Blacksmithing - Forging a hammer. In this youtube video working with iron nathan makes his first ever hammer in a ball peen style or rounding hammer. from en9 steel billet to fully finished hammer
I use this type for heeled tenons it has just the right curve and is far enough away from the work ( which is usually bigger sections) to keep the heat away from the hammer hand. It's a finishing hammer for me. I also use it for blending scarf welds when I want a localised hit that won't mess up the joining bars, so I can focus only on the weld then move to a larger hammer. I will explain it in a video as I made this for a project coming up soon.
That's insane!!😀 I love that hammer. The close up of the ball being forged was superb, as was the video overall. 2000 grit finish is going to leave a very clean forging. Thanks for taking the time to make and share the video, Nathan 👍
you are very welcome, i love making videos! Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed it and like the hammer. the 2000 grit looks lovely i must say. i really dont want to use it so will see how it holds up.
This is one of the best pieces I have seen make on youtube. Congrats sir, that was fantastic... That said, is it just me, or did anyone else hear the "Little Caesars" pizza man at about 9:30 0f the video? I thought it was being added at first. :-)
I have no idea if this is the correct way or not, i really hate putting handles on things as you can probably tell from how rough it looks. the dark handle looks great, never tried it before, but really needs a week in a bucket of oil, dried out so much heating it with a torch.
@@workingwithiron yes it will definitely benefit from a good soak. I think it turned out great; as good or better than many "tutorials" on how to fit handles I've seen.
@@workingwithiron I took a quick search on charing wood handles, and some say don't do it. Use acid instead, there are other ways to bring out grain and color. But I think it's all a matter of opinion. There's no agreement if it toughens the wood or not. I think, just like toasting bread you can under do it or over do it. What matters, is if you like the result.
@@danilko1 I like you. Instead of just taking my way as the way to do it, you went and did a bit of research before saying anything. That approach is a breath of fresh air so thank you!! I have no idea if this is good or bad but it is something new to me. I don't have a lot of experience with woodworking as I don't have the patience for it but its a start. I love the finish, but really dried out so have soaked in oil for a week which will hopefully do it some good. Thanks so much for commenting, I really appreciate it 👍. Have a great weekend!!
Really liked the camera word under the power hammer. You can see the metal moving on each stroke. But 2000 grit on the face... how can you ever bear to use the hammer in anger? :-)
Great video as always , will we be getting any more hand forging of blacksmith tools ? I've followed along with all of them so far and in my opinion they're the best forging tutorials on RU-vid
When i get the workshop to myself i will go back to the old format but at the mo im not sure when that will be. Thanks for the great feedback, really appreciate it!!
I had another Smith make mine in 3 different weights, as well as 3 different size dogs head hammers. He was very reasonable. They've already paid for themselves
Very nice job there Nath, wasn't sure if you'd left enough material for the ball at first when you punched the eye but it came together well in the end. Continually impressed with the work you're producing, hope someone's paying you by now ;)
Thanks Ian, really appreciate the kind words. I didn't think I had enough with how blunt the dies are but seemed to just get away with it in the end. Wanted to do a ball but forged into a 'v' for getting toes firewelded nicely but couldn't get it. Never made a hammer before so was well chuffed how this came out. I gotta get this RU-vid kicking off now as I can't afford to be a blacksmith anymore, it's easier to go stack shelves in Tesco which I may have to do soon unfortunately. But gonna try and get some regular stuff up so I can keep at it.
@@workingwithiron I've seen hundreds of guys at work over the years mate, big names and small, from all over the globe. I can tell in five minutes if someone has potential or not, as I'm sure can you. You've got more than potential, you've got a genuine talent and perhaps most importantly you've got the love for it. Be a shame to give that up even if it means doing something s**t just to keep the rain out. I've done it myself, worked four days a week being miserable to stay afloat, left three days for the hammer. Eventually the hammer started to pay. Where are you based now?
@@ianlowe4666 thanks for the kind words again. thats the thing though, ive kind of lost the passion for it as i cant do what i want as often as i used to when i was back home forging all day every day. and dfs course at college kind of killed it for me as i had to go back to being cattle again rather than how i did things. forgework was great but the theory was bullshit and i refused to do it. Still down terrences at the mo working with him on a few jobs which is cool. make a good team together.
@@workingwithiron I'm not a Hereford boy myself, was too old when it bit so in the end I just packed up and went out and found blokes who were doing it. Went quite far considering :D There's nothing wrong with getting yourself something that's government recognised though, and the colleges are the only places that offer that really, good or bad. I might be able to help you out with some forge time for yourself. Depends on how close you are to London?
Well that's something else! Reminiscent of the dogs head pattern. I'm betting that this would work well as an armour's hammer as it has increased face reach w o the added wieght necessarily due to the concave construction. Nice video no doubt well made. 🙏Blessing abundant sir Crawford out 🧙♂️
Thanks Crawford! It would, I took inspiration from repousse hammers so could well work, and it is perfectly balanced for that purpose. I made it to do heel tenons and firewelds to blend toes of the weld in without smashing anything that doesn't need welding like most hammers do. I will demonstrate it soon as I gotta do some firewelding projects soon so will see what I mean 👍
Man Nathan! That is one beautiful hammer!!! Once again your patience for perfection has been very inspirational! One question, does leaving the cheeks swelled vs. flattening like most folks do cause any balancing issues?
Thank you Jeff, means a lot! To answer your question... I have absolutely no idea, this is my first hammer i just forged it organically, i knew what faces i wanted so everything else just evolved from that. Its so well balanced and hits like a trooper. feels like nothing in the hand until it is swung on the downstroke and just comes alive. If i can give it some wellie thats all that matters to me personally. i may be able to tell you one day the difference but at the moment i have no idea.
Thanks, it's definitely a looker and I'd love to see how this design performs! Now I've got to go tell the Miss's that her honey-do list just got bumped another day...lol! Can't to see what you come up with next!
Excellent work and Video was the best I've ever seen for 1080 on my end. Surprised you don't use your power hammer to punch the holes, Using smaller dies. Brent Bailey comes to mind. Great work though.
thank you! can i ask what you watch it on? ive been using new software for editing and am trying to get it as crisp as possible, just wondering if the sharpness is too much as my screen is 144hz it can handle it but curious to know how it looks on other screens. The punching on the hammer is something ive never done as im not too good with power hammers yet, still learning with them.
Good job my friend. Outstanding looking hammer and the art of it as well. Is that a foredom tool you are working with? and if it is what model is that?
It's just a die grinder on an airline. No idea of model. The stone was to get rid of grinding marks before reheating for scale finish. Thanks for the kind words
as i have no heat treating oven yet, i usually heat up to orange, stick a magnet on it until the magnet sticks. take a mental picture of colour and reheat to just above that colour, keep it there for a while, as its EN9 i take out, and harden in water. depending on the tool i will harden the whole piece or just the cutting edge or hammer face. its a forgivable alloy but not the best, but i have access to a lot of it. tempering i would place it on a hot slab and let the heat travel through or if im hardening a small bit, i do it in one heat, like i show on the round punch video, and chisel video. Hope that helps!
Awesome work. I have a question though. Why did you punch and drift the eye by hand when you have a power hammer? Couldn't you have used it to drive a punch through?
I've never punched a hole on the power hammer as I'm not too good with them plus I'm not sure how soft the top die is so don't wanna dent it with tooling. I enjoy doing it by hand. Will be bringing a video out soon of why I enjoy and don't enjoy using power hammers soon.
I can’t for the world get past if we have a self contained power hammer why we would hand punch and drift the eye Why not hand hammer the entire build ,or use the power hammer the entire build 💰 Great work either way 🤔😉✌🏽
its a skillset thing for me. i can, like you say, do it fully by hand, or by power hammer but i like to practice punching by hand most of the time. ive found if i use the power hammer most of the time my skillset lowers overall and i like to go between the two to keep it balanced. Im never in a rush to make things fast, or for profit as these videos cost me more to make than what i get back anyway. its just process i love, i love the craft for what it is and have no joy in trying to be the quickest but i find joy in the moment. within each heat. Thanks for the comment James, much appreciated
Nathan, I'm a tool & die maker / machinist retired. I'm not a blacksmith nor do I have any of the associated tools and machinery to do that work. How much to make me a hammer like this one in this video???
I feel like you could buy some hex stock, and round one end if you want a super simple version. Since your a retired machinist you might have a mill that you can slot it and even shape it. But if you have a lathe the. You can really make it look good.
Hi Randell, I would love to be able to make you a hammer and many other people that would like hammers and tools etc but unfortunately I can't do it due to heat treatment issues. I couldn't get the heat treatment perfect in the current setup I have, it's not accurate enough and I can't bring myself to let anything go unless I know 100% it would last a lifetime and not cause any harm. Being a tool maker yourself I hope you can understand that way of thinking I have. Hopefully one day I can afford a heat treatment oven so I can offer tools up.for sale but until then, I really can't bring myself to do it. I'm all about quality and that comes first in everything I do. Maybe ask Jakob faram to make you one, he is capable and I would highly recommend him for hammers. It hurts me that I can't sale you one as I'd love to but I can't do it knowing it's not perfect heat treatment wise. Hope this helps.
