[TheForge] Hammer ID and Question.

[Marrin Fleet]

On Tue, Jul 31, 2012 at 4:59 PM, CGRAF <adveniam at att.net> wrote:
>
> Question : Is this a rounding hammer or just something similar. Any
> ideas what the protrusions on the sides are for?
>
> This has been a point of discussion on the OLDTOOLS LIST.
>
> Mike Graf
> ______________________________________________________________
I have seen this hammer, or its twin, some years ago at a Mid West
Tool Collectors Association meet here in Memphis, TN.    Then, as now,
there was a great deal of conversation concerning it.

As each of its four faces represent a hammer type  used by
blacksmiths, we deduced it was an attempt to be all things to a
blacksmith.  Of the main faces, one is a rounding face, as supposed.
The opposite face is a flat face used for general forging.  The long
face on one side is a fuller, used to stretch metal in a single
direction, and the smaller round one on the other side is a forming
face, used for such things as sinking metal into a die (or a form), or
for "bumping out" a portion of a sheet of metal.

Like most "all purpose" tools created by the combination of several
other tools, it can't have been a great  success.

Normally, the flat face and the fuller are combined on one hammer,
opposite each other, where it is convenient to switch from one face to
another to shape a piece of metal, without having to look at the
hammer.

The rounding face is usually combined with a similar face, but of a
different curvature.

The forming face is usually (but not always) paired with another
forming face of a slightly different size. Some are hammers of a
single face, with the part of the head on the other side of the handle
not intended for use as a hammer.  These are often used by auto body
workers.

 Some - I for one- would rather have the four conventionally
constructed hammers that I have just described, than the "universal"
one pictured.

These were our deductions at the time, and if you come to any
different conclusions, I'd really be curious to know about them.  I
don't remember (after twenty or more years) who brought the hammer, or
who participated in the discussion, but remember the hammer, I do!