finished my hammers

[sanch]

OK so never having made a chasing hammer I feel like what I have done is good enough for a beginner and I am happy with them both so here is a picture of them 1.5" face and 1.125" face together, as always all comments are welcome!

 

[silverchip]

Something to consider when making your handles is flex. Somehow I get the feeling these won't have much flex and therefore not much life. Depending on the type of wood you have used and the length and thickness of the neck, you can create various amount of inertial energy that work to your advantage. Most fruit wood such as apricot,apple make good tool handles as well as hickory pecan have good long grain in them and therefore can be made a little springy by thinning and lengthening the neck adding bounce at the point of impact thus adding life and feel to your work as you use them. Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[atexascowboy2011]

Sancho
You did good, even if you don't like the feel later, you're moving.
The counterweight in the butt of the handle may act as a counterbalance and help keep your momentum.
The important thing is to keep moving forward.
I made my hammerhead out of a Caterpillar kingpin and my handle started as a piece of cherry firewood. I also redesigned my handle and head going against tradition, to what I figured would work best. I've been extremely happy with the function ever since, even though I have now switched to PC, I still like to pick it up every now and then. I think that I made a big mistake by not continuing with the H&C.
BUT ! Mistakes CAN be corrected ! As time permits, I hope to rejig and get back into "The Swing !". :hammer:
Fabbing your own tools also gives you confidence/skill in future projects, which is a "Win, Win situation".

 

[Toad]

Beautiful work. But you do need to thin the handles down quite a bit. A thin handle produces multiple hits with each swing due to the handle being springy.

Todd

 

[monk]

i've posted my engraving hammers before-- made of old auto or truck valves. shown are just a couple i made for stone cutting & carving.

 

[monk]

silverchip. i've probably been doing this wrong for a long, long time. i hold the hammers at least halfway up the shaft. doing it this way, even if there was a bit of spring, i doubt if i'd notice it. when using either of the hammers, there is a nice sort of dead blow effect. no noticeable rebound that you mention.when holding in this way i get more consistent strikes-- better control. to me, it's quite awkward to hold them further down the shaft.

 

[Marrinan]

Monk, when I was beginning my apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker I was working on a display case when the foreman waked by. He watched me for a minuet then asked to barrow my hammer. He walked over to the band saw and cut about 5 or6 inches of the bottom. brought back and said since I wasn't using it he just got it out of my way. Fred

 

[sanch]

To all of you thanks for the comments @ Fred I tried to go as thin as the pencil but I just couldn't bear taking out any more material! of course this is subject to change hence the handles only being sealed with oils and bees wax... as far as which wood was used it is Pear as was suggested in an article I read as I was researching @ silverchip the "flex" sounds too much like flop! but keep in mind I do blacksmith as well so hmm going from a 3lb smithing hammer to a couple of ounces the flex may be more than it'll take! also my natural inclination is to hold the hammers mid point the thinish area is this wrong should I be nearer to the counter balance? @monk I dig those mauls!
@ atexascowboy2011 thank you for the "push" in the forward direction I'm kinda moving slow but its cool cause the curve is a long one and I just need to flow with it my greatest challenge is going to be the actual gravers the business end more specifically sharpening them. I chose HSS blanks from ENCO as they are inexpensive and I feel I can work with this better than a brittle carbide that will fight me to sharpen them. My biggest "cost" will be the means to do this I feel like the Lindsay templates are the thing I'm going for just because of the repeatability.

 

[atexascowboy2011]

Sancho, I'm also a blacksmith/ traditionally hand-forged spur maker.
Recently Brent Bailey fixed me up with some of his incredible hammers, 1&1/2 - 6&1/2 lb'ers.
What type of smithing do you do?
As to the flex debate, B.S.! The amount of force need to "flex" the handle of a chasing hammer far exceeds the minute amount of force delivered during the act of engraving. If anything, a limber handle will at best absorb the shock . The old timers used to bury new handles in the ground for a week to put moisture in to a handle so as to reduce the shock transmitted to your elbow, thereby preventing tennis elbow, which I can tell you, HURTS LIKE H E LL !

 

[sanch]

My forging is limited to hobby/blade smithing all the tools I have for this are made by me also except for my HF cheapo hammers which I re-shaped into rounding hammers. More of a hobby/habit!

 

[silverchip]

Here is an example of the shape that I was taught to use by some very talented old school artists in Argentina. I guess there are many different ideas of what works, just passing on what I have learned.

 

[atexascowboy2011]

Sancho, there you go. Looks danged close to yours.
Maybe your ancestors came from Argentina !

 

[sanch]

@silvechip, thanks for the picture I seen many when researching and choose a style that I thought would be comfortable in my hand and they are! @tex I am originally from NM Mexican American!

 

[atexascowboy2011]

Where in N.M. ?

 

[sanch]

Where in N.M. ?

Clovis. I left for the south mid 89ish uncle sam took me to GA, SC, NC, back to GA then back to NC and finally TN here I stayed...NM is to flat for me anymore!

 

[atexascowboy2011]

Know what you mean.
Todd Hughes is down the road from you. Good people.

 

[sanch]

Know what you mean.
Todd Hughes is down the road from you. Good people.

I plan on visiting with Mr Hughes when time permits.

 

[Doc Mark]

Hammer handle preferences can be very personal. The great engraver Ken Hurst uses hammers with very short (1/2 the lengths normally seen) handles. They are hand carved with finger indentations to match his particular loose grip style. He has created wonderful H & C engravings for many years with these tools. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of these unique hammers to show you.

 

[LVVP]

Looks very nice, thanks

 

[sanch]

Looks very nice, thanks

Thank you sir!