Hammer Control

[Ben_C]

Hi I am fairly new to blacksmithing and I'm struggling with hammer control. Anything that I forge is covered with terrible hammer marks and gouges. I have dressed my hammer face and I feel that my hammer control is to blame. I feel that the reason for this is that when I hit the metal my hammer blows are not straight up and down but at a slight angle making the edge of the hammer dig into the metal with each blow. That being said I have had little luck in correcting the issue. I have noticed using a lighter hammer helps some. My question is what is the best way to learn good hammer control and keep these hammer marks off of what I'm Forging?

[Tyler Murch]

I have a feeling you still may need to dress the hammer face. Crown it back further and see if it makes a difference.

For moving metal quickly, it is good to hit the steel with the face of the hammer at an angle. Striking with a certain edge of the face depending on where you are moving the metal moves the metal in the desired direction much much faster than hitting squarely with the face.

As for getting better control, I can suggest a few things:
Swing the hammer more- Cut up some stock. Something like eight or more pieces 1/2" square, and draw a taper on each end of each piece as an exercise.
Try forging in the dark. In the dark, you must be able to align the face of the hammer and your swing with the steel you are forging without using your eyes. Being able to do this will give you better hammer control at all hours.
Look at Uri Hofi's blue prints on his hammer technique. I will tell you now. It is very difficult to get used to. It took me almost a month to get the grip alone of that style correct. I don't expect many people at all who read this to even try it. I probably wouldn't have. It isn't easy to get used to. I had to see it in action to get motivated to pick up that style.

Another thing I want to add concerning the way steel moves:
The way steel moves can be illustrated with fresh cow pie, a basketball, and a baseball bat.
Let the fresh cow pie represent the steel, the basket ball will represent the face of the hammer, and the baseball bat will represent the either the peen of the hammer or an edge of the face. If the basket ball is dropped into the fresh cow pie, the material will move equally in all directions. If the fresh cow pie is hit with the baseball bat, the material will move mostly only in to directions like this <<< l >>>

Good luck.
Here to help.
t

[easilyconfused]

One thing I think helped my hammer control was building houses and swinging a hammer on the farm. It'd try hammering some nails into a board approximately anvil hight. That might give you an idea of which way you're hammer is hitting depending on which way the nail bends consistently. Is your anvil height an issue? It can affect your swing if it is too high or low. There are preferences but about the height of your knuckles when you close your fist is a good place to start.

[Chris Pook]

x2 on rounding and dressing the hammer. Sharp edges on most blacksmithing tools isn't a good thing. This goes for your anvil too.

[rthibeau]

Ben, some hammer marks are inevitable and lend the hand made look to the steel which is okay depending on what you are making. A flatter tool will take out most of the marks and dings you put into the steel and is part of finishing your work. If a lighter hammer makes a difference...go with the lighter hammer. It's possible you are hitting or swinging too hard which makes control more difficult. Slow down and ease up...see if that helps. You might have to use a few more heats, but if it eliminates the bad marks, it's the way to go. give it a try and let us know how you do.

[Strine]

I'm a little confused, Ben. You say you create lots of hammer marks, which is good in that you recognise a downfall in your ability; something a lot of us, including me, fail to realise sometimes. Then you postulate as to why you are getting all these half moons and other sorts of divots and your reasoning makes perfect sense to me. That's probably what I was doing when I was making divots. What more can anyone else offer I ask? You know the problem..divots, you know the remedy..change the hammer angle.

Word of warning. Perfect results will not come after one or two lazy afternoon sessions at the forge. You have to practice AND you have to learn from your mistakes i.e. gain experience. Your problem at the moment is you're not listening to yourself.

Forget making a particular article for the moment. Concentrate on bashing hot iron with out leaving divots or at least leaving the divots you want to.

I was told once that it's OK to "leave your mark" ie keep the forged look, encouraged even, but it's not OK to leave everything from your mother's maiden name to your great-great auntie's preference for sock colour.

Footnote: The angle at which the face of the hammer must meet the work is for ever changing. But that's OK, after a ton, no, two tons of practice you will be able to hit at just the right angle.

[Ian]

My two peneth worth is to give yourself a set of exercises to do that will force you to focus on hammer control. For example, try turning half inch square into a hexagon bar, then a round bar, then a hexagon bar then a square bar, coming down a quarter of an inch in size each time. Also try striking with the hammer at every angle apart from square on (flat to the work) and look at what each blow does to the metal. When you know what each angle does you know much more clearly what you're doing wrong and will have a much easier time correcting the mistake. An Aussie mate of mine also suggested getting a board of wood and a dozen nails. When you can hammer all the nails in with the ball peen end only then your starting to develop decent hammer control. Just practice, practice, practice.....

[Ben_C]

Thanks all for the good sugestions !!! Im going to put this to due later today and hopefuly start getting better with my hammer.

[Shane Stegmeier]

Several more things come to my mind as I listen to your problem and the solutions offered.

1st relax,develop an intentionally loose grip, you can't choke it and make it do more work for you;-) let the hammer do the work. The hammer is Labor, and your brain and your tongs are Management, you need to tell the hammer what to do and make sure it gets done, it is up to the hammer to get the job done in the best way possible. Additionally you might indeed be trying to hit the material too hard, and you might have too heavy a hammer for your present skill level and strength. Don't rush your work while you are learning. Do strive to work more efficiently and better, but give yourself time to access your work while you are at it. Speed will come with strength and skill after long hours of practice.

2nd Concentrate on results... Watch the steel not the hammer 'chase the edge' of the previous blow. If you overlap and concentrate on making the transitions between the blows smooth your work will improve greatly. Focus on where you want to hit, and hit it, and how hard you want to hit it.

3rd there are several mechanical issues that could be contributing to the problem (though to be honest it most likely is mainly a lack of control and judgment at the moment that is the biggest factor...;-) The anvil could be set too high, which would tend to cause you to hit with the heel of the face. If your marks look mainly like smiles, it could be partly that your anvil is too high, if they look like frowns then it might be too low... If they are all over the place, you need more hammer control (dressing the crown on your hammer will help the symptom, but will not help with the underlying problem...) Once you have the control you can use a rounded face, and still get a fairly smooth finish, or a VERY flat face with an unforgiving radius on the edges and still not leave marks. Once you have the control and the feel for the different hammers you are using it won't matter that much, you will be able to get good results with which ever hammer you are using. If the hammer has a pronouced chamfer instead of a smooth rounded radius around the face fix that, go ahead and smooth things out, it will help...

If you need to customize a hammer to your hand and style take a hammer that is a weight you like and can do good work with, and pop it off the handle. Heat it to bright orange and then let it cool in the fire till morning, this should anneal the head so it is soft, or atleast normalize it so it is somewhat soft. Re-mount it on to a handle and then use it on HOT steel ONLY, after a while the face will develop a "set." This is where and how you hit, on that anvil, and if you pop it off the handle again and heat to bright orange, which should be above nonmagnetic, then quench in oil (it is safest to assume that it is decent steel, unless you know otherwise, then quench in water first, like a water hose with a nozzle full blast sprayed at the face of the hammer, they try to heat just the pein and do the same thing...) Bruce Wilcox recommended this method of finding your set to the hammer/anvil combo, and being a tool maker such as he is, he should know;-)

relax
focus on the results, and modify your behaviour accordingly
interpert the results, and figure out why your getting them, then fix 'em...

(simple should only take you a year or two to be pretty happy with your hammer control in familiar situations;-) (unless you are working in the forge day in and day out it takes a long time to get to the point where you are truly satisfied with your hammer control... so don't give up hope, it is difficult and challeging, but if everyone could do it would it really be that much fun??? Good luck and keep at it:-)

[Nick]

Definitly look at Hofi's hammer control bp, I use a version of it (Every smith is different). If you're using a long handled hammer, I would strongly suggest not holding it at the end of the handle, but closer to the head.

Also check how you're holding the stock on the anvil. Is it angled with the very end on the anvil face, or only touching the edge of the anvil? Or is it rolled to the side slightly? Not having the iron flat on the anvil can cause all manner of problems.

But most importantly, don't give up. Hammer control comes with time and patience, but it does come.

Blueprint BP1001 Hofi Hammer Technique
Blueprint BP1002 Hofi Hammer Technique

[Gary]

Ben, what worked for me was taking a three foot section of 1/2 in. round stock and making it into 3/8 in. square. I did this three times. It's part of the apprentice program at Ft. Vancouver and worked wonders for my hammer control. Good Luck, Gary

[ThomasPowers]

Hmm one of the traditional ways of getting stock that is totally hand forged is to make it from a differen sized and or different cross section stock---like if you need 3/8 round make it from 1/2" square.

Makes sure there is no "mill finish" sections on the piece; expensive in time though; perhaps i should start my students on such hammer control exercises...

[Frosty]

Sounds like a classic practice issue to me.

Make sure your anvil is the proper height, between your wrist and knuckles.

Make sure your hammer faces are radiused so you have no sharp edges.

After that, practice, practice, practice. If you're really putting lots of sharp marks in your work you shouldn't worry about making "things" as such. Make lots of long draws or try some of the other exercises suggested already.

The real secret of a master smith is control. If you can't hit what you're aiming at in the way you want to hit it you aren't going to be successful. The only way to develop the control is by using your hammer. Driving finish nails with the ball pein might be a bit extreme but if you can do it reliably you be de MAN.

Frosty