Ok so I have a stupid question but I don't get it.

In a black smithing application couldnt you just have one hammer rather then a cross, straight, diagnial an all other directions of pein hammers. Can't you walk around the anvil an hit from a different angle? I have always thought blacksmiths or anyone back in the day to be frugal of some sort an just work with what they have.

I am sure there is a obvious reason why there's different ones ime just curious?

Not a stupid question at all..

Hope we hear from the smithies here.

Skip

Here is how I see it, if your making just one or a couple of parts, not a problem, but if you were doing 50, that would be time / money wasted do that twice a month for 20 years..... that hammer is well worth it.
Check out one of the World's Best!  Uri Hofi!
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1823991120&fref=ts
 

Blacksmiths, frugal?   When they want another tool we just make another tool.   Tongs, hammers, hardees, hold downs.   Maybe a general blacksmith can get by with one 2lb. hammer.  Have seen every variety used to beat on iron, save for a claw hammer.    In the shops of the guys that get paid for their work,  can count on seeing at least 12-25 hammers.   Different weights, size of face, even hammers with a scarred up face that will add character to the hammer marks.   For demos I usually take along at least 3.   If you're making something extensive, the more you hammer, the more tired your hand and arm get.   Using a hammer that gives results with less fatique is really worth it.    If you have to keep heating the piece,  and dont' get the results you want soon,  the whole thing gets pretty tiring.   Now lets talk about tongs,  saw a photo of a shop from yesteryear, there were at least 250 tongs in the rack. 

Back in the day, blacksmiths didn't much need to be frugal -- in more or less frontier tows the blacksmith was the highest paid worker.  Why?  Because without his work, nobody worked.  One advertisement for a smith promised him a house built to his specifications, enough land to plant his needs, a shop, and his choice of the daughters of the village for his wife!   (Look in Aldren Watson's The Village Blacksmith.)  The motto of the London Blacksmith's Guild was "By hammer in hand, all trades do stand."

One hammer won't do.  My general use hammer is a farrier's rounding hammer, closely followed by one of several cross peins.  But I have around 30 or more.  A professional blacksmith friend has thinned his hammers down to about 1000. 

The back in the day blacksmith didn't have to buy his hammers.  He made his own.  I have a 5# straight pein that was made by a ship's smith around 1915.  Great hammer.   And a 3# cross pein also smith made.   My smallest is a smith made straight pein riveting hammer.

Different designs, different weights, different uses, all of them. 

When working iron one is always limited by the amount of time until the heat fades away.  The longer one ponders how to strike, is time lost, because one must strike while the iron is hot.   The hammer and tools are laid out ready to hand while the iron is in the fire.   The hammer is usually on the anvil, at an angle that it can be picked up immediately, any punches, the same way.   On a big piece, thick iron retains heat longer, one can strike ten times before it cools.   Thin pieces  1/4in stuff , 4-5 strikes can probably be gotten in before stopping, because striking cold iron will cause cracks.   Also hammer weight, have often seen beginners pick up a five pound hammer to start, the hand and wrist get tired immediately.  A five pound can be handled by a striker, with both hands, if someone else is holding the iron.  Usually a 2 pound hammer is fine if you intend to work all day.  So I have a 2lb. a 3lb. and a small sledge with me most times.  Sledge is 5lbs. sometimes a 7lb.   Once, a beginner smith brought a pickup load of his grandfathers tools.   We reduced a half inch rod quickly,  by him holding it with tongs, and I was striking with a SEVENTEEN pound hammer.  Huge, unwieldly,  actually was not swung, just lifted and dropped, sort of like a trip hammer.  Made the anvil jump too.  So remember, just strike while the iron is hot. 

Thank you very much for the quik answers. Definitely cleared that question up for me :)

this picture is art to me!

That picture is great, oldgoaly.

What you blacksmith's say is equally true for silversmith's.

Except, not as big, polished faces on hammers, we work cold after annealing (still have to heat the metal up every course or two and quench), and instead of dozens of tongs we have stakes.

I imagine it is fun to form most metals.

Chilly

oldgoaly
question from a woodchuck here-are those objects in the lower left corner of the tray
the metal working equivalent of dowel makers?

Quote from: oldgoaly on December 05, 2014, 09:07:19 PM
this picture is art to me!

Wow!  Great pic!