[TheForge] Flatter vs. set hammer

[Bruce Freeman]

Harry,
I don't know whether you got a satisfactory response
yet, so forgive me if this repeats what someone else
has told you:
It sounds to me like you're using a 90-degree corner
as a blade to cut rope.  That's rather like the usual
way of using a hardy to cut steel.
However, when you use a set hammer (not a flatter) and
an anvil to cut thin metal, the action is like a shear
(or scissors), not like a hammer and hardy.  That is
to say, the sharp edge of the set hammer is driven
straight down beside the sharp edge of the anvil,
leaving no room for the metal to go, except to shear. 
The set hammer is not held perfectly flat, but is at
an angle of perhaps 10 degrees from horizontal on an
axis perpendicular to the edge of the anvil.  That's
like using a scissors - you cut the thin metal from
one side to the other, not all at once.
That's a bit hard to convey in words.  I hope it came
through clearly.

Bruce
NJ/OR
--- Harry <iowaharry at fastmail.net> wrote:

> Barry,
> 
>   So what you are saying is to use the edge of the
> vice or the anvil as
>   the cutting edge. I don't get what the set or
> flatter has to do with
>   it. wouldn't just about any hammer acomplish the
> same thing? As a
>   matter of fact just the other day I was using the
> hot cutter hardie to
>   do just about the same thing, except I was cutting
> nylon rope. I'd
>   wave the spot I wanted to cut in front of the
> torch to heat and melt
>   together. Lay it across the hardie and whack,
> whack, instant tie downs
>   for the tarp. Off to the dump we go. 


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