[TheForge] Re: jesse james/uri hofi

[Mike Spencer]

> The Hofi hammers and technique seem to work. Tom Clark used them at a
> hammering contest at Madison, Ga several years ago and beat several
> younger contestants. The last drawing-out contest....

I just reviewed the Hofi video I have [1].  I think I have long
used his advice for drawing a point intuitively (except for very small
ones on, say, 3/16" sq.)

His point about getting the hammer head more or less above the hand
for the up-stroke is good.  I think most elbow problems smiths
encounter come from using a hammer that's too heavy for the arm
swinging it and then not doing that.  A 5# hammer is too heavy for my
arm and I can feel bad things happening in my elbow if I don't
exaggerate the move of cocking the hammer upward for the up-stroke so
that the lifting force runs more or less axially through the helve.
The same principle can be seen watching a novice split wood; they try
to lift the axe/maul from the end of the helve and it's just
impossibly hard and awkward.

But I'm not real good with his grip on the hammer.  Doesn't seem right
to me. Too bad that the camera never backed off while he was hitting
hot metal to show just how he swings the hammer.  The dummy moves he
makes while talking suggest shoulder movement that I would find all
wrong. 

Well, whatever works for you, y'know?  If it works for him, that's
fine but I'm not so sure that the advice he delivers in an absolute
and authoritative tone is, in fact, good for everybody.  And, after
putting the energy = 1/2 m v^2 equation on the board, he was pretty
loose in his discussion of "energy".  Maximizing velocity isn't always
what you want; sometimes it's "get a bigger hammer" and less velocity.

BTW, did Hofi have some kind of surgical rebuild on his right elbow?
Looks kinda odd-shaped.  I'm fortunate that blowing my right hand to
eng-fuvg with a failed rocket experiment and having my right elbow
bolted back together after a hockey game -- both in high school --
have never affected my smithing. (I do, though, shape my regularly
used hammer helves -- as Hofi suggests -- to give a better grip for my
somewhat non-standard hand.)


- Mike


[1] The Hofi Hammer and the Hofi Ergonomic Technique for Moving Metal,
    Simon Sez Productions, 2003.

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