Just figured out my hammer angle was wrong for about a year

I was working on a leaf keychain, trying to get a clean taper on the stem. My buddy Frank, who runs the forge over in Millerton, stopped by to borrow some coal. He watched me for maybe two minutes and said, 'You're holding it like you're driving a nail.' I was keeping the hammer face almost flat to the anvil. He showed me how to tilt it just a bit, maybe 15 degrees, so the edge of the face does the work. The difference in control was instant. How many other basic things have I been doing wrong without knowing?

2 comments

2 Comments

william6615d ago

My cousin had that happen with a chisel. He was getting tear-out on every piece of pine for months, just figured the wood was cheap. A guy at the hardware store saw him testing a new chisel and asked if he ever sharpened the back. He'd only ever honed the bevel. Flattening the back changed everything overnight. Makes you wonder what else you're missing when you learn from a book and not a person, you know?

sage_lewis1015d ago

Books give you the basics to build on.