Strong men using iron tongs

Size comes with genes, muscle can come with a lifetime of doing a particular job.
My grandpa was a blacksmith and locksmith, a life of hard labor, was about 5' 7" tall for about 153 pounds, yet I've seen him bend a finger thick piece of rebar as if it was no more than a garden hose, and this when he was over 70 years old.
I wouldn't have pissed him off at his times :D
 
I do beleive that it is much more in the technique than in strength. I was shown this method by a local full time blacksmith: simply hold your hammer swingin arms elbow in the center of your body(about your belly button) and bend at the waist using your bodyweight to give force to the blow. Do not try to "push" the hammer all the way down as this will actually make it harder to pull the hammer back up due to you absorbing the force of te rebound in your arm instead of letting it rebound up on its own. Just give it a quick jerk down and let momentum and gravity help it the rest of the way down. IT seems like since I learned this I use about 20% of the energy I used to use for forging.

More pennies to the pot!!!!
Jesse
 
Good thought Jesse

I did not think to mention the hight of the anvil. I was told to stand beside the anvil clentch my fist with my knuckles touching the surface. That is how i have it but I feel I am bending over too much.
What do you recon.

Nathan when you get a chance have a go. My mate looks like you discribe yourself. He is a dairy farmer he has a shed with a gym at one end and the forge and anvil tacked onto the other end.

He gets some real power into his swing. He uses a 4lb sledge with the full handle attached one handed. I remember when he started he was hitting all over the place. He picked it up very quickly. Every one does. He makes great damascus now. I am basically an office johnny now with only a bit of physical stuff from time to time. My arms are like chiken legs to look at but I am able to get the job done if given long enough. My mate that looks like you can really shift the hot steel when he gets a swing up.
 
Pefect example - take a look at the picture of Bill Moran in Pendentive's post. Still bladesmithing at age 78. Technique :D
 
Try strong minds using tongs.
That might be a bit closer. And strong they are. Forget this romantic mush. I used to think that way until I stopped and listened to these guys. Brother these people can tell you what's happening on the microscopic level. hell they've been doing it for thousands of years.
Interesting thing is that everybody can argue endlessly but all the technology used in knifemaking today can't produce a knife that can be PROVEN better than a forged blade. Maybe I'm easily amused but I find that fascinating.
 
Like the others have said, it's all in the practice. I thought as a carpenter swinging a hammer is swinging a hammer. But driving a nail or a 2x4 stake is different than hitting metal. And seems to use different muscles. Brute strenght is'nt everything.
 
The most elementary skill in bladesmithing (or most
anything else) is tenacity.

Russ Andrews
 
Russ has got that right! :)

Last summer, I visited Russ at his shop and attempted to hammer out a little blade from a piece of L6 that Russ had laying around. I thought I was in fairly decent shape, but after beating on it for a while, I literally could not hammer any more. My arm simply wouldnt do it anymore! What was left of the piece of L6, in no way resembled a blade either.

I am finally going back and will have a rematch with that belligerent little piece of L6 this coming weekend! :)
 
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