January 9, 201412 yr After much searching, I ordered the Centaur H133, It appears to be a Warwood 2lb Vertical Pein Sledge affixed to a Seymour Link Handle 16" Hickory. Cost was about $45 to my front door, how did I do?
January 9, 201412 yr Author I might have said the wrong thing. The pointy end goes up and down, in line with the handle. :-) Straight pein maybe? Let that be a testament to the beginner part.
January 9, 201412 yr If you like it you did well; if you don't like it you didn't do so good. I picked up my swedish cross pein for 1/2 price from a fellow who bought one when it was the latest hammer fad and then didn't like it in use. Suits me ok.
January 9, 201412 yr Learning to use a single hammer, of whatever model, will serve you very well in smithing. Learning to use the entire face of both ends with all the surfaces of your anvil will be very rewarding. Welcome! Dave
January 9, 201412 yr Good Morning, There is no incorrect decision regarding hammers. You made a decision, nobody else has to give you permission or a pat on the back. The pointy end of the Hammer could be steel or wood. Just because the handle is called a handle, doesn't mean the handle can't be used as a hammer. Sometimes you reach for a wood mallet, sometimes you just straighten something out with the butt of the Handle. Like an Anvil, there are many more surfaces to hammer on, than just the top face. "No Holds Barred" Neil
January 9, 201412 yr Author If you like it you did well; if you don't like it you didn't do so good. I picked up my swedish cross pein for 1/2 price from a fellow who bought one when it was the latest hammer fad and then didn't like it in use. Suits me ok. I'm not sure I've done enough to understand whether or not I like it.... BUT! The handle feels a bit thick and long, and the blue coating doesn't do anything for the rough spots on the head. I think I'll probably be cleaning up the metal by hand for a bit, taking into account the many cheap-hammer-gone-good stories I've read here. I suppose this is my intro thread, so "Hey!"
January 9, 201412 yr I'm pretty new myself, and from my experience, 1 hammer just isn't going to satisfy you if you keep at this. I have about 14 now and still want others : ). About 1/2 of mine came from flea markets or estate sales. I have also bought and modified a few cheap HF hammers and am well satisfied with them. The handle fit is key for me and I am no longer hesitant to reprofile a handle. If you think your handle or head needs some tweaking, I say have at it and have fun.
January 9, 201412 yr Everybody has their opinions; mine is that I like a set of straight and cross pein hammers. There are not a lot of straight peins for sale, so IMHO, you did well. Now you can go to Sears and buy a 2 pound cross pein, shorten the handle a little, polish the face, increase the radius of the pein (by stock removal), ease the edges and have a decent set. Meanwhile, buy all sizes of ball pein hammers you can find, at flea markets, used tool stores, yard sales, etc.
January 9, 201412 yr I have the same hammer, and you should really dress the face (look in the knife section on how to). The hammer is a little light for the length of handle, I will say. That's my opinion, though.
January 9, 201412 yr You mean you haven't modified the handle to suit you hand yet????? That's like driving a car without adjusting the seat so you can reach the pedals easily!
January 9, 201412 yr Thomas, you're right. I should. But mainly I use a 4lb double faced hammer which fits in my hand nicely. Its one of those things that are on my "to do on an extremely cold and rainy day" list.
January 9, 201412 yr I'd have to agree with the others that you probably have to face the hammer and fit the handle to your hand and style. I swing a hammer everyday doing carpentry and concrete work, but after 4 hours in my 1st forging class I had a beautiful set of blisters since the french pattern hammers the school had were shaped all wrong for my smaller hands. I finished out the day using a small engineers hammer I typically use off my work truck. I managed to get to to my supplier the next morning and find a couple handles that were reasonably comfortable to me and were close in size to a cross pein I'd picked up at a yard sale. A bit of work 1st thing in class and I didn't have any more issues with blisters.
January 9, 201412 yr "to do on an extremely cold and rainy day" Oh, you're in Ohio and so that day should not be too far off. Where I'm at it might take a couple of years depending on your definition of extremely cold and rainy---55 deg F and 1/4" in a day?
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