What hammer to buy and where?

[AR. Hillbilly]

Hey y'all I'm looking for a forging hammer. I'm a beginer. I have a German style cross pein and I've been using  a large ball pien. I would like to buy a specific forging hammer. I don't know what to look for and where. I don't want to spend a fortune but I want  quality and usefull. I have a piece of 1 3/4" axle shaft I plan to make some hammers from someday but I'm not ready for that yet. I look on ebay often but I must admit I don't know what to look for at this time. I have a decent selection of shop hammers but nothing but the heavy cross pein or the large ball pein seem to work well. One more dumb question. Why does a hammer made just for forging need to be hardened? I hope I'm not beatin a dead horse with this and I appreciate all advice given.

[Glenn]

Contact Dave Custer Firey Furnace or Jymm Hoffman both on IFI. They both make nice forging hammers.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Glenn

[matto]

brent bailey forge  brent makes awsome hammers.

[Francis Trez Cole]

try hammer source.com they have a great selection of hammers. Remember its not the hammer it is the way you dress the face of the hammer. I tell my students to not spend a lot of money on hammers buy a cheep Harbor freight cross peen and dress the face as a rounding hammer. then one rounded from toe to heal only and one rounded from right to left side. $8.00 hammers if you mess them up you nave lost little money and time. As you learn and grow it is about how you use the hammer to your advantage to move metal not the style of the hammer or the money spent

[Frosty]

You already have a couple blacksmith's hammers what's wrong with them?  It isn't the hammer or any other tool that does the work, it's the smith.

Dress the hammers you have or as Francis suggests pick up bargain basement hammers, I like yard/garage/etc. sales. A little time on my belt grinder or even just hand sanded shines them up nicely. Make them whatever shape you want to try. If a $2.00 yard sale/swap meet hammer is screw up beyond repair so what? (If you manage to screw a hammer up beyond repair I want pictures!)

I'm always looking for ball peins, they forge into most any other hammer type or top tool easily. Small single jack sledges are a good buy for cheap as are driller's hammers.

Okay, there's a hammer I consider one of my go to hammers, the driller's hammers. They're typically in the 2lb. range with a short handle, a quick Google will show you what they look like. They were originally designed to drive rock/masonry/etc. drills in cramped spaces. I use mine frequently for things I need better than usual control on a firm blow.

The modern favorite general blacksmith's hammer and for darned good reason is the "turning" or "rounding" hammer. Visualize a ball pein where the ball is just a shallow dome and the opposing face is slightly crowned flat. My turning hammers are my most used hammers, they move material very efficiently.

About dressing hammers. The face shouldn't be flat, they should have a little crown, or very "slight dome" and the edges where the face meets the sides should be radiused so it doesn't leave sharp marks. Cross and straight peins shouldn't have a small radius, 1/4"r is a good workable radius. (picture 1/2" dia. round stock.) It should also be curved on end similar to an axe blade. This curve makes it much easier to forge straight lines and more importantly the ends don't make divots.

About weight. Do NOT get a big heavy hammer till you've developed good hammer control, < 2lbs. is a good starter weight less is good. Too heavy is hard to control and memorializes little mistakes in big ways. You're going to make mistakes, there's just no good reason to make it easy too make them bigger or harder to correct.

As your control increases you'll be able to use heavier hammers to good effect, there's no rush to use BIG, MANLY MAN hammers.

Frosty The Lucky.

[arkie]

AR, you have a PM.

[ThomasPowers]

funny but just recently I was working 1/2" stock with a light hammer and 1/4" stock with a 1500gm hammer to show students that it's control and experience more than some magical hammer.  In general I try to match the hammer to the job to make it easy on my joints/tendons/muscles/etc

[AR. Hillbilly]

Thanks for the replies y'all. I've been swingin a hammer for 30 years as a carpenter/log home builder.  I fear I've probably created some bad habits which may be hard to work out. I know well the side effects of using a "too big a hammer". I only swing a manly man hammer when its needed. I already have arm and elbow problems from a heavy hammer and don't wish to make it any worse. Back to the subject I think I'll dress the face on my cross pein and keep looking at junk places. I'm not lookin for a magic hammer I just want to know what works well. what doesn't and why.  I find the information y'all share very valuable.

[Michael Cochran]

The first hammer I bought for snitching was a cheap one from Walmart. It's a short handled square headed hammer. It's nothin fancy but I dressed it up a little and I use it regularly. My other big hammer is a crosspein from lowes. One day when I get a little better I might try my hand and making my own but for now these two relatively cheap hammers are doing the trick.

[DSW]

You probably have many of the bad habits I'm working on unlearning. I'm used to holding the end of the handle for power and have to work on choking up a bit for more accuracy and control. I also have a tendency to "push" the hammer, so if I'm not careful I'll twist stock as I taper. I have to concentrate on hitting things nice and flat vs the way I do framing.

[Michael Cochran]

I'm glad someone else has that problem DSW. I constantly find myself doing the same thing. I also have a habit of letting my thumb creep up on the back of the handle sometimes.

[DSW]

Too many years swinging 28 oz long handled framing hammers or drilling sledges. A tap to set the 16d nail and the next one or maybe 2 sends it home. I used to drive kids doing Habitat crazy while I was in school. They'd be pecking away with a little 12 oz claw hammer ( usually with both hands) I'd I'd have already driven all the nails in for the studs on the other side of the wall and be half way down their side. They also used to be a bit surprised to see me drive 2 1/2" drywall screws like nails. ( goes in faster than a drill, but you can back them out easier than pulling nails later.)

[Frosty]

No, you aren't alone. It's really common for guys to push or pull the hammer on impact and takes practice and an old fart yelling at them till they unmake the habit. I believe (in that inexpert just an observation musing way of mine) it's intuitive to want the metal to go the direction we want so we push or pull the hammer. Just an instinctive reflex to almost no utility at all.

I remember doing it and still catch myself now. Teaching folk is really what got me to stop. I could see how little if any effect pushing or pulling the hammer had and after hectoring students till they stopped I found it REALLY embarrassing when one would point out I was doing it.

The only times I've found it an effective technique is unrolling an edge. On rare occasion something would really go awry and I ended up with a thin edge rolled over. If I did it just right I could strike just behind the curl and push it out far enough to flatten it. Yeah, a couple few times ever.

And NO it doesn't straighten a wonky nail you're heading, not a bit. to straighten one up you have to strike directly at the bent head from an angle, not push or pull the head.

Pushing or pulling the hammer is sliding it so most of your energy is wasted. Drive it as straight as you can directly into the heart of your anvil and put the work in between the two. When I'm in the zone the hammer hits within a fraction of an inch of the same spot on the anvil every blow and I move the work under it.

I crack the hammer like a whip and aim for the center of the anvil, not the face the ANVIL. My target is way beyond the face, I strike through the work, not on it.

I learned a LOT of things studying the martial arts that have nothing to do with self defense or contending on the mats.

Frosty The Lucky.

[arkie]

......

I crack the hammer like a whip and aim for the center of the anvil, not the face the ANVIL. My target is way beyond the face, I strike through the work, not on it.

I learned a LOT of things studying the martial arts that have nothing to do with self defense or contending on the mats.

Frosty The Lucky.

​Very good point!!  I too, was in the martial arts, and the same techniques applied to obtain maximum power....the target was not often just skin deep.  I never thought about applying it to forging.  Thanks for the analogy.

[Frosty]

My pleasure. Another martial arts technique I use comes from the one fencing lesson I took at a Ren Faire. I hold my hammers between my thumb and the first joint on my pointer (index?) finger and let it hinge on the joints. I only close my hand on impact and release it immediately.

Every joint is a force multiplier holding my hammers this way adds a joint so my blows are stronger and not being tightly coupled to the handle on impact I don't absorb the shock. My joints don't ache and I can work long hours without undue fatigue in my hammer hand.

My tong hand is a different matter though, I'm getting old enough I'll get finger lock sometimes and have to stop for a while. A ring on the reins really helps I don't have to squeeze to hold the stock.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Charles R. Stevens]

On the subject of rounding hammers, most farriers turning hammers have a very flat face, two flat infact. You will find that the hammer "jumps" in your hand and mars the work with every other blow, time spent dressing a slight crown on the flat face will lay you back many times. 1 1/2# are nit to lifht to start, 2 is good as you move up. Theri are a coulle of good threads on dressing hammers on here, one acualy describes the arcs recomended (like a 12" radius for a "flat" face etc.) 

when starting out, take a wite out pen, draw an "X" in the muddle of the anvil face (right over the center of the "waist" or mass of the anvil. This is the sweet spot. On an old anvil with a wide waist you may have to move one way ir the ither if a concave spot has been worn ove this spot, but this is very important for us who use Farriers or "turning" anvils as they have wasp waists. Now practice placing the stock over the center of the "X" and moving it under the hammer, insted if chasing it around the anvil. You should be aiming your blows at the "X" and moving the stock as if you were working under a power hammer. Now this is not to say that you only strik this way, shering blows, half face blows, angled blows to the anvil edge, angled blows at the anvil edge (using the edge as a bottom fuller) are all very usefull in shaping and drawing steel. Not to mention off side upseting blows, and the use of the horn not only to turn but to draw steel. 

Glenn often points that using 1/2 plywood as "stock" will quikly show you if your anvil need raised, lowerd or what, you may also need to squat at the knees if your anvil is at the right hight for tooling and slede work when working with the hand hammer. Just look at the cresents formed by the hammer face. And judge wat corections to the anvil and your techniqu to get flat blows. 

As to handle length, I prefer to start by gripping the head in my fist at trimming the handle to the inside of my elbow. 

Now with other hammers, dillers hammers tend to be soft, and are good for driving tools, dont be afraid to rehandle them with full lenght blacksmith paterned handles, as aposed to hand sledge handles. Double jack hammers (hand sledges with two identical flat faces) can be modified rather easaly, i have a pair i use a lot that have half round peins (the radius is 1/2 the width of the hammer head, both in strait and cross pain patersns, draws fast over the horn with minimal divits to planish out. 

As to peins, Pay attention their, not only do you need to dres the face (blend the nasty 45 degre filet in to a nice rounded transition and snand iut the machine swirls, but the peins look like spliting mauls. They need to be seriusly blunted, 1/4"R on a 1 1/2#is good, 3/8"on a 2#, 3/4" on a 2 1/2# efc. Some prefer to cut them of flat and just radius the corners. The isea is to present a smaller face to encorage the steel to move, and to move it inthe desired direction with iut creating a lot of diviots that need to be planished or filed out. 

[Jacob Nothstine]

I purchased a BB hammer #2 Cross peen hammer it a great hammer, I like the feel of the handle, the balance is nice, and it moves metal great. Came with a video on how to use it ( hofi Style hammering). This is my main hammer. Second up is a Heller rounding hammer 2.5 lb, I picked it up from a estate sale for $8.00

I would try to go to an event like SOFA and try a few hammers out before buying. 

Photo is of the Heller hammer you would have to fine one used.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Glenn

[Anthony San Miguel]

I've only been forging for about 8 months so keep that in mind, but I have a lot of hammers and one that I find myself going to a lot recently is a double diagonal peen that I ground from an $8.00 Harbor Freight 3 lb sledge. After grinding both ends it weighs around 2 lbs.

[ThomasPowers]

Starting out I used a moderate size single jack and it was my main hammer for a decade or more.  Got it at the fleamarket for US$5 IIRC and I've put 3 handles in it so far (about 1 a decade).  With time I have gone up in weight to a 1500gm Swedish crosspeen I picked up at Quad-State for $20 as it didn't suit someone who had bought it new. I've also gone down in weight with a lovely Lynch collection crosspeen that I liked so much I've even got a second one when the chance came up ($5!!!) also at Quad-State. (also a heavier sledge version $35 at Pennsic and my most expensive hammer to date)

When I moved from OH to NM, USA, I had 100 handled tools on the rack.  Since I got out here I have built a second rack and split the armouring tools from the smithing tools (the jewelry tools had their own space already)

When I teach I bring a bunch of hammers to let people choose one that works for them---though I have been known to suggest they try a different hammer after watching them hit or try to hit a piece.  I also often ask them to hand me their hammer when I correct their piece so they can see it's not an issue with the hammer.

[Francis Trez Cole]

Its more than just the hammer hand it is also the hand holding the stock you are working on. That can cause a bunch of problems with how you are shaping. Lifting it to high so you are just bending the metal back and forth. Also that twisting can also come from you rotating you work most people don't even realize that they are doing it. Having an improper anvil height will cause problems as well. There are many factors that come into play. if you want to see the right way to do it watch Peter Ross swing a hammer.  

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning, A.R. (aahr Billy)

There must be somewhere that A.R. can get a Hammer that has already graduated from "Basic Training".

It would be better if it has not been "Home Schooled" but "Work Hardened". It is way easier to get a "Handle" on it by then.

A.R., The "School of Hard Knocks" is a difficult place to earn a "DePloma", but I've heard that they will allow any "Knockometer" into the Class, "Mail or Fee-Mail", know Pressure.

Some people think Hammers come with a Warranty slip, actually, It's just a note from their Mom, reminding them to pick up milk on the way Home

Neil