I finally got Forge built and started working and I've noticed when I'm forging I see a lot of hammer marks in my work. What can I do to practice my blows to keep them from showing up as much? 

Post a pic of your hammers face if you can. Sharp corners and heavily rounded faces will show more than nicely eased corners and gently rounded faces. It also could be that you're not striking your work squarely. If your getting mostly crescent shaped marks then that is the part of you're making contact with first so you should try to adjust your grip or roll your hand/wrist (whichever is more comfortable) away.

Best I can recommend is what is in the anvil height sticky. Search anvil height, and read carefully. Use a piece of wood on your anvil to confirm your hammer is hitting the surface squarely. Then practice, practice, practice.

The finish grinding of your hammer face may be as much an issue as your technique. Your general purpose hammer should have a slightly convex face with a radiused edge. This slight curve means that the hammer will make a nearly imperceptible divot even when a bit off of a flat blow.

The other issue is being able to hit with good alignment. You might try hammering wood for a while. It will leave a very easy to read record of the alignment of each blow.

Note that forging generally proceeds from major movement of metal where power is more important than precision to finish work where precision is more important than power. That is, as you approach final form, ease off and focus on precision.

Good work IFI members! 3 solid replies in under 20 minutes.

Now if hammer control is a problem practice hitting at the same place on the anvil face and *MOVE THE WORKPIECE* across that hammer zone.  Many folks are better pulling or pushing a piece evenly than they are moving the hammer's impact location smoothly.

Bullet, I found out when I started forging, only a year or so ago, that I wasn't a very good shot with my various hammers! It ain't quite as easy as all those Youtube smiths make it look. It doesn't take much pounding to get noticeably more accurate with the hammer. Your arm will get stronger and your aim better. Both, combined with the right hammer and hammer face, will lead to less hammer tracks in your work.  Good luck and have fun forging.