Hammer

[LeViAtHaN]

Has anyone used this hammer?

Craftsman 38262 40 oz. Blacksmith Hammer at Sears.com

I was thinking about this for my first forging hammer. Was wondering if anyone might have any comments on it or if you might know of a different one in this price range that would be better to start learning with. Thanks in advance!

[Brian C.]

I bought one when I first started, but never did really like it. Even after reshaping the handle. It just seemed "clunky" to me, for lack of a better description. If you have a SEARS store close enough, stop in & see how it feels.

I ended up donating it to our church to use in the Easter depiction, along with the nails I forged from RR spikes.

I prefer an old Channel Lock brand hammer that I bought at Quad State a few years ago. Similar weight, with a slimmer profile and once I rehandled it, it seems to be much better for me.

[Blacksmith Jim]

I've bought a few different hammers from Harbor Freight. Then dressed the faces and re-handled them. They seem surprisingly decent for costing 4 or 5 bucks. Also, see if there is a flea market that meets regularly near you. I just picked up a great 3#+ cross pien for 4$.

[Finnr]

my favorite hammers are re worked Harbor Freight cheapies. I also have a couple of excellent antique cross peens, One from e bay and one I bought at the last hammer in the local guild held. All much moe economical than Sears.
Finnr

[Ted T]

Many years ago I bought a hammer similar looking to the one advertised. I did not find anything really wrong with it. I am not sure if it was from sears or not.
But, I dress up my hammers to fit my hammering needs. I re-shape the handle to be comfortable in my hand and dress the hammer head to be with out blemish.
If I buy a really cheep hammer to re-forge to a new shape, of course I also have to reset (wedge) the head/handle for a tighter fit.
In the end, it’s going to be your opinion that counts when you are the one that has to use the tool.
Be safe!
Old Rusty Ted

[Chris Pook]

Yep, I never expect to use a hammer right out of the "box" I always need to make them work for me, reshape or rehandle them. Everyon has their preference.

[Dutchmancreek]

When you buy one of those Harbor Freight hammers remove the black paint and look for any cracks. I used one once and it broke in half.

Here in the midwest, Menards sells a line of engineers and cross peen hammers that I have modified with pretty good success.

Steve

[latvius]

I have one just like it, works great! But you will need to polish the face it comes with little circular lines on the face.

[Jmercier]

My primary forging hammer is a re-dressed 40oz crafstman crosspien. Needs a good bit of work to make it right, having a belt grinder helps alot though. I also chopped hte bottom 4 inches off the handle as well, it comes with a handle that's far too long for smithing work.

[Joseff]

I have that hammer, I'm fairly sure. I rather like it. One of its best features is the size of the eye. The handle is about twice as thick as other hammers, right at the most vulnerable point.
Joseff

[rthibeau]

It's surprising to me how thin a hammer handle can be and not break in "normal" usage. I used to use thick handles on my hammers until JR Strasil convinced me that thinner was better and wouldn't break if you used it properly. Nowadays, I'll sand down a handle a lot more than in the past. The hammer head can be re-heat treated for a better temper and all the rough casting can be ground/sanded off to make the whole head smooth and better balanced. ACE Hardware has a similar hammer for about $12, Menards has them for about $7. Sears or ACE hammers can be used after only sanding/grinding to get them the way you want. Menards hammers MUST be (IMHO and experience) rehandled as well as sanded to finish them. I bought a dozen Menards hammers to reforge, but tried them out first and all twelve had the head come off with less than 12 hits. They have the cone metal wedge driven into an overly large wood wedge and the whole thing just pops out. Steel is good, but the way the handle is wedged is terrible. I would advise to have only wood handles in a blacksmith hammer, sand them down to fit your hand comfortably, then wedge them properly.

[matt walker]

Lots of choices here http://www.hammersource.com/index.html
Matt

[Frosty]

There's nothing wrong with the Sears cross pein a little dressing won't cure, they're not much different than any off the shelf hammer.

One of my long time favorites is a 3lb. Craftsman Driller's hammer. I only had to dress the faces and use it to make it nearly perfect. A driller's hammer is something I recommend all my students acquire. They're short handled for good control, reasonably heavy and small faced for good effect.

Still, there're a lot of places to find good hammers besides stores. Flea markets, garage, yard, farm sales, pawn shops, etc. etc. I always have my eyes open and every so often find a gem. I pick up any ball pein I see for under a buck, they're easily reforged into straight, cross or angle pein hammers. They also make any number of good set hammers.

A few weeks ago I came across an odd little hammer head for a buck at a garage sale. I don't know what it was for but the proportions are different. It's long at 6" with faces just 1 3/8" across and heavy at 3 1/2lbs. So it'll be putting quite a bit of mass into a smallish area of impact. It's going to make a good shaping or roughing hammer if it swings well.

So, you don't need to buy a "blacksmith's" hammer, heck, you can't really BUY a good hammer anyway. You acquire hammers and if you use it long enough you MAKE it Your smithing hammer. Sometimes you literally make it, somethings you just dress, reshape or rehandle it. No matter what you find, forge or modify, the only way to make it YOUR hammer is with use.

Frosty

[Jmercier]

Very true, a blacksmith who I met once when I was younger at a county fair was once talking about why the faces on all his hammers were angled so that the bottom stuck out a little more than the top. He said something along the lines of "well, I kept getting horrible dings from the top corner of my hammer just above where I wanted to hit everytime, and after long enough of thinking I had poor hammer controll and trying to adjust my swing... I determined that I could hit right where I wanted to, I just needed to change the hammer to fit me. My hammer would probably do you no good, but it does me just fine"

[ThomasPowers]

Why when I teach I bring a passel of hammers and tell folks to choose the one that works for them---and often end up suggesting another after seeing what they are doing...

Levels of acheivement for tool using monkeys I mean Blacksmiths:

0 Use what ever you can find: clawhammers and RR rail are often in this bracket

1 Use store boughten tools: sears, hardware stores, etc

2 Use tools bought from blacksmith suppliers: the good stuff!

3 Make or Modify tools to suit yourself! top of the heap!

Many people seem to have an innate resistance to modifying their environment/tools/etc seeming to think that item designs are set in stone; when really most items are not the *best* designs but often the cheapest/easiest to manufacture or are minimally useful to the greatest number of average users and are often bad designs for specialized users.