Hi,

I just finished my first 3.5 lb rounding hammer. The smaller one in the photos is a 2.5 lb I made in a seminar.

Do you guys have any advice on how you like your flat side ground? I think this one is going to be a little unforgiving and I might put a larger radius on the edges. Right now it's about a 3/16 in radius, and I can tell already I'm going to be marking up my tapers with if it haha. I'm certainly no expert and I've probably only held a couple other rounding hammers, so I don't have a whole lot experience with them.

Thanks for looking,

Nick

That's really personal preference. Some folks consider it offensive to have someone else dress their hammers!

Nice hammer by the way!

Those hammers Look pretty good from this angle!

Your smaller hammer has more of a radius on the edge than i personally prefer, but we all have our own style.

If you feel your new hammer is too sharp, slowly increase the radius until you are happy. Not super helpful I know, but the details of our tools should be about our technique and style.

I left the center square inch or so flat on the flat side and then lightly rounded it out towards the edges, and rounded the edges so it can work as a fuller when tilted. It works awesome! Moves steel like a champ.

Here are some photos of the Young Smith's rounding hammer from the 2012 ABANA conference gallery. The Brian Brazeal influence on the profiles on each face is evident.

Beautiful hammers, guys!  I wish there was an easier way to make those fullers by myself (without a striker).  Without them, my recent attempts look a bit blocky and likely will result in some knuckle-busting on the anvil face.  

I was wondering the same thing about the flat face on mine.  A face that's  dead flat and 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" wide with a tight radius would be fairly unforgiving I would imagine.  That young smiths' one looks a bit radiused overall.  I'll watch this thread for a few more days before heat treating mine!

52 minutes ago, AdamG said:

Beautiful hammers, guys!  I wish there was an easier way to make those fullers by myself (without a striker).  Without them, my recent attempts look a bit blocky and likely will result in some knuckle-busting on the anvil face.  

I was wondering the same thing about the flat face on mine.  A face that's  dead flat and 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" wide with a tight radius would be fairly unforgiving I would imagine.  That young smiths' one looks a bit radiused overall.  I'll watch this thread for a few more days before heat treating mine!

I'm in the same spot. Try craigslist and try to be patient. First day they're going to be mediocre at best, and probably put some dings in your top tools. I had the same guy come make a knife beveling hammer this weekend and he hit like a champ. We got the plug out in 4 heats. I think next time we'll be able to do it in 2-3.

You can do the fullers with a guillotine helper and a 4+ lb hand sledge, but it's still like shooting a BB at a freight train.

Nick, That hammer came out great! Not bad for just taking one class over a month ago. I'm jealous you're able to get in so much forging time. Nice work man.