forging hammer questions

Justin Presson

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
I have a question about hammers.
I currently have forged very little and just use whatever hammer here at work.

I want to buy some hammers but honestly I don't know what styles are best for forging, what do you use for general forging the knife to shape, what do you use on the bevels? Round face, flat?

These are the type of questions I have, if anyone has a good link with pictures and explains each style that would be great.


Justin

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Hi Justin!

Forging hammers are a unique animal compared to other hammers. Most commercially available hammers have a flat face..... not what you want for forging. A forging hammer is used to "direct" the movement of hot steel in the direction YOU want. To that end a forging hammer should have a convex face. The degree of convex often depends on an individual's personal taste, and their level of experience. Personally, I have 4 different hammers that I use the most when forging. All are different weights, from about 3lbs, down to 8oz. Each has a different degree of convex on the face. I use the heaviest hammers when first starting a project to move the most material in the fewest heats, then as forging progresses, I start dropping down in size/weight for "detail" work. For most people, I find that a 2-2 1/2lb is about the right weight. It has enough weight to some heavy forging, but isn't so heavy that it's difficult to control.

That being said, of course it all depends on each individual. I've seen big, burly, muscle bound guys who couldn't control a 2lb hammer, and I once had a tiny lady in the shop who did just fine with a 3lb hammer.

The peen side of the hammer is something most find very important in forging. It allows for different operations, without changing hammers....just more efficient. I was never happy with the standard "cross peen" or "straight peen" hammers, because they are just to difficult/unnatural to use. Which is why I started producing the Angle Peen hammers.

I also make/use what I call a "Double Draw" hammer..... which has a 45 degree offset peen on each side. One side allows me to draw along the length of a work piece, and by simply flipping the hammer over, I can draw width wise with it.

When I teach, I always try to make people understand that forging isn't about brute strength....it's about finesse. Swinging a hammer wildly, never gets much done....except to make a mess. :)

I always found it interesting that many who forge don't give much thought to the hammers they use, and have never understood why. Choosing the tool that does the majority of the work can either make your life easy.....or unnecessarily difficult.

Here's a link to the hammers that I make/use: http://www.caffreyknives.net/angle_peen-hammers.html
 
Thanks Ed for the detailed reply. So most all forging rounded face, lets say I have the knife to general shape I want, then do you use a flat face hammer to flatten the tang and ricasso area?

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You can use a flat faced hammer, but it often does more harm then good. The idea of a convex faced forging hammer is overlapping (know as "half face" blows). The problem with a flat faced hammer is the the edges generally will dig in, leaving a row/line of radius lines across the work piece. Personally, I do all my "finish" work, which includes flattening with a convex faced hammer.

This bring up a point that is often overlooked....the height of YOUR anvil, should be set for YOU. Roughly that would be the height that with standing beside the anvil, with arm at your side, and your hand (the one you hold a hammer in) in a loose fist...... your knuckles should just touching the face of the anvil. This sets you up to naturally make level, square blows with a hammer. If the anvil is too high, the "heel" of the hammer face will make contact first and cause excessive hammer marks. If the anvil is too low, the top the hammer face with contact first, and create marks.


Concerning flattening things..... There's a forging tool known as a "flatter"..... it has a flat face, and a back that's made to struck with a hammer..... it's placed on the hot steel, struck on the back with hammer, and is used to flatten things without leaving those radius marks that a flat faced hammer would.
 
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Here is my modest selection. On the right side at the top is one of those nice Ed Caffrey double draw hammers that I bought 5 years ago . The bottom two hammers in the right hand side are the hammers I reach for the most. The hard part is I have no idea what the weight is on them. I picked them up from an estate sale of a farrier. Hammers are a lot like draw weights for bows. It's really easy to get something that is too heavy then form and accuracy suffers. You might already know but forging hammers are often a little softer than normal. Softer hammers protect your anvil face. This also means that if you use a proper forging hammer for anything other than red hot steel it will get damaged.
 
Just want to chime in to say thanks to you guys who respond. I so appreciate the info shared on this site. I have one cross peen that I have rounded the face of, and other misc. hammers.- have been watching for a straight peen. And, one of Ed's angle peen hammers is on my wish-list. As is often the case, I have no helpful insights to offer here (I'm still very green at forging). What do you call someone who cruises the forum secretly, gleaning info, but never posting? Guess if I at least post a thanks once in awhile, I won't be that guy! :s11798:
 
Brad that's a nice line up.

Don't laugh but I bought a cheap harbor freight 2 or 2.5 lb hammer and rounded the head on it and smoothed it all out. Got to start somewhere right.
I used it today on a pair of tongs I'm making and have to say it felt like it was moving metal better then the beat to crap mini sledge at work I was using. I will have to take a pic of it and get recommendations


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Justin Presson said:
Don't laugh but I bought a cheap harbor freight 2 or 2.5 lb hammer and rounded the head on it and smoothed it all out. Got to start somewhere right.
Click to expand...

Nothing to laugh about. I'm no master smith, but have been forging for about 6 years and most of the hammers I use (and most often) are hardware store purchased sledges. My favorite is a 4# sledge for moving material quickly, then dropping down to 2 1/2-3# hammers, one a cross peen and the other a plain sledge. The important thing is as Ed says, round the corners significantly.
We're knife makers, right? If so, we probably have tools to grind hardened steel, so don't be afraid to use them on the hammer faces.
 
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