You want to stay away from anything that has a handle that’s not wood. My hammer is an $8 one from Harbor Freight. Lastly, you can find these hammers at nearly any local hardware store or big box stores like Home Depot or Lowes. Again, I’d stick in the 2lb range for this but that’s up to you. Not nearly as often as a cross peen hammer but it’s still a good idea to get yourself one at some point. Cross Peen HammerĪ ball peen hammer is something you’ll find a lot of use for as well. For short work a heavy hammer is great to have but even in that example you can do it with a 2lb hammer it just takes a bit longer. If you need to taper a 3/4″ bar down to 1/4″, then a 3lb hammer will get you there faster. Those folks have been doing this for years and years though.Īnyway, heavier hammers are great for larger pieces of steel. Heck, some smiths use a 3lb hammer as their standard hammer. There’s an absolute use for heavier hammers though. I use a 2lb hammer and find it’s a good weight to do the work I need without tiring my arm after 15 minutes. So there’s no need for a 3lb hammer for everyday work.Ī lot of smiths, myself included will use a 2 – 2.5lb hammer for most work some even go lighter. It’s actually really pliable, very much like clay, at that temperature. While it might seem like a great idea to get the heaviest hammer you can find, I can tell you that’s not what you want to do.įirst, metal that’s at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (the temp you’ll be forging at) doesn’t need as much force to shape as you may think. You have to bear in mind you’re going to swing the hammer a lot in a repetitive way. You can find hammers that are 1lb, 2lbs, 3lbs, more, and everything inbetween. Hammer WeightĪ big consideration in the hammer is the weight. The hammer itself doesn’t need to be fancy at all. In short the cross peen of the hammer lets you draw out metal quickly if you need to move a lot of metal. The reason becomes more evident as you start smithing. The first hammer you get should be a cross peen hammer. The truth is you don’t need one of those to get started. Let me tell you, you can find some amazing smithing hammers out there that are crazy expensive. Let’s start with the easiest and cheapest to buy component to smithing – the hammer! With time, patience, and practice you’ll be making your own tools and saving a lot of money. There are plenty of things you can buy, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t need to. This element of smithing is what keeps it a cheap hobby or profession relatively speaking. The tools you’ll need are hand tools made of metal and that’s exactly what you’re doing with blacksmithing – playing with metal. However, with smithing you can create pretty much any of the tools you need. Sure, you can make your own jigs, build a workbench, maybe even fabricate some bench tools, however, you’re left buying things like a table saw, router, planer, etc. While I love woodworking, it’s not a hobby conducive to creating your own tools. You can even create some of those items as well! The beauty of blacksmithing, and something I love about it, is you will create many of the tools you need and you’ll create them with just those 4 items listed above. Honestly, there’s only a few things you need to have to begin smithing and creating your first project: forge, anvil, tongs, and a hammer. I’m going to walk you through all the basic items you need to start blacksmithing and explain the options available with my recommendations. Below you’ll find the tools you need so you can get started blacksmithing – dig in! There’s a lot to cover but I’ve broken it out into digestible chunks and so feel free to skip around. It also means I have a very good understanding of what you need to get started because that’s where I’m at as well. I’m not that far ahead of anyone reading this who is thinking about starting up. I do have an article on ways to improve as a beginner blacksmith. That’s when I setup a forging area and really started having fun. In 2021 my wife and I bought a house with lots of land. He was teaching me what he had learned after taking a course in blacksmithing. Prior to that it was something I did at a friend’s house every few months for a few hours. I only began doing any sort of blacksmithing in 2019 and it wasn’t until 2021 that I really dug in and started learning more and more about it. Here I’ll talk about blacksmithing.Īlso, I’m not a blacksmith with 20 years of experience and a rich family history. They both work with metal of course, but the approach to the trade is distinctly different. I will state that bladesmithing (what you see in Forged in Fire) and traditional blacksmithing don’t share a lot in common. What Do You Need to Start Blacksmithing?.
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