[TheForge] blacksmith question holding hammers

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

Grover Richardson wrote:

>|Andy Vida Wrote:
>|
>|	Checker the helve.  Get a checkering tool from a gunsmith supply
>|and go to it.  If after that you're still slipping, you probably
>|	need to find something else to do. :) :) :)
>
>I worry about making the handle rough and making blisters.  Especially
>since I don't hammer every day to build up a callus.
>

You can/should  sand the checkering so that there are no splinters or 
rough areas, just grip, just don't do it on a belt sander.  I have seen 
some people simply carve rings around the handle.

I have used a thread chasing file for quick and dirty checkering jobs.   
Not as specialized and versatile as a real checkering outfit, but it 
works on steel and wood, and comes with eight different  spacings on a 
single file.   It is also a really useful tool in and of  itself if used 
intelligently.  Of course, I am a file freak ,so biased.  Set the handle 
up in your vise so that it can't move.  You can start the pattern with a 
triangle file, or just tilt the thread file and cut a guiding groove 
with a single row of teeth, then slowly flatten it out.  The idea is to 
reduce the number of teeth engaging in the work.    For a hammer you can 
leave it at that, but it looks better if you trace around the outside of 
the pattern with a small gouge.  Once again, the tip of a triangle file 
will do. 


Charles