I bought some "hawk bells" to decorate a tomahawk I had just finished. I decided since it was the holidays to attach the a couple of bells to my favorite hammer right below the head. Jingle bells in the forge as it were. Here is the amazing upshot of this little bit of foolishness, improved hammer control. It gives an added dimension when hammering, the sound of the bells at the top of the swing. I couldn't believe my ears, a whole additonal dimension of control at the top of the swing. Since I am kind of a hammer control junkie, I thought I'd pass it along..Has anyone ever tried anything like this??.. Not sure I'd take the hammer out in public by the way, looks pretty weird.

Happy Holidays All

chainsaw

Jingle bells, jingle bells jingling on my hammer.
Hammer smashes orange hot iron and makes me smile real bigggggg! HEY!!!

Sorry couldn't resist, had never thought about adding bells to my hammer though I do know a guy who wears bells when he goes hunting? How about a picture?

Thinking about other things that require specific body control for accuracy though... Shooting tournaments with my compound bow, you do a lot of things to be sure that mechanically you shoot the same way every time. If the bells on the hammer gives you a reference on where you are in the up swing in comparison to your ear, it might give you that index for noting where you are mechanically, just like a kisser button on your string indexes the string on the bow in comparison to your body. Worth thinking about as I am planning to spend some time using my video camera to help me sort out my hammer blows for consistency and efficiency sake.

Back in the stone-age when I was involved in sports we watched ourselves in mirrors and also used videotape to monitor and refine movement. Have you tried either forging in front of a mirror or filming yourself?

A mirror is GREAT!!! Besides, I got to watch that handsome devil while I was correcting my form.

Finnr

The video tape helped my form in shooting archery competition more than anything I did, but I can see that anything that indexes the point that your body is in at a given moment could become an aid to train the body in it's movement... The excitement that chainsaw shares in the post is enough to get me to at least ponder the benefits that is for sure...

Finnr, some of us don't do as well with mirrors... you may be the handsome devil type of smith....... I on the other hand could be on the other end of the spectrum, I like to call it rugged good looks, but many have disagreed over the years and just called it rugged, very very rugged!

James

There are products made for guitar players, basically little egg shaped shakers, to help time ones strumming more accurately.

Sounds like it would work the same way for hammering.

Besides, I got to watch that handsome devil while I was correcting my form.

I had to remove mine. Kept getting distracted by the handsomness. :D

Just the opposite for me, every time I caught a glimpse of my image in the mirror it startled me....thought some big ugly guy was coming at me with a hammer....kept throwing me off

welder19

A mate was looking in the mirror I have to illuminate various dark spots, he said "I recognise that face from somewhere" I went over and had a look, and said "Course you do you daft beggar, its me"