Japanese style hammers?

[A.McPherson]

Hey guys, what's the benefit of having all the mass of the hammer forward of the handle like in a japanese forging hammer?

Just aesthetics or is there a practical reason beyond tradition?

 

[kuraki]

I dunno, but I just made one from a pick axe this weekend for the heck of it.

 

[A.McPherson]

Nice! I bought a bunch of 4140 in anticipation of making hammers and such... another 2 months before I can get back to making stuff. I'm away from my shop for 4 months while I am working up in UT.

I'm really itching to get back and mangle some perfectly innocent and unsuspecting steel!

 

[S.Alexander]

I don't have a lot of forging experience but I do have a Japanese style forging hammer. With the forward weight, the hammer does alot of the work for you, without having to swing harder. It's a bit of a different technique to use, but you have a lot of control where you place each blow.

 

[JTknives]

I made a hammer like this many many years ago and I love it but what I noticed is anvil height can be a bit off when using a hammer that has the face so far away from your knuckles. But it is a good design, I feal it's easier to keep the face square to the work becaus of the forward weight.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I use a Hofi (squat and wide) for shaping and drawing and then switch to a Salvati (Dog's head Japanese style) hammer for the more controlled bevel shaping and tang work.

The Hofi is more like a guy with a sledge breaking down a boulder into a block .... and the Salvati is more like a sculptor with a hammer and chisel shaping the block.

It is hard to find an original Uri Hofi hammer anymore, but you can still get a Hofi style hammer from some of blacksmith suppliers ( Big Blue and Swan). I don't think Sam Salvati has made a new batch of his Japanese style hammers in a while.

You can make a Japanese style forging hammer to experiment with by taking a #4 HF drilling or engineers hammer and cutting off one side just past the handle. Shape the head on the grinder as you wish.

 

[Daado]

I like forward weight for finishing work. It feels easy to work, and when i catch the rhythm, it "works by itself". Besides that, they are fun to make

 

[Carcara]

The weight forward makes the balance of the hammer self centering. In an old american blacksmithing book I once came across, it described a hammer with the striking face the exact opposite of a Japanese style hammer with most of the weight in back as the devil's hammer, impossible to control.