[TheForge] Re: offset pein hammer

[Mike Spencer]

> What is the purpose of a hammer with the pien at a ten degree angle
> rather than straight or cross?

I have one like that.  I just measured it tonight.  The pein is 15 deg
from straight.  It's pretty much like an older-style ball pein --
broad, thin cheeks and the other face is round.  Never used it much.
It's a tad too heavy, pushing 3#, and feels all out of whack.  I can't
quite figure what makes it feel wrong.  Maybe because the overall
length of the head is too great.  The angle pein is long enough that I
have to sorta raise my shoulder awkwardly to get a proper blow.

The only place I've seen a diagonal pein in use was in the shop of a
smith in Lunenburg, NS, circa 1970 [1] He was making knives for the
fish plant workers -- fileting mostly.  It was about 5#, squareish and
short-handled.  Pein was (I think) 45 deg.  His style was clumsy
looking, not what you'd call ergonomic.  He held the hammer close to
the head and his blows were deliberate, slow and sort of straight
up-and-down.  But his thin, plain knives were in hot demand.

- Mike

[1] Not Vernon Walters or his father.  This shop was down near the
    railway station and has been gone for many years.

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

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