Thread: Hammer Time!

Only 48 hours to go before this jedi sets out on the long journey to study at the feet of Master Zowada. Just finished sanding and polishing, and re-handled an old cross peen my dad had in a box of bold broken hammers.

Which made me wonder.. What size/style hammers do you other razor makers prefer to use when forging?

This one is about 44 oz, and the face is now a near mirror (I know it wont stay that way, but I wanted to start off with a clean face so to speak) Nearly flat, with the edges softly rolling up.

Would love to hear some opinions, so I can maybe grab a few more before I head up.

I forge not, but do use modern hammers in my work. Upon your purpose, I think an old-school with a hickory handle would be best. It seems that your choice would be good and the face is remarkably pristine!
Best of luck and may you gain the skills you desire under Tim! Enjoy!

it certainly was not pristine when I started on it! My dad was hard on his tools.

I do not know what kind of hammer I prefer, I keep changing them. I have the other HAD HammerAD. I do keep the faces in good shape.

Charlie

Charlie, do you bother to fine finish them? or is that simply overkill? I dont want to waste a lot of time and resources putting a super slick finish on a hammer if it wont last, or causes any problems I am not (yet) aware of. Whats the weight of the lightest hammer you use for moving metal?

I smooth them out and buff them once, but I do not maintain that type of finish. They get banged up with use.

I do not know the exact weight of my hammers, my guess would be most are in the 2 - 3 pound range.

Charlie

I will post pics later today. Just wanted to say that it is important that the flat bit is not actually flat or even 'nearly' flat.
Of course it depends of your definition of 'nearly'.

If you have a rounded hammer and you strike the workpiece not 100% true, the impact surface will still be correct because the rounding will balance the twisting of the hammer surface. It's kind of like when you throw a ball to the wall, it will always hit the wall true because no matter how much it turns, the impact area is still true. With a flat hammer otoh, you will punch divots in the workpiece.

Plus, with a rounded hammer, the initial surface area touching the piece is smaller, and you will move a lot more metal because pressure = force / surface area.

Thanks Bruno, pics would be great! Its not too late for me to rework at least one hammer to a "rounder" face if necessary.

What you say is exactly what I was thinking when I restored the face on the crosspeen. Hence "near" flat. But with no actual idea what to shoot for, I could only go with my imagination, which may include the belief that I will have enough control to work within the tolerance I have set in that very slight radius!

Hammers come in all sizes. It is no leap of logic to figure that the heavier hammers will move more metal. One of my smithing friends likes to refer to the "ground hammer interface," as the weakest variable in the process. The heavier hammer will get harder to lift as the arm wears out. A heavy head can be more difficult to control. It's possible for strong man to use a 25lb hand hammer, but he won't do it all day. Starting early in the day with a 4 lb hammer, moving to a 3 lb, then 2 lb, then 1 lb is not unreasonable as the heavy work leads to lighter/thinner work requiring less hammer because you don't want big dents in a thin piece of razor or knife stock. Your arm will like this progression better.

I would recommend looking up Uri Hofi, as a starting point. There are professional and youtube videos and books. His ergonomic methods are sound. The idea is that if you become addicted to hammering, you might want to do so in a way to keep hammering the rest of your life. Look closely at his recommendations for the length of handle and grip.

Mike, your words are of iron, and my arms are of ice. Solid enough when you look at them, but break easy when you put pressure on them, and melt to a puddle when heated up!
The 44 oz is the heaviest hammer I have, as it was the highest point at which I still felt comfortable swinging. Driving punches and chisels with a hammer you cant control leads to broken hands, so I assumed the same problems apply to forging!