Forging with "bad" hands

[ThomasPowers]

Frosty; I bring a book...

[SinDoc]

I am not that lucky. If I don't go in, I get put on kid duty .

On another note, I actually paid attention to my hammers  this weekend. Only two of them would have handles I could remove. The other 3 have integrated handles where they are one piece. I could probably cut the handles off and modify the head to get a hole for a replacement handle.

[ThomasPowers]

  I would not try to remake an existing hammer with an integral handle.   Hammers are not rare or expensive in your area; find a local fleamarket and don't pay over US$5 for a hammer head unless very special!

[Frosty]

Ditto Thomas. Hammers are common at yard, garage, etc. sales and if they have a broken handle are sometimes thrown in on a sale as junk. I was given my most recent cross pein because it had a broken handle when I mentioned being a blacksmith. Because I'd know how to replace it.  There's nothing magic or tricky about replacing a hammer handle, heck I got probably 25 hammer handles for $1 at an estate sale on their last day, they just wanted as much gone so they wouldn't have to reload it. 

The sucky thing about all those handles is I don't use store bought handles anymore, my tapered slab handles fit me so much better. I've given a number away but I still have a number. <Sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

I recently handled a hammer head found at the scrapyard.  It was a small tinsmiths cross peen and was very rusty and spent a couple of weeks lost in the bottom of the vinegar "tank".  When it came out the face was "interesting"  Looks like it had been a wrought iron hammer and the acid had dissolved the rust between the ferrous silicates leaving a finely textured surface.  I handled it to do texturing on nonferrous metals and hung it with the jewelry working tools.  I had to cold forge a wedge for it as it had a very small eye.

[SinDoc]

Speaking of hammers, I have been throwing around the idea of trying to forge my own. Need to do more research and try to find some videos of it being done before I tackle that kind of project.

I also need to start making another forge. I really want to make a skillet and other cooking items that I simply can't in my gas forge.

[ThomasPowers]

Hole in the ground, blackpipe tuyere and home made charcoal works a treat.

[SinDoc]

Wife might honestly bury me in said hole if I put another one in our yard. Yard still has not recovered from last years project!

I "think" I have enough scrap 2x6's laying around to through together a JABOD. I will have to look over the scrap pile when I get home. Main thing is the motivation to do it. With all the rain, boy do my hands hurt.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

A JABOD is a hole in the ground, raised up to a comfortable working height.

[bluerooster]

I have a bad shoulder, rotator cuff.  But, that has taught me proper technique (for me).  Also, as mentioned before, too heavy a hammer will cause more problem, than work getting done.   My grip is usually first two fingers, and thumb. The other two fingers operate the "steering wheel".  I've found that hammers with the rubber grippy stuff on the handle are way too grippy, and tear the skin on my hammer hand, especially when it's hot out, because I hold it too gently.

[SinDoc]

Wanted to report back since it has been a bit over a month. I am getting better with holding the hammer more loosely so the impacts aren't felt up my arm (stupid median nerve) and have only had one instance of the hammer trying to take a vacation and fly away. Still a little rough with it, but overall it has made forging more comfortable on the hands.

Next step is to try to get my darn tongs to actually hold onto something. I think grinding it and making the "teeth" more pronounced will help with that as the bar stock I have been working keeps wanting to wiggle out and turn into a very hot projectile doing somersaults. The tongs were meant for flat stock, yet struggle to hold on to them.

I have also learned that my anvil isn't very good and is a borderline ASO. It has several dead spots and I have noticed when working that unless I work in very specific spots, the hammer doesn't rebound at all when working, which I am sure doesn't help. I am looking to get a chunk of RR, since another anvil is a bit out of my budget range at this time. My current anvil will probably go back to being a garden ornament.

[ThomasPowers]

Look at the improvised anvil thread *lots* of good anvils out there that are not london pattern!

BTW if you have a lot of tong issues: 1 try good fitting tong clips so your hand doesn't have to do the squeezing while in use. 2 weld a handle onto the workpiece and forget using tongs!

"Improvise, Adapt, Overcome!"

I once had a fellow with some major congenital issues wanting to forge---no tong hand and not much arm either.  Using tong clips he was able to hold the tongs between what left arm he had and his body and I found a hammer handle he could manage with his other hand shape.   His girlfriend stopped by later and said I had made his day if not his year!  Instead of telling him "you might hurt yourself" I treated him like an adult who could make his own decisions about risk and worked to mitigate the problems. 

[pnut]

On 6/4/2021 at 10:55 AM, SinDoc said:

one instance of the hammer trying to take a vacation and fly away.

When you shape your handles leave a knob or bulge at the end to prevent this. I've started leaving the last inch or two the original size when I sand and shape my handles. 

Pnut