What hammer to use for pinning nickel silver into the handle’s scale?

[Steinmann]

On Every tutorial or “how to” on the web, the ‘meisters’ say one must use a perfectly round shaped hammer, and some even say not starting the work until making sure that this round head is mirror polished. And then, while watching Michael Morris on his films on YouTube (part 3) I can see the artist himself using the flat site of his round – head – shaped – hammer… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvdViLhNuT8
So, I’m sure MM knows what he is doing, but why isn’t he using the ball side of his hammer for those gentle strikes on the handle? Is it maybe because he is hammering the pin into a chamfer and all the others that I’ve seen are pinning to a flat shaped on a flat surface ?
Your thoughts are much appreciated.
Lovely day – Michael.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Michael, you may find the knifemaker's Shop-Talk forum best for answering this type of question. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/741-Shop-Talk-BladeSmith-Questions-and-Answers

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Shalom again,
The round head is used to shape and spread the pin. It has less contact area than the flat side does. The flat side is sometimes used to start swelling the pin if the hole is a little large. Once you get used to riveting the pins, you will sort of know when to use each side.

The sanded smooth and/or polished advice is because every mark on the hammer will be transfered to the pin. This may or may not matter, depending on how you will be finishing the pins after peening.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

I consider myself a pretty good pinner. I seldom use the round "peening" head, preferring to use a flat head 90% of the time. As Stacy said, once you are accustomed to peening, you will know which head to use.