Forging tip: Avoid leaving deep hammer marks

While I was reworking a 3/4" piece of W2 drill rod tonight, I noticed something that might be helpful to those just starting to forge.

Deep hammer marks are death when you transition from the forge to the grinder. It's easy to end up with a nasty gouge in the tang that will take forever to grind out.

A well-forged blade will come out with a smooth surface on the sides of the tang, almost like a hot-rolled bar of steel. As you're working on the tang, you want to keep flipping the blade over after every few hammer blows. The side against the anvil will get smoothed out nicely.

What I remembered this evening is how to check your progress. You can't really evaluate the surface of the steel very well when it's in front of you on the anvil. Instead, examine it while it's heating up again in the forge. The steel looks dark against the intense light in the forge, and you can see shadows and bumps where you've got gouges that need to be worked out. If you move the blade around, the forge fire will illuminate all of your mistakes. :)

Josh

And from the other room in the lessons learned department; forging to the point where you're leaving dents in the finish could be because you may be either hitting too hard and don't need to, or the steel is not hot enough (read plastic) any longer to get efficient work from the steel or the hand tool. Put it back in the fire and take another heat.

The best hammerheads I've watched will have a very good looking blade all covered in firescale when they are done. There won't be a lot of material in odd places to grind away to make it look like the intended shape when done. I will also say, this is not easy and make take some time to accumulate as a skill.

Don Fogg is one bladesmith I've watched who can produce a blade like Mike is describing. I watched Don do a demo at the Ashokan bladesmithing get-together in 2008, and it was very impressive. I still have a lot of practice ahead of me. :)

Rounding the corners and smoothing the face of all of your hammers is another must-do item. My heavy hammer has a crowned face, which helps move the steel faster. My main finishing hammer has a small, relatively flat face with a gentle crown and smooth edges.

If you get crescent or square gouges in the workpiece, dressing the hammer face will help. Your anvil could also be at the wrong height; you want it to be around waist high, so that the hammer face naturally strikes flat when your arm is at full extension.

Josh