Old timer showed me a trick for hammering out a cold shut at the forge yesterday

I was working on a wall hook at the shop when an old smith named Frank walked by and saw me struggling with a cold shut. He just picked up my hammer and said "you're hitting it from the top, try from the side at a 45 degree angle instead." That one little change saved me from grinding out the whole weld, I finished that hook in under 10 minutes. He told me he learned that from his grandfather who worked in a wagon wheel shop back in 1920. I've been smithing for about 2 years now and stuff like that keeps me coming back. Has anyone else had one of those small tips that completely changed how you do something?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.ryan25d ago

Had the same thing with hammering drifts into punched holes for drawing them out. I used to think the angle didn't matter as long as you hit hard enough, but then a guy at a hammer-in showed me how coming in from one side at a low angle spreads the metal more evenly instead of just mashing it down. Took me from fighting with crooked holes to getting them straight in a few blows. Still catches me off guard how much a tiny angle change can save your arms from all that extra work.

elliotc1025d ago

Three years it took me to figure out that exact thing. I was out at a hammer-in in Oregon back in '19 and watched this old guy take a piece that looked like a disaster and have it perfect in maybe four hits. I stood there with my mouth open like an idiot. Turns out I'd been basically fighting the steel instead of working with it, all because I was too stubborn to change my angle by like 10 degrees. Funny how the smallest tweak makes you feel like you've been doing it wrong your whole life, right?