Hofi Hammer

[Linus]

OK, I'm a lurker. I was reading a post the other day about purchasing a Hofi hammer and, in the post, it was mentioned that a guy should contact Glen. Is this still good information?

[Glenn]

I have not been able to contact Hofi for a while now. Last I heard Angele in Germany was still the world wide distributor for Hofi. I do not know what the shipping would be from Germany to your location, if you live in Germany you may be close enough to just drive over to his shop.

[Linus]

Thank you Glenn. Since I live in the States, driving there will be a,I don't think so.

But I do have a student that is a resident of Germany and is going home this summer. Maybe he might be willing to take a road trip. Do you have an address or is it something I should Google ?

[Sweany]

I googled what you were looking for and found someone in the US, licensed to make the hammer.

[Linus]

Sweany, would that be Bridgetown forge?

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning,

Licensed to make the Hammer????  I don't think that would be the correct word, Licensed.

I don't think we have to ask anyone permission, to make a Hammer. Tom Clark showed our Association the finer points of a 'Balanced Hammer'. Some call it the 'Hofi Hammer'. Probably the more correct term would be a 'Hofi Style Hammer' that was styled from a 'Habberman Hammer'. Mr Habberman did not necessarily invent the Hammer, it is probably a few thousand years old.

All of my students eventually make a 'Balanced Hammer'. A lump on a stick, if you want to be short.

Neil

[Glenn]

When we carried the Hofi hammers, we had Hofi make the hammers in Israel and apply the Hofi touch mark to the hammer.  Each Hofi hammer was made by Hofi or under his direct supervision ( do not know which) and came directly from Hofi's shop in Israel. We then paid Hofi before the hammers left Israel so there would be NO questions.

Others tried to sell knockoffs so we ask Hofi to SIGN the hammer handle with a permanent marker.

Please get verification in writing that any hammer is a original Hofi hammer and even then be careful. If you hear the Hofi-style, ergonomic hammer, or balanced hammer, then it may not an original Hofi hammer. Anyone can make a hammer that looks like any other hammer. To call it a Hofi hammer is a dis-service to the buyer.

Hofi made both forged and cast Hofi hammers, The touch marks were slightly different.

There are several threads on the site about the Hofi hammers, their origin, etc. as well as the Czech hammer. It is interesting and informative reading.

[Gotzskillz]

I just ordered 2 forged Hofi hammers from angele and shipping to north carolina was about $55. I know its a lot, but worth it to me.

[Gorō]

On 25/05/2016 at 0:09 PM, Gotzskillz said:

I just ordered 2 forged Hofi hammers from angele and shipping to north carolina was about $55. I know its a lot, but worth it to me.

Yeah I've recentlyhad  a quote send to my email

i think it was the same price but in euros

[gote]

I am at a loss to understand the term 'balanced' hammer. Most hammers with a pein that I have seen (including Hofi) have more weight on the flat side of the handle than on the pein side. Balanced around what axis and what is good about it.

[Gorō]

On 5/11/2016 at 11:39 PM, Glenn said:

.

Hey Glenn

from your experience with the Hofi hammer is there any diffrences between the cast and forged hammer??? Im still thinking whether or not I should get one

Cheers

Why do you constantly feel a needs to quote an entire page before making a simple comment like this? It is an issue when over half the membership of IFI  still pay for bandwidth used.  They get upset at paying to see the same pictures and then they complain to us.

[VaughnT]

44 minutes ago, gote said:

I am at a loss to understand the term 'balanced' hammer. Most hammers with a pein that I have seen (including Hofi) have more weight on the flat side of the handle than on the pein side. Balanced around what axis and what is good about it.

If you look at a store-bought cross peen as the "standard", you'll note that the flat face side of the head is significantly more massive than the peen side.  This is perfectly fine as long as you're using the flat face to hammer, but when you switch over to use the peen for any length of time there will be a lot of wiggle in the hammer because the weight's now above the handle.

The Hofi and Habermann hammers try to minimize this by shortening the flat face side while making the peen thicker and with a larger radius.  It's not perfectly balanced, but it's a sure sight better than most commercially-made hammers.  If you do a lot of peen work, you'll note that your wrist isn't as sore afterwards and you don't have as many off-hits where one corner of the peen hit before the other.  This is because the balance is better - giving you better control.

That's been my experience.  I'd love to get a Habermann hammer but I don't think anyone's making them nowadays.  The Hofi-style is everywhere, but I want mine to say Habermann just to be different.  

[gote]

OK so by balance you mean that the axis of the handle should go through the center of gravity of the head. I am afraid that I still do not see how that will influence.

If I hit squarely with the face without creting divots, it means that the the head is coming down squarely without any rotation/wriggle. If I turn the hammer and use the pein, also the pein will come down squarely unless I change the way I move my arm and unless the head is asymetrical around the handle. However, the mark made by the pein does not show if the hit was not square.

A very squat hammer like the Hofi hammer will have less resistance against turning around the handle axis than a longer head of the same weight but this is a question of moment of inertia rather than of balance.

[JHCC]

4 minutes ago, gote said:

If I hit squarely with the face without creting divots, it means that the the head is coming down squarely without any rotation/wriggle. If I turn the hammer and use the pein, also the pein will come down squarely unless I change the way I move my arm and unless the head is asymetrical around the handle. However, the mark made by the pein does not show if the hit was not square.

A very squat hammer like the Hofi hammer will have less resistance against turning around the handle axis than a longer head of the same weight but this is a question of moment of inertia rather than of balance.

The thing is, you don't always bring the hammer down with the face parallel to the top of the anvil. If you're tapering or scrolling over the edge of the anvil or any number of other options, you're going to be (deliberately!) hitting with an angled face. The squatness of the hammer minimizes the offset between the point of impact and the center of gravity.

[Glenn]

On 10/11/2016 at 5:13 AM, Gorō said:

from your experience with the Hofi hammer is there any diffrences between the cast and forged hammer???

Hofi has stated that there is always a small difference between each HAND FORGED hammer, it is after all hand forged. He says the cast hammers are the same each time, as they are cast in the same mold each time. He also stated that the total differences are very small and only the professional smith that swings a hammer 10 hours every day would be able to tell any differences, having used both hammers.

[rockstar.esq]

I think JHHC's explanation is a pretty good one.  I see "balanced" used to describe a lot of farrier hammers and it seems to be a bit more literal there.  For example, they not only split the weight perfectly on each side of the handle, but they make the striking faces the same distance from the handle's axis.  They would "balance" if you put the center of the head on a point.

As I understand it, they're looking to reduce handle torque from off-center blows using either side of the hammer.  In the case of a rounding hammer, the round face is used like an adjustable pein.  Brian Brazeal (and others) have videos posted showing various applications for that.  The edges of the flat face are also used as peins for when they want a sharper or more aggressive pein.

If the faces were further away from the handle, striking with the left or right face at an angle would give more leverage to torque the handle.

Personally, I like my ball pein because it's center of gravity pulls the face straight down.  I can feel off-center blows better which I find helpful when I'm trying to get a smooth finish. I tend to work at a right angle to my anvil's length so if I'm using off-center blows, they tend to be toe or heel strikes which don't torque the handle.  I noticed that a lot of the advocates for a heavier "balanced" hammer tend to stand in line with the length of their anvils.  I've seen examples where the square sides of the "flat" face are used like straight peins.

I suspect the lighter farrier-type balanced hammers are all about speed.  If it's less effort to transition from pein to face, they're going to be able to work faster.  They tend to go for longer handles to increase velocity as well.  I can see how having the striking surfaces at the same distance from the center would help with accuracy. 

Still, it's weird that for all the talk about balance, we don't hear much about double faced hammers like drillers, or Spanish clubs that are perfectly balanced. 

[wicon]

On 11.10.2016 at 11:44 AM, VaughnT said:

 I'd love to get a Habermann hammer but I don't think anyone's making them nowadays.  The Hofi-style is everywhere, but I want mine to say Habermann just to be different.  

Angele still has them (1,3kg)