Show off your hammers!

J

Jason Fry

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
3,160
Been a while since we did a hammer show-off. I just put this video up, and got to wondering what your hammers look like also. I definitely need to re-dress my faces!

 
That's some serious diversity of styles, Josh! Which one do you reach for most often?
 
The two from Jakob Faram I haven’t even used yet, he had a run and I waited for around a year or so for one and when the other one popped up I grabbed it.
The rounding hammer at the top I use the most. It’s a 3lb from Fiery furnace forge. I just got the dogshead from member here “Kentucky” and it’s pretty great on finishing bevels. I’ve become addicted to handmade hammers.
 
Here's my collection so far.

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So the second one in from the right is a $200 hammer from a ferrier supply house in Midland,TX. I hardly ever use it. It's one of the first ones I bought I bought, so I didn't really know what I liked. The handle is too thin, and because it's a custom, standard sizes handles don't fit it. Some day I'll get around to re-hafting it, but for now it mostly just sits.

The one I use most is the one on the far left, it's a 3lb sledge that I got at a pawn shop for a dollar, put a commercial handle on it and refaced into a rounding hammer. Works great!
 
Is it a Jim Poor hammer? Flatland forge? He lived in Midland for quite a while.
 
Jason Fry said:
Is it a Jim Poor hammer? Flatland forge? He lived in Midland for quite a while.
Click to expand...
Yep that sounds about right...

It's a good hammer, really well made and man, when you are holding it at the long end of the hammer, it moves metal like a champ!!! The handle is just too thin!! Maybe that's how ferriers like it, I donno!
 
A.McPherson said:
Yep that sounds about right...

It's a good hammer, really well made and man, when you are holding it at the long end of the hammer, it moves metal like a champ!!! The handle is just too thin!! Maybe that's how ferriers like it, I donno!
Click to expand...
The ferrier’s I’ve talked to DO prefer the long handles. I can’t control a hammer unless I’m choking up on it. I’d guess we require a lot more precision as knifemakers.
 
I'm the same way Josh, that's why I like my little 3lb sledge/rounding hammer, it's way more controllable for me...

Who knows, maybe as I get better at forging I'll start to gravitate towards longer be handles. MORE POWAH!
 
I’ve watched Jim Poor forge. He’s a wizard, super precise. I’m with y’all though, I choke up on my hammer.
 
I love long handles. You can really get some whip to them. In the formula for energy velocity is squared so comparing a hammer twice as heavy to a hammer twice as fast. The faster hammer at half the weight has way more energy then the slower hammer at twice the weight.
 
True, but momentum is linear. So unless you are increasing your velocity by the same amount you are decreasing your mass, you're going to be losing momentum.

And it's the tendancy for your hammer wanting to keep moving (momentum) that actually moves the steel... At least that's the way it works in my head.

I'm no physicist, so you know, opinions, grains of salt, that whole thing...
 
I don’t have a large collection of hammers, as I’m just starting to forge things. So far, I’ve only forged a knife, a hammer eye punch and a drift. Then I forged this hammer out of a 2”x2”x4” bar of 4140. All used was a 3lb harbor freight hammer and my little anvil. It will weigh about 2 1/2 pounds when I finish grinding and dressing it. It was a LOT of work forging this hammer by hand, but I learned a lot by doing it. Let me know what you think.

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