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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #16  
Old 06-15-2017, 05:21 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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Well shoot then, sounds like your are well armed to wade into the fire. A lot of the semi-precious and precious metal work you have done with a hammer will be well used in finish work on blades. That's quite a step ahead of many beginning the adventure, all good.
That being said, you will probably find one hammer in the 2#-3# range that will just be your go-to because it does what you expect and want. You'll wind up using it for most of your task instead of grabbing a diff hammer more often than not. Study the ergonomics of this hammer - head shape, mass axis, and handle shape - mimic these when fitting handles to other heads and when finishing/facing them. Make a tremendous diff in your hammer(s) working as you want.

Yeah, you can always plow with almost any running tractor, but some are just "right"er than others.

Get to the fun part now......move that steel!


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  #17  
Old 06-15-2017, 09:20 AM
WNC Goater WNC Goater is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crex View Post
Well shoot then, sounds like your are well armed to wade into the fire. A lot of the semi-precious and precious metal work you have done with a hammer will be well used in finish work on blades. That's quite a step ahead of many beginning the adventure, all good.
That being said, you will probably find one hammer in the 2#-3# range that will just be your go-to because it does what you expect and want. You'll wind up using it for most of your task instead of grabbing a diff hammer more often than not. Study the ergonomics of this hammer - head shape, mass axis, and handle shape - mimic these when fitting handles to other heads and when finishing/facing them. Make a tremendous diff in your hammer(s) working as you want.

Yeah, you can always plow with almost any running tractor, but some are just "right"er than others.

Get to the fun part now......move that steel!

Funny you say that. I mentioned a 2.5 lb machinists hammer and a 3 lb straight peen, both found at a flea market. The machinists hammer just feels sweet in the hand. I feel I have pretty good control with it. The straight peen just feels weird, unbalanced is the best word I can find to describe it. I pick it up, it works, but end up putting it down. Just doesn't "fit" me. I have a cheap HF 3 pound cross peen that feels pretty good so it isn't the weight difference.

The guy I bought my anvil from handed me a hammer and asked me to lightly bounce it on his Peddinghaus. I was a little nervous, concentrating hard on hitting flat faced. Anyway, the thing bounced at like a 90? angle. It would almost spin in your hand no matter how carefully you tapped the anvil. He actually spun it in his hand. Said in all his years of blacksmithing and bladesmithing he had never experienced a hammer that would do that. It simply would not bounce straight back up. Go figure.

I'm hoping the 2.5 pound rounding hammer will be a sweet fit. Looking forward to giving it a workout this weekend!
(PS, thanks for the helpful info/hints)


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  #18  
Old 06-15-2017, 10:57 AM
dtec1 dtec1 is offline
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I have a friend that has been forging for a long time. He told me all of is best hammers are cheap home depot hammers. Some he has modified like that sharp angle that is at the edge of the face and transitions into a spot that is 45 deg from the face and into the side of the hammer (hope I explained that right) But anyway he takes it to the grinder and grinds down that sharp angle at the edge of the face so its more of a rounded area than a sharp corner.....and I am sure he has used MANY hammers over the years and I am also sure that some of them were probilly very expensive "designed for the task" type of hammers but he still sticks with the cheap ones
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  #19  
Old 06-15-2017, 08:35 PM
WNC Goater WNC Goater is offline
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That's dressing the hammer. Even forging hammers seem to have that sharp transition. Apparently smiths don't like it as it will leave sharp creases. A newb like me who has yet learned to strike with the face flat every time can ding up his work pretty bad with that sharp edge!

Another thing I do is take a steel woodworkers scraper and scrap all that varnish off down to bare wood. I don't like the looks or feel of the varnished handle. I darken the bare wood with a torch, sand it lightly and rub down with boiled linseed oil.


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2017, anvil, art, blade, chef knife, dip, edge, finish, firebrick, first time, flat, flat grind, forged, forging, grind, grinding, hammer, knife, knives, pattern, repair, sand, simple, thickness, wood


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