way it is annealed. most cheap (under $20) hammers are relatively soft anyway so you might not have to soften it check it with a file if you are getting file shavings ( the file is biting) then it is a fairly soft hammer and you should be fine. p.s. take the handle out before annealing. then replace it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolf Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 I'll do a check with a file but yeah mine came pretty cheap a 1 kg machinist hammer for 10 bucks at a surplus store. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothBore Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 I buy every big rusty hammer I can find at Flea Markets, ... soften them, and Forge them into all manner of wooden handled tools. It's so much easier than working from a solid blank. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Blythin Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 p.s. take the handle out before annealing. then replace it. That's fantastic! So few people add that part to their instructions ;-) I have a friend who, when giving driving directions somewhere, will say "Go past such-and-such, and you'll arrive at a stop sign. Stop. Then continue..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason @ MacTalis Ironworks Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Better solution... don't beat your anvil with your hammer... problem solved... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshua.M Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Having a soft hammer is bad because it is much easier to just buy a softer hammer than to risk ruining your main hammer. Ps I'm 16, i was 12 when I started :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolf Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 I'm not really going to walk into a shop and check for hardness by filing a few hammers and check for scrapings... And as I said before that hammer was 10 dollar no biggie if I mess it up, my 440 pound anvil is something I don't want to screw up by missing and damaging it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalmangeler Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Hello Alpha; another way to temper youir hammer rather than going to an anealed state would be to just heat up a bar in your forge and having taken the handle out of your hammer then put the bar in the eye and watch the colors run having filed the sides of your hammer to silver as the working end gets to blue you are likely soft enough. test on your anvil to be sure. That said one of the reasons you want youir hammer to be hard is so that it does not get marked up by your tools as any marks in your hammer or anvil of course get transfered into your work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 You're going to have to replace the handle if you soften the hammer. I hope you are prepared to replace it. There are several guides and videos online and it is useful to know how to do. Heating the hammer up in the forge to cherry red and cooling it slowly would leave you a "soft" hammer. I have no idea how well this would hold up to forging but as others have said, you wouldn't damage the face of your anvil. The other option, and easier option IMO would be to simply turn your kitchen oven on full and put the hammer head in there for an hour or two. It should come out a blue colour which is softer than your average hammer but will retain some level of hardness. Couple this with dressing any sharp edges and you'll be fine. Once you have a bit more practice under your belt you will find you won't hit the anvil face as much. All the best Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parintele Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 As far as i understood the issue is about softening a factory hammer just a little, not anneal it in the softest state of the material which most often makes it just a piece of too soft steel. So taking it to high heat and letting cool slowly is not a solution. Heating it with a torch or even in the forge, on top of the coals, until colors start to run on the face of the hammer. Hammers in general can be made from a lot of alloys(steel compositions) and unless you know exactly what steel it is you can not guess which color to aim for. Some hammers are soft already, some are too hard and brittle (bad heat treatment), some are hard and not brittle, good quality material and heat treat. Just heat little by little, as soon as the color changes try it with a file and using a refference steel (anvil or another hammer to compare with...) first will be yellor, pale brown, dark brown, then purple and so on....from "harder" to softer, you go down step by step, check and stop (cool in water) as soon as hardness is where you want it. AS long as you ask this question here this will not be an easy task so maybe getting a simple junk head and try to play with it would be a better idea. Also, you need to consider another thing: You also need a hard faced hammer cause usually soft hammers are too soft...fine for anvil work with hot material but when you need to use a punch or something similar it might be too soft and ruin the face of it....Better to have another hard one around for that function and you'll see that with time you'll learn to hit the material right and not make mistakes by hitting the anvil corners... then a harder faced hammer will be the only one needed , no need to swap hammers so often while you're working, this being one of the reasons many blacksmiths here advised you not to soften anything... ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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