Somebunny had two new hammers waiting on him when he got home from vacation. It was a few days before I was well enough (food poisoning) to swing them, but I was giddy with anticipation from the minute that I opened the boxes and after an initial trial both are EXACTLY what I wanted.
One is a 3# ¼ or diagonal peen forging hammer was custom made for me by the amazing and local black smith, Jakob Faram (@faramforge). The fit and finish are fantastic. No mill scale and the faces are both deferentially hardened and beautifully polished. The handle – fit and finish – is perfect. The head and handle closely resemble the Hofi-style forging hammer. If a tool can be beautiful, this is the embodiment of that. This hammer will be ½ of my primary hammer usage in the forge and my cross peen will be used less, but still in rotation. I am really proud to have this tool and thankful to Jake for making it for me.
The rounding hammer is a Big Blu (@bigbluhammer) 3.5 lb. and is replacing a 1500g Swedish style hammer that I had used to move a lot of metal on initial heats. This is an upgrade for my forge as I perfer the rounding hammer to drawing out and spreading material in a fast/controlled manner. It is my second Blu and also has a Hofi-style handle. I will keep buying hammers from them as they provide fantastic a cost/quality value. The finish is not as nice as the Faram hammer, but it is listed at retail for ½ the cost… I am going to put a torch to the Blu handle to black it like the rest of may forging hammers and then apply two coats of Corey’s Amazing Tung Oil to finish it off properly.
