I was given a new 1000 Swedish hammer in the 90's. I used it a couple of times and never afterward. I prefer more mass nearer the eye, and I didn't care for the elongated peen. To each their own.

I've heard mixed reviews about the Swedish hammers, some love them - some hate them. 

 

My main user for the last couple of years has been a 2.5ish pound rounding hammer. But recently that has been hurting my knuckles on my hammer hand which I think is due to the relatively thin handle. 

As a result I've been using my Hofi hammer much more which has a very wide handle and that doesn't cause any issues.  - It seems I damaged my tendons and I'm in for a long road to recovery with rest being the main way to heal them... 

 

Andy

I was given a Swedish hammer a number of years ago. It is stamped 1000. I used it once and never again; it's been a wall hanger. Personally, I do not care for the long, attenuated peen. I prefer a more compact hammer with mass around the central eye area. Just me.

You will end up using the hammer that suits you best irrespective of what type it is, though I have seen those "Swedish" hammers from Peddinghaus turn up with bent peins.

My advice is to steer clear of fads and obsessions, and find yourself a good old 2-3lb engineers hammer. 

here is my favorite hammer it is a 5# rounding hammer. I no longer buy hammers I make all of mine. The most important thing with the hammer is the way you choose to dress the hammer face. more than the style or the weight. 

I wonder what everyones thoughts are on "Hammer tuning" 

 

Andy

Well Gee Andy, my first thought is What's Andy mean by "hammer tuning". I tweak my hammers pretty regularly from basic dressing to polishing out dings. I find a shiny polished face moves the steel easier. I alter the shapes occasionally or just redesign the darn thing as I want or need.  .  .  . Tuning?

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited April 3, 201511 yr by Frosty

Tuning? Try making a "See Flat". If you can make it Flat, you can See it is Flat. If you want a "See Sharp".................

Wanna play marbles? The question of the Hammer, means there are a few who have lost some.

 

Stan that hammer style (your favorite) is called a Warrington pattern.  English pattern I believe and not limited to smithing.  In fact I first bought some, in very small sizes, from woodworking suppliers for assembling picture frames.  I have reforged some of those big old ball peens to make good cross or straight peens.  I usually drift out the handle slots first thing when I do this.  The handle slots are almost always too small and not waisted just right!

I found a couple of 32oz ball peens that I was surprised to find felt really good in my hand.  So I used to try to use these 2# Ball peens as my main forging hammers, but the handles are about two or three sizes too small.. I kept shattering the handles.  Redrifting the eyes larger makes them MUCH more useful for actual forging;-)  Reforging the Ball into a cross, or straight, or a diagonal peen is fun too;-)  I either tune them up or I don't bother using them.  There are a lot of hammers that I never use they just hang on the rack, waiting to be redressed, or reforged.  Like I said before I am very picky about the feel of a hammer, and the shape of the face and the peen.  There are a whole lot of hammers I don't like... :-)

The ball pien. Although not a blacksmith hammer it is the hammer I see in the old Black & Whites. The smith holding a ball pien. Not a rounding hammer. Not a cross pien. Not a Swedish/check /spanish semi-round multi curvature. 

 

Ball Pien.

Must be looking at pictures from the USA and not Sweden/Spain/France/?...

LOL  ....right.

Primarily...in the book To  Draw-out  Upset and Weld  from PA.  I thought it odd to see all these hammers today refered to as blacksmith hammers and  we have these guys from the 1700-1800's-early 1900 proudly showing off thier ball pien.

Edited April 8, 201511 yr by SReynolds

I do understand the use of a rounding hammer. It acts as a fuller to assist the draw-out of heavier stock.  However.........I have to ask...if you are drawing out all your stock to make items ....why can't you find steel more to your liking?

 

One of the fellows on you tube said all he has for steel stock is RR spikes. It must first be drawn-out.......

I find it much easier to buy steel and use a section closest to what you need. Isn't that the norm? Not opposed to folks drawing out all their stock, but is it required to take  5/8" spikes, weld end to end and draw it down to 1/4" etc. before one can even begin a project??? 

Yeah...a very large rounding hammer with the RR spike on the horn will draw-out much quicker than a flat hammer on the face. But I have no need to draw-out anything like that.

 

 

Better him than me!  I hope is arm is much younger than mine...

One of the things about having a diverse scrap pile is the ability to find a starter piece that is already fairly far down the road to what you want it to end up with.  (Now some projects are just faster and easier with store boughten stock; but a lot are not!)  I would not restrict myself to RR spikes unless I had a whopping big powerhammer and turning a spike to 1/4" was a one heat job...

Why draw out or down? I suppose you can buy stock that's aready tapered for your finial scrolls? Laterally drawn to make chisels is easy, buy a chisel. How about leaves?, etc.

In most cases, modern blacksmiths aren't drawing one size stock down into another to use that as the stock size, unless there's no alternative. Oh, say I want a 53/64" screw, I'd probably have to make the stock and screw.

I'm with you, I'd much rather go buy 3/8" rd or sq, than draw 1/2" down. Unless I'm just shouldering a thing.

Frosty The Lucky.

I do a ton of shouldering in and general changes in cross section. As I get older and a little wiser, I don't just grab 7/8" high carbon square shaft to make serving spoons out of ( you notice it quenching on the anvil face and the sound changing very perceptibly, but you don't have to worry about it bending once its in its final shape...)  Lilico's "Practical Blacksmithing Illustrated" had a big affect on me:-)  I think in terms of volume, and isolating stock, and ...  its a TON more fun with a power hammer or two... ;-)  I try not to leave much of the stock for a project the original dimensions, but I am odd that way...

The most common reason for drawing down stock is that it is much easier than upsetting, and tapers, shoulders, swellings, necks... etcetera are the basics of making attractive forged forms... if you only bend stock drawn forms, your work will be pretty limited in appeal... BORING, really!  So making cross-sectional variations in stock is more easily and quickly done by drawing out than by upsetting!  

In the "old real wrought iron times" change in cross section often involved forge welding instead of upsetting. The advent of the cheap powerhammer and mild steel has resulted in a change in methods these days.