Took me 5 years to realize I was hammering hot steel all wrong

Was watching an old blacksmith at a demo in Flagstaff and he barely lifted his hammer an inch off the anvil. I was bringing mine up to my ear every time. Has anyone else had that one basic thing that took way too long to unlearn?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_drew14d ago

Holy cow, I had a buddy who used to frame houses and he told me he spent a whole year swinging his hammer like he was driving a railroad spike. Then this old timer at a job site just watched him for a minute and said "son, you're working way too hard". The old guy showed him how to let the weight of the hammer do the work with a light flick of the wrist. My friend said he cut his swing by half and didn't have that killer elbow pain anymore by the end of the week. Funny how the little things make the biggest difference.

the_lucas14d ago

@the_drew I'll admit I used to think you just had to muscle through it, but that old timer's tip totally changed my mind.

dylan_ward14d ago

Man that's the truth! I spent like three years forging with this death grip on the hammer and swinging like I was trying to kill something. Then an old timer at a hammer-in just goes "hey let the tool do the work" and showed me a little wrist snap. I swear my output doubled and my shoulder stopped popping every morning. Funny how you think you're being efficient by muscling it but really you're just wasting energy. It's like learning to drive stick shift all over again once it clicks you feel like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner.