The Fhammerly Portrait

[Rick Marchand]

Hey Folks... yes... another hammer thread from me.... I just love em!!!
I'm really happy with the group of hammers currently have. My handles have evolved to a short(8-9") elongated octagonal cross-section. It is very similar to the Hofi-style. I rub a bit of beeswax on them to add grip so my hand doesn't have to work as hard to maintain control.

From Left to Right...
The first two are my French Hammers. 3.3lb and 2.2lb. I have been using these the longest. They are my all purpose hammers. If I could only have two, these are the ones.
The second two are my drawing hammers. 3.5lbs each. These guys draw out length FAST. They are modified 4lb mauls. Square faces with generous rads on the edges and RH/LH diagonal peens.
The third pair are my Japanese-type rounding hammers. The big one was made from a 6lb sledge and weighs in at 4.25lb. The smaller was made by Kenon Rain and slightly modified by me (sorry, Kenan, your work is great, bro) to reestablish the weight at 2.25Lbs. These two spead out steel like crazy but don't have the directional control that the square faced ones do.
The last three consist of a homemade Beveling hammer, a Ball-peen and a Rough Faced Masonary hammer to add texture where needed.

They all serve a purpose and get used regularily. There is one hammer not pictured. It is a regular 3lb maul and does all my dirty work like driving punches and chisels.

Please post your own hammers and tell us what you use them for.

 

[Lorien]

those are some nice hammers!

 

[Rick Marchand]

Thanks, man!!:thumbup:

 

[12345678910]

I'd' be interested in more about how you dress the faces.

Ya, I'd even chuckle at that photo if it means you show real info too.

 

[John Katt]

Sure hope you got some long screws in the studs, that thing comes off the wall I can see some tender toes for a few days LOL


Nice collection

 

[Rick Marchand]

Great question, Count...

You knew I had to start with this pic... lol... thanks!

The French Hammers - I square the faces, the gently "roll" them side to side and top to bottom on a slack belt. Small radius on the edges to eliminate gouges from bad hammer throws.

The Drawing Hammers - Squared faces, rolled side to side(only) even more than the French hammers. The edge radius is larger so even while hitting with the flat face, I can angle/tilt it to get a fuller effect. LH/RH Diagonal peens for heavy, ergonomic fullering/drawing.

The Rounding Hammers - Round faces, heavily domed to spread metal in all directions.

Beveling Hammer - Ground to a "peen" that is flatter in shape. Used to gently draw down edge bevels on knives that are fully forged.

Texturing Hammer - A masonary hammer that has been roughed up to impart texture for touching up the "forge finish" look.

The Ballpeen Hammer is pretty self explanitory...

 

[quint]

Thats nice, I personally only sport the lowes special right now. Since I built my forge and found an anvil I dont have no excuse not to start trying my hand at forging some stuff. The hammer collection will begin soon (I hope).

 

[jonnymac44]

I always love seeing your hammers Rick!:thumbup: They are works of are all on their own, just beautiful!

 

[12345678910]

What I take away from this is that you don't have to spend $50 on a "blacksmith" hammer.

You can start with cheap harbour freight and garage sale hammers and forge it, or take the angle grinder to it until you are happy with it.

 

[Rick Marchand]

You could say that... but I'm sure those expensive hammers are well made. Those french hammers cost me a bit, as well as the Kenon Rain Japanese one. The rest were garage sale finds and $15 hardware specials. It may be a little more complicated than just grinding the heck out of a cheapo hammer. I heat treated those hammers, too. Infact, I called the manufacturer(Garant) of the two 4lb mauls to make sure I had decent steel... it turned out to be 1060. If I add up the time it took me to make them, it costs way more than just buying custom made hammer. You have to take that into consideration. But as for money out of pocket? Yeah, grinding/hammering out your own is a great alternative.

 

[Bob Katilus]

Rick, those are pretty cool... and look really well made. The drawing hammers look pretty effective.

 

[12345678910]

I've been wondering what you use the bolt cutters for, Hot cutting ?

 

[Rick Marchand]

I've been wondering what you use the bolt cutters for, Hot cutting ?

I make stuff out of 1/4 - 3/8 mild rod and snip off sections of brass and copper for handle pins. Thats about all those are used for.

 

[svbk556]

I'll never use the phrase "dumb as a bag of hammers" again

Scott

 

[Brian Ayres]

Hey Folks... yes... another hammer thread from me.... I just love them!

Please post your own hammers and tell us what you use them for.

Come on guys!
Let's see yours! There can't be only stock removal guys on here!

I'll add mine later tonight.

 

[Brian Ayres]

Here are some of my hammers... Sorry for the crappy pics. My daughter swiped the camera to take pics of my grandson...

Now.... I now that you've seen them. I HAVE to get my anvil stand for my 300# Fisher built and use the darn things!

First is an E C Atkins & Co Sawyers hammer made in Indianapolis and is stamped 2 1/2 from my research it's likely from the early 1900's. They were in business till 1944... It's my precious...

Then, I have 2 hammers by MS Ed Caffrey
I have used these on a couple blades I forged but need to use a higher anvil as I was having problems keeping the "ears" of the pein square to the bevel when I was forging on a shorter anvil.
I like their thicker handles and am happy with them as I got a decent deal on em from a friend who decided a forging press was more his style!!

And, a cross pein by his Gooness. Tai Goo.(Nathan too)

all my favorites together...

The yellow Estwing Blacksmith's hammer is the one I used to forge my first blade. It is a pretty decent hammer. The pein side is too think and needs dressed before I'd use it more.

A few other hammers

 

[quint]

Heres my little collection. The lowes special I call it (yellow handle) actually not a bad hammer once I dressed it some. The cleaned up looking one I got off ebay, was a little rust bucket without a handle when I got it. Like it for smaller work. The bottom two were loose handle stuff form balcksmithdepot. That second to last one I like the most for finishing. So many more hammers to get ......

 

[Sam Salvati]

This post shows well, that it's really not so much the hammer as how the face is dressed.

 

[Wolf Creek Forge]

Heres a #2 1/4 pound rounding hammer Phillip made..I like it a lot..

 

[Allen Newberry]

I've got a few hammers in my rotation. My most used one currently is the hammer on top. It is a 3lb. cast Hofi hammer. After that my most used hammer is probably the craftsman blacksmiths hammer that I started out with.