Hammer practice

[Pancho07]

A buddy of mine and I are thinking about making each of us a rounding hammer after seeing them used on YouTube. All of the tools needed will need to be made between then and now but my question is would it be a bad idea to practice on some mild steel rod? I have some axle that we will use for the end product but I think it would probably be a good idea to have a few test runs before we go to the good steel. Have access to a smallish power hammer so either way that will help.

Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks in advance. Pancho

[Glenn]

Why not practice with modeling clay? Same tooling, same results. Once you have the steps and tooling well defined you can move on to mild steel as a practice platform. The end result will be the next generation of the process, which can be followed by the good steel. Nothing wrong with practice and working out the details, it relieves the frustrations of mistakes.

Your time has value, as does your education. This is why it is sometimes less expensive to purchase a good hammer, tool, or equipment in order to get started immediately.

[Pancho07]

I don't know why but I always forget about modeling clay. Thanks Glenn. As for time and education, speaking for myself I consider the time spent worth what I learn, even if I try every wrong way before I find out the best way but that's what you guys are for, to steer me clear of the dumb ways to do things. Thanks again Glenn 

[Glenn]

Caution: Bait is being thrown out onto the waters so you can do the research:

Save the mild steel hammer and learn to steel the face. (old school technology)

 

Once you get your *perfect* hammer, learn to make Damascus and then form up the billet to make the next hammer. I was very fortunate to see a Damascus hammer and Damascus box joint tongs that Billy Marrett made, AND USED in a demo. Great set of tools. The cool factor was WAY up there !! (in my opinion)

[Pancho07]

Steel the face meaning use high carbon for strike face and pattern welded or mild for the body? That would be very nice. Have seen quite a few pattern welded tools that I would like to do but I want to be able to make decent looking things before I make pretty things like that. I jump in head first on somethings but that's one that I'm going to pace myself on.

[Pancho07]

On a semi related subject, nearly all of the hand forged hammers are fullered between the faces and the Eye but most mass produced hammers are not, is this a style point on the part of the custom hammer and ease point on the mass produced or is there a good reason for it that the mass produced can't economically duplicate?

[ThomasPowers]

Well the higher carbon steels work a bit differently than mild.  (Mild is easier to forge and has a wider temperature range for forging for instance) so by learning to forge mild hammers you are learning to forge mild hammers.   Axle steel is generally available and often free or very cheap.  Why not learn to forge on the stuff you will be forging and that way if you have a piece turn out well you have a hammer and not just a piece of stock?  It will also be teaching you about working it in the right temperature ranges.

I'm assuming of course that you have basic blacksmithing down and it's just a matter of using a different alloy and some new to you processes.

[Glenn]

Thank you for the advise Thomas

[Pancho07]

Hadnt thought of it that way Thomas, your right.

[ThomasPowers]

I came into smithing through blades and I noticed that if I didn't catch myself I was treating all steel like it was high carbon steel---which meant I was working way harder to forge mild steel and pretty much couldn't forge real wrought iron at all.  It took an act of will to start running things up to proper forging temps for low carbon, low alloy steels. 

So I noticed that at a demo once at SOFA the fellow forging a tool was working high carbon steel like it was low carbon steel---forging it too hot, forging it too cool, etc.  His habits were trained in working low carbon stuff, and sure enough when he passed around the punch I pointed out it had a crack in it and was told it would do the job anyway---and broke on the third hammer blow...

So if the stock is cheap enough I would try to practice on what I would be using and not cross alloy it, (and especially not practice on high carbon to do a piece that will be low carbon and vice versa!)   Now if you don't have basic hammer and temperature control down yet, mild is much more forgiving to learn that on!

[Pancho07]

I don't know that my technique would be considered good but I can get what I want done done more often than not.

[Francis Trez Cole]

pancho first let me say some of the custom hammer makers are using 1045 (Low Medium carbon steel) that is what they were taught to use. Not the best hammer steel. And then there is the divided with a fuller face from the Eye.Again it is a style. No real benefit. You can only hit with a hammer 5 ways Flat on the face with the toe of the face the heel of the face and the right and left cheek. type of hammer makes no difference you can use the same method of hammering with any style hammer. cross peen, Swedish, ball peen, Hofi hammer different hammers for different jobs. Its is the one that helps you get the job done.

I am a big believer of just do it get some mild steel and do it 10 times you will get a better understanding of it do it 100 times and you find an easier way of doing it. Type in Francis Cole blacksmith on you tube I have put up videos that will help you 

[ThomasPowers]

forgot hitting on the flat of the side; as my hammers are not fullered it's a longer flat that is sometimes useful when flattening.