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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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  #1  
Old 01-06-2014, 02:13 PM
jdale jdale is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Lansing MI
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new forging hammer

I know this isnt as great a post as a new knife, but I was rather stoked to finally use the belt sander after 7.5 days without electricity.

I just finished watching Ed Caffery's basic forging DVD (great instructional video). His angled peen hammer made forging in a distal taper look really easy. I really wanted one but am far from being able to afford one. So a $4 HF hammer and a lot of grinding later, I came up with something that should do the job.

My Ed Caffery-esk angled peen forging hammer.
[IMG][/IMG]


And its made for a lefty. Now to give it a test run, wish me luck.
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Old 01-06-2014, 02:17 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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It should work fine, I made one just like it some years back. Good luck ...


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Old 01-07-2014, 06:08 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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An angle grinder will make faster work of bulk removal then finish up on belts. Good job, see a lot of them in my line of work. Biggest difference between the one you made and a store bought will be the balance and weight distribution. Usually with a fuller hammer you want more of the mass/weight on the same side of the handle's axis as the fuller itself. Does make a difference if you use/swing one a lot. With the balance the other way there is a tendency to let the hammer twist or cant in your hand. As you compensate for this you add stress to your wrist and will suffer fatigue and stress in that area. You should be ok, but I would recommend trying a well balanced fuller sometime in the future. The difference will amaze you.
One way around this is to get a bigger hammer (3#) and grind both ends down until you get the balance that works for you. Takes a lot of hammering to figure this out, so unless you do a lot you may never truly understand what I'm talking about.
No matter what, have fun heatin and beatin!


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Old 01-07-2014, 07:43 AM
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BCROB BCROB is offline
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Great idea !!! And a heck of a lot faster than forging one , I've added one to my to-do list , thanks for the post

Also Crex has offered some really good hammer advise here


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Last edited by BCROB; 01-07-2014 at 07:45 AM.
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Old 01-07-2014, 10:49 AM
jdale jdale is offline
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Tested it out for three hours last night, and i learned a few important things.

I should have used a larger hammer, the face of the 2lb sledge i started with was narrower than the piece of steel i was using.
The angle of the peen could have been rotated another 15-20 degrees

The balance seemed to be fairly good, i was very careful to keep the angle and length of grind the same

And most importantly, I Really need to devote more time to forging rather than stock removal. The first blade i forged looked like let my 9 year old went at it. The second third and fourth went slightly better, thank god i have a good belt sander.
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Old 01-08-2014, 05:44 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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That one appears to have a fairly blunt/broad fuller. Try making the next one with a little narrower edge. It will move steel faster.
Biggest part of getting good with a hammer is a lot of practice and learning to feel the steel when you hit it. Most beginners work the steel past too cool which doesn't move well and is detremental to the steel.
With practice and concentration you can "feel" the steel get more resistive...put it back in the fire.
Also you will learn when to drop down to a lighter hammer as the blade takes shape and to appreciate the subtle differences between hammer faces and handles.
It all comes with time and consistency in use.


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