[TheForge] The Cats head hammer Hype

[Chuck Robinson]

Most common, commercial hammer patterns are drop forged in hammer dies.
Wham -Bam and they are done; some are finished better than others and some
are heat treated better than others. They are relatively inexpensive to
produce in large quantities.
Any one who has  hand made a hammer on the other hand, can attest that, if
made properly, it is a pretty difficult and time consuming to make a good
non standard pattern hammer.
Try drifting a handle hole in a hammer head some time and see how "easy" it
is to do it exactly right. A crappy hammer can also contribute to physical
problems like tendonitis.
Buddy Leonard is a master blacksmith/farrier in Louisiana who from time to
time makes cat head hammers for friends and blacksmith auctions. His hammers
often sell for between $200 to $300 at these auctions to professional
farriers who understand how much difference a good hammer can make as a tool
they use daily in their work.
I hand forge custom made bladesmithing hammers in the $80- $100 range for
serious bladesmiths who understand the value of a well made tool.
I made my first blade hammer during a Don Fogg sword class at CFS. After
pounding away on a katana with a cross pien hammer for a few days I could
hardly lift my hammer, one of the other students let me try his old "dog
head " cutlers hammer.
The difference was so amazing that I spent that day and most of the night
regrinding a railroad spike hammer to rebalance it for blade smithing.
Over the past few years I kept refining the design to improve the hammers
performance.
If a novice smith questions the cost of my hammers I strongly encourage
him/her to get  a mass produced hammer and use it for a while.
For a part time or recreational smith, these hammers are often an adequate
tool.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: <TristerK@aol.com>
To: <theforge@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] The Cats head hammer Hype


> Farriers will pay absurd amounts for hammers but these guys use their
hammers
> a LOT and they make a good buck, they don't have a lot of expensive
equipment
> to buy and a $100 hammer is cheap if they can work faster with it, or if
it
> keeps them healthy.
>
>
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