More About Hammer Care

While thinking about hammers some thoughts came back to me from over 30 years ago when I first read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. It is one of the few books I have read more than once. It explores the notion of quality from the perspectives of romanticism and rationality. It seems to conclude that striving to combine the views may result in the greatest satisfaction. I suppose it appealed to me because I regard some concepts such as art/craft metaphorically as poles of a bar magnet. The poles can be stretched very far apart yet the field is never broken. Art isn’t worth much unless crafted well and craft is worth much is not artful.

So part of any project is forming the creative vision of the tactical goal and part is planning the strategic approach. I was thinking about an extension of the “Choosing a Hammer” ideas and the maintenance issues crept in.

It didn’t take long for me to learn to treat my forging hammers with special care and not use them for demolition, chipping slag, driving and stamping which are better accomplished with hammers whose face polish isn’t as critical. Appropriate segregation of use for each hammer is a starting point for maintenance.

Keeping the head solidly connected to the handle hasn’t been any problem for me since I switched to the Gorilla super glue bonding technique.

With use the handles of my forging hammers get worn slick and hard to grip so I lightly sand them to increase the friction. I like the flexible pads about 1/4” thick and 4.5” x 5.5”. Some handles have been spray painted for identification and that seems to do about the same thing as sanding.

The faces of the frequently used hammers get dressed about monthly. Sometimes I have to use a zirconia flap wheel or sanding belt but usually only the silicon carbide wheel and hard felt wheel with chromium oxide buffing compound will do the job.

With the tools in good shape I can turn my imagination loose to do some creating.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Ironwork Today 3

Yesterday I received my copy of this new Schiffer LTD publication and was pleased to find it included six images of my work from several years ago. They even used a grapevine wreath image on the title page. http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer//book_template.php?isbn=9780764338762

It seems like every five years or so they publish a new addition to the ironwork series. So far I have bought them all. I find it interesting to see them as representing the state of the art in a particular slice of time. A lot of nice work with a lot of variety is included and I often find ideas I can adapt to current work.

It seems as if there were many more artists represented whose names were unfamiliar in this addition. I don’t get to as many conferences as I once did and probably a lot of new people are joining the ranks.

The publisher’s description online is as follows.

“Over 450 vivid color photos provide a sweeping overview of the amazing range of iron artwork being created by 82 of today’s artist-blacksmiths. These works in metal are found in public spaces, offices, and homes. They vary in size from small, everyday objects to staggering public monuments. The pieces, discussed by the artists who made them, include sculpture, gates, railings, furniture, lighting fixtures, doors, locks, and much more. This book, the third in an ongoing series, has artwork arranged by the artist alphabetically, rather than in categories. This allows readers to see the full scope of each artist’s work together on adjoining pages. Here readers will find some artists whose work they have seen in other books in this series; others they are meeting for the first time. This book will be a prized reference guide and source of inspiration for homeowners, designers, artists, and blacksmiths as a fascinating snapshot of current trends in this dynamic, growing field of artistic endeavor.”

I hope they are right that this is a growing field of artistic endeavor and that it attracts young talented people who can make a living and will continue experimenting and developing new methods and designs.

My friend, Jerry, of J. Schrock Photography prepared the images I submitted. Check out more of his work at http://kansasartistsonline.com/?sproofing_id=1 and http://www.jschrock.com/.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Choosing a Hammer

I started with what I viewed as a “standard blacksmith’s hammer.” It was the commonly available American (also called British or German) style weighing about 2.5 pounds with an octagonal face and cross peen. It worked well but as time passed I got more picky and acquired and made more hammers.

Every day I work off of two Peter Wright anvils. The larger one is beside the coal forge. A slightly smaller one is at my torch station where I work on small pieces. At the coal forge anvil the primary forging hammer is a Swedish pattern with a mushroomed cross peen. I described it in the April 26, 2011 post. I use a slightly lighter version on the other anvil.

Around each anvil is an assortment of hammers of various styles, weight, handle length and face radius. After 10 years in the studio they have all found their resting places and don’t travel around much.

Selecting the hammer of choice for a task has become something like an intuition and a bit difficult to explicate rationally. Yesterday, I drifted some holes for lag screw mounting of plant hangers. I used an antique hand sledge weighing about eight pounds. I think some people call it a drill hammer. It is great for driving a drift but I couldn’t use it for a forging hammer because I couldn’t swing it fast and accurately enough and it would wear me out in no time.

If I want to upset the end of a 3/8” round rod, I’ll get a one pound ball peen with which I can hit a lot of light blows quickly. For fire welding I use lighter hammers and have several even lighter Repoussé hammers with elongated heads.

I rarely use the striker’s sledge as the power hammers seem adequate for most purposes. My only rounding hammer and an antique three pound ball peen lay by one of the smaller swage blocks. They have the shortest radius faces (most curvature) of all my hammers.

On June 23, 2011 I wrote about how I like to modify the end of the forging hammer handles to fit in the hardy hole. The optimal handle length varies for me I don’t have a good formula for it. The same thing goes for the point of grip. Most of the time, especially with a Hofi style hammer, a short grip can deliver enough power with accuracy to do the work. If I’m wailing away on something my grip slides back to the end of the hammer like a carpenter using a framing hammer to get the velocity for powerful blows but accuracy can be compromised.

With experience and experimenting I have decided on the handle circumference which feels best for my hand. It is a subtle thing to get optimal. A large circumference gives the best mechanical advantage to controlling rotation but most of the hammers I have bought I put on the belt sander and reduced the diameter of the grip area to fit me more comfortably.

Considering how radius is used to move hot steel, I rely more on selecting the backup radius on the anvil than by varying the edge of the hammer face striking position. Trying to use the toe or heel positions, particularly, seems to cause more wrist strain. The worst strain risk, though, probably comes from working too cold. Work hot. Take another heat.

Making a hammer is a good lesson for a student and an image shows one of three hammers made in the studio by a glass artist friend for his sculpture work. But, today, if I needed another, I’d just buy one from a smith who specializes in hammer making. Their prices are very reasonable.

The other image shows me with my first hammer at age two. There is a lot to learn about using a Birmingham screwdriver. Start while you’re young.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Choosing an Anvil

From time to time someone asks me for advice about buying an anvil. My first question is, “What are you using for a hammer?” It seems to me like a hammer and anvil are a pair of things which separately aren’t of much use.

Let’s get first things first. I once heard Steve Martin say, “Do you want to know how you can make a million dollars and not pay any taxes? First, make a million dollars. Then, don't pay any taxes!” In this case it’s, “First, get a hammer.”

If it seems the person is serious about buying an anvil for forge work, I suggest that they decide the hammer weight they will use most of the time. That will probably be 2.5 pounds plus or minus a half pound or so. I was taught, and have confirmed from experience, that a good forging hammer/anvil ratio is 1:40. Up to a point, larger may be better if the person is going to do some sledge work and has the extra money. But, the anvil mass issue can often be addressed less expensively in a good massive base.

After the size, quantity, has been sketched in then quality is the next thing to consider. Personally, I’d pick a London pattern shape and want it to have a flat face which is solidly welded to the body and has a good steel ball rebound. There shouldn’t be any cracks or missing parts.

I’d look for an old Peter Wright, Hay-Budden or Trenton brand. I don’t worry too much about some dings in the face edges or the top of the horn if they can be dressed and serve as a working radius or be filled. I take notice of the ring, first, to verify the steel ball rebound test. It shouldn’t have a “cracked pot” sound suggesting the face is delaminated from the body. Secondly, is it annoyingly loud and begging for a sound dampening device? That is a problem I have had with some of the new cast steel anvils.

I’d be willing to pay $2/pound for an anvil that suited me. Generally, I see asking prices run between $1 and $3 per pound.

This site has further information on anvil brands, age, etc.

http://habairon.org/Digest/Balcones%20Forge/Sept07%20-%20A%20Guide%20to%20Anvils.pdf

This site discusses the physics of the hammer/anvil relationship.

http://assets.calsmith.org/cba-cdn/647/anvilph_update_4-18_original.pdf

The conversation would go in a different direction if I found the person was only looking for a unique door stop.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

An Old Welder

About the time I bought my first MIG welder the welding supply store manager and I were just making conversation and he was relating stories about customers. At one point he remarked that he could spot an old experienced welder when he pulled a piece of soapstone out of his pocket no bigger than his fingernail. This image seemed curious enough to me that I have remembered it probably because I didn’t really understand it at the time. Soapstone came in long sticks and it was inexpensive so why the little piece? It seemed like a frugal oddity.

When I load up my overalls pockets each morning, soapstone is one of the items which goes in. The title phrase jumped out at me when I looked and saw I was putting in several little pieces of soapstone that were approaching finger nail size. If soapstone came in long sticks and was inexpensive, why was I still carrying the nubbins? The answer is because they still work and the smaller they are the easier they are to carry around. So now it didn’t seem so much a matter of frugality as a matter of savvy convenience.

Each marking method has something to recommend it. Back on September 19, 2010 I wrote about how much I like using a presto pen. One of the disadvantages of the correction fluid line is that often I need to use lacquer thinner to remove it so it doesn’t leave a permanent ghost image on the steel after being heated.

I use soapstone a lot. It’s clean, more durable than white chalk, erasable, good for sketching on a rusted sheet but not as good, in my opinion, as charcoal on paper.

I carry a silver pencil too. It’s not as good for sketching as soapstone but easier to draw a clean thin line.

If a really accurate line is needed a scribe is hard to beat but it will often leave a process mark which may be desirable or not. I already spent some time last July 20th writing about witness marks of various kinds so no more here.

The little pieces of soapstone are probably have a permanent home in the bottom of my pocket. I have never been able to adapt to the holders that clip onto a shirt pocket. For me, that is an example of gilding the lily.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Playing The Tower of Hanoi

Before winter, while I can still have the studio doors open on some days, I plan to do some rearranging. The space is too crowded. The forge room is okay but the north porch and assembly room and east walk area are packed.

I have some salvaged hydraulic equipment on the porch which needs to be cobbled into a pipe bender. There is a Champion 1880 lever action forge blower which I haven’t used since 2004, a wood stove unused since I installed electric heat in the studio, a large post vise on a heavy concrete base which has never been used, a small railroad rail anvil on a stand which has also never been used, and an antique treadle grinder. Those things just need to go away.

Most of the rest is good stuff used occasionally but poorly arranged. In my mind I have started planning the shuffling process and I was reminded of playing a game called the Tower of Hanoi when our boys were toddlers. Here is a link which shows a nice animation of the solution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi

I have a break on the porch which I built to make a 22.5º bend in a 24” wide piece of 7 gauge sheet. To get to it and have space to work I have to move two gas forges and a rolling base. Then they have to be moved again to get out. The break is a crude, but effective, contraption built from some sturdy scrap. The grader blade section is the pushing edge and a 30 ton bottle jack provides the force. A piece of round stock in the crotch of the piece of angle serves as a stop. With it removed the bend will go on to about 90º

I wish it were easier to get rid of those things I don’t need. The demonstration trailer is parked in the woods north of the studio and I should empty it and use that space for storing things I might actually use again.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/