Early Access Video: Affordable Blacksmithing Hammers
Added 2023-09-16 11:00:06 +0000 UTCFriends:
This week, a brief trip into my other great love: iron-work! Many of you have requested more blacksmithing content, especially for beginners. What's the best place to start? Hammers, of course.
I bought two of the most popular affordable rounding hammers and put them to the test. I modded them to improve their shape and then forged a project. The results were not what I expected!
Next time, back to hand tool woodwork. I promise.
Happy Saturday!
--Rex
Comments
After watching this, I started to get my hopes up about smiting again but I sold my old beat up anvil last year. After falling into a YouTube rabbit hole, I saw some stump or stake anvils made after an old Viking discovery. That might be worth looking into since they're much cheaper and portable. Maybe a thought for a Blacksmithing for Humans ;P
Sam Bender II
2023-09-20 05:28:51 +0000 UTCOutstanding! I'm looking forward to making it!
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 12:02:24 +0000 UTCI can do that! You do need a nail-header, but you can make or buy those.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 12:02:01 +0000 UTCFinding a place that has the gear is really key. It's a big investment if you want to get all that stuff. I've worked with copper, but never silver. Impressive!
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 12:00:50 +0000 UTCI really need to make my own hardware. That's next.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:59:51 +0000 UTCMan, that touring Magna Carta sounds fantastic! Bet that was a good time.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:59:30 +0000 UTCThanks for your thoughts. I hold the hammer up there for half-on-half-off blows. It's a common move with the smiths i know. It's how I was taught. And if I look a little awkward with those hammers, they're not familiar to me, so you're not seeing me at my best.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:58:50 +0000 UTCWatching metalwork in films is painful. The worst is watching liquid metal fill a mold and then get turned into a steel sword. If it were bronze, that would be accurate, but you just can't make a steel tool that way.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:56:50 +0000 UTCI'm glad it worked out for you! I hope I get to do more of these videos. The interest isn't always there.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:55:41 +0000 UTCI appreciate that! Smithing is a major love. If I had found it first, I might not have taken up woodwork. But I get to do both, and I'm lucky.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:53:31 +0000 UTCThat name rings a bell! I think Randy has a great reputation. I think you'll be glad you tried it out.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:52:53 +0000 UTCI belong to no other clubs and I usually find the club atmosphere a little annoying. Smiths are independent by nature. Clubs are loose with few rules and a laid-back vibe. If you try one, you might be surprised.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:52:12 +0000 UTCI tried one once. It was very different than a Western hammer, but seemed easier on the elbow.
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:50:56 +0000 UTCI bet there's one near you. There are SO many!
Rex Krueger
2023-09-19 11:50:17 +0000 UTChttps://www.compassrosetools.com/
Alan Berman
2023-09-18 02:55:03 +0000 UTCCool info on Smithing hammers. I learned a ton that I hadn't heard before about rounding/flatting hammers. I'm looking forward to the smithing video.
Edward Conway
2023-09-17 18:10:01 +0000 UTCI didn't know you had a tool company. Could you supply a link?
Amy Holderness
2023-09-17 16:15:47 +0000 UTCMaybe you could show us how to make hand-forged nails to use on our very own woodworking projects!
Laura Reutter
2023-09-17 15:40:21 +0000 UTCI enjoyed this demo. I’ve been learning copper and silversmithing and really like it! I heartily agree that joining a club (and/or taking classes) is the best way to learn. The local rock club has all the expensive tools, equipment and torches needed so no huge out of pocket expenses are required. Would love to see more of your smithing.
Laura Reutter
2023-09-17 15:38:55 +0000 UTCGreat video Rex. Blacksmithing is a good companion to making chests and cupboards where you want black iron hinges and latches. Looking forward to seeing more.
Matt Evans-Koch
2023-09-17 02:40:43 +0000 UTCThanx for the tip about the blacksmithing clubs. There's one about an hour north of me, as well as a couple in the Portland area. I've done a little smithing. I belonged to a group that demoed medieval arts and crafts when a copy of the Magna Carta toured the US. We made bellows and a portable forge out of wood lined with refractory mortar. We made "S" hooks to sell as souvenirs. My dad, a machinist, kept his hammers polished to a high sheen to keep from leaving marks of any kind.
Michael Bennett
2023-09-16 22:20:20 +0000 UTCHi Rex, I have been blacksmithing for about 30 years here and there and while I am hardly an expert, I don't know that I agree that you need more than a reground sledge like the one you showed at first. While I haven't worked with more expensive hammers, I personally eschewed the ones that Brian Brazeal and Alec Steele use because they're simply too heavy for me. I picked up a couple of sledges from HF recently because I wanted a rounding hammer and a diagonal peen hammer. The former is made from a 2# model modified with an angle grinder (to all beginner blacksmiths, get thee an angle grinder - see Rex's vid on them), and the latter is a 4# that I ground some subtle diagonal peens on for rapid drawing of metal. These both do what I need them to do and cost less than $10 each. I was also curious why you were choking up that far on the handle. While I never hold it at the end, I also don't think I have ever held it more than half way up the handle. Denis Frechette explains that that narrower section is intended to add some spring to the head, kind of like what you get from the springs in a power hammer, as well as to help protect you from injury. See. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsXKiAcBO5I Mr. Frechette also has some great videos on hammer technique and using the various surfaces of your anvil to turn the combination into, as he puts it, "a forging machine." See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J46hnxQ4HBA Not that you're doing it so much, but one thing I see a lot of new smiths do is to angle their wrist to hold the handle and simply pivot at the elbow. This is guaranteed to wear you out in no time and barely move your work at all. The gentleman in the black shirt at 15:17 in your video does what I wish more beginners would do, i.e. use his whole arm and all the joints in it. Anyway, my two cents and thanks for listening. I am looking forward to more blacksmithing content, for example, making some tools that are a little harder to find or something beginners don't really need and can't justify the outlay for, like gouges for instance. The aforementioned Mr. Frechette has a series on a homemade brace and bit where he makes spoon bits among other things. I highly recommend his channel, DF in the Shop, in case anyone is unfamiliar with it.
Robert Dennett
2023-09-16 21:53:25 +0000 UTCThanks for the insight on smithing. Prior to this westerns were my only exposure to it. Now I can see that the guys who portrayed smithing had no clue either.
Richard C von Brecht
2023-09-16 20:20:00 +0000 UTCI learned forged blade making years ago and loved it; but gave it up for artistic wood working and turning. I continued my interest and learning forge work but have not addressed an anvil in 25 years. I wonder if you have any hands on experience or opinion on the Japanese style blacksmithing hammers?
David A Merrihew
2023-09-16 15:06:36 +0000 UTCGreat video, been thinking about smithing for a couple of years...now to find that club;)
John Griswold
2023-09-16 14:35:38 +0000 UTCI decided to try blacksmithing a couple years ago and watched lots of vids, built a basic diy forge, picked up some junk metal and startedd banging. Decided I was really interested, so I signed up for a beginner course (no clubs nearby) and that made a huge difference. Hammers and tongs can be a challenge if you don't have $$. Hope to see more videos in the future
Rick Prosser
2023-09-16 14:31:07 +0000 UTCI am not interested in doing blacksmithing, but I enjoy learning about it. I also enjoy seeing the other things in your life that make you tick.
Bob Templeton
2023-09-16 12:47:46 +0000 UTCGreat video, Rex. There’s a world-class smith here in Berkeley Springs, WV, Randy McDaniel, who, I’m told, is an excellent teacher. You’ve motivated me to sign up for a class and add a (very heavy) arrow to the growing quiver!
Ross Martin
2023-09-16 11:41:55 +0000 UTCThanks for this video. I've been thinking of adding blacksmithing to my other manias. I am not what I call "a joiner". I belong to no social clubs. A blacksmithing club might be the answer to getting an anvil and having my neighbors hate me.
Bill Brisky
2023-09-16 11:38:46 +0000 UTC
