Dressing hammers and punches - basic blacksmithing

Рет қаралды 38,435

6 жыл бұрын

With use hammers, punches, chisels and other tools will start to mushroom over on the struck end and loose their shape on the working end. When that happens its time to dress your tools.
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The following list provides just a few resources to help you find supplies and equipment for blacksmithing.
www.piehtoolco.com/
www.centaurforge.com/
www.blacksmithsdepot.com/
www.blacksmithbolt.com/
www.oldworldanvils.com/
www.nimbaanvils.com/
fontaninianvilandtool.com/
www.abana.org/
www.mcmaster.com
kensironstore.com/
Blacksmithing and related activities can be hazardous. These videos are not a substitute for competent professional instruction. Your safety is your sole responsibility. Always use appropriate safety equipment including eye and ear protection when working in the shop. Follow manufactures safety guidelines for the use of all equipment. In the event something shown in one of these videos seems unsafe, it is up to you to make the appropriate changes to protect yourself.

Пікірлер: 117

@thadstuart8544 5 ай бұрын

You make everything so simple. Thank you

@coreymerrill3257 2 жыл бұрын

Daaaamn !blacksmiths even make tools to get dressed? That's hardcore!

@maxlopez8618 4 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate your advocacy for working safe. I remember, in my youth, being harassed for avoiding grinder sparks, wearing dust masks, and gloves while finishing welding projects. Even get laughed at for using a mask while tack welding. Being safe does not mean one is weak just smart. Thank you for the content.

@DavidKirwanirl 2 жыл бұрын

Only 3 out of about 30 where my dad worked lived long enough to retire. Be safe wear the goggles and the mask's your family will thank you for it!!

@anuramahawattage4244 2 жыл бұрын

Good video

@ZENMASTERME1 6 жыл бұрын

You Are By Far The Best Teacher I Have Ever Known!!! Thank You For Making These Epically Awesome Teaching Videos!!!

@THLGargamont 5 жыл бұрын

My uncle took a chip from a mushroomed wood splitting maul that lodged in his chest about half an inch from his heart. I have dressed my tools religiously ever since.

@dw7407 5 жыл бұрын

I started my diesel technician apprenticship through CAT last year and my tools have seen a lot of wear lol, I keep finding myself at your channel learning how to maintain my tooling. Subscribed! Thanks man

@steves7896 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, thumbs up, you answered the question I had about overheating the tool while dressing it (12:02). The hammer I have that needs dressing is an old large ball peen with a good deal of mushrooming. Thank you for a straight forward, no-frills, professional explanation. Good stuff!

@paultavres9830 6 жыл бұрын

Grinding filing People often over grind or file I teach people to use the tool as if erasing a pencil mark You dont erase the whole page you only erase the mark you dont want there Nothing worse than maring up a piece of metals surface with scratch marks from over grinding Thank you for sharing your time with everyone We are only stewards of our tools which will go on to others in time you tube has become such a valuable teaching aid beyond what it was planned Thank you

@poindexter1387 2 жыл бұрын

Dress those handles too. Get the shellac off and flatten the handle it makes them so much more comfortable.

@MakerMurph 6 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate the tiered approach to your videos. It has a tool or a method for everyone from beginner with minimal tool, to the ideal tool and everything in between. Thanks!!!

@thestonefairy 4 жыл бұрын

This is so important - i can't get an MRI because of a chip from a mushroomed Bull-set lodged in my arm. lol 15 years later i can still hang a magnet from it. Safety is important

@hankatmaggies8819 2 жыл бұрын

nice try terminator 😛

@drewwilson8811 3 жыл бұрын

My look on tools is when in doubt address it. You are a good teacher thanks for all you do

@evilgrin123 5 жыл бұрын

This guy shows how to sharpen a file. It’s pretty cool. So you don’t need to replace.

@alansloas777 6 жыл бұрын

Timely video John. I am looking at dressing my hammer soon.

@shifty3453 6 жыл бұрын

I like the way you show more than one way to do things like file belt sander angle grinder.

@jeffwoolever5084 6 жыл бұрын

Good video John, cannot address safety enough!

@onecrowingrooster2239 6 жыл бұрын

Congratulations John👏

@TufStockdogs 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you John for sharing the tool dressing I had questions about that. You do a great help

@user-rh4qc5dp6p 6 жыл бұрын

Thank for the video and your time.

@casper1240 3 жыл бұрын

Great idea for using the powerfile for getting a level flat face cheers

@LolitasGarden 6 жыл бұрын

That's a classic Dirty Smith shirt. Looking forward to the giveaway today.

@lenblacksmith8559 6 жыл бұрын

Great John, learnt a lot.

@anthonykent7983 6 жыл бұрын

Thank you. it's nice to find out I've been dressing tools the right way. Apart from the belt grinders that is, expensive items but on the to build/buy list. Anthony Kent

@bennyhill3642 Жыл бұрын

Good info!😇😁

@larryking606 5 жыл бұрын

A lot of great information, I mentioned once before, that take notes, on different Videos I see , Instead of having a stack of loose pages , I now have started a Journal on info info that I feel is important ! Thanks to your knowledge, I am accumulating a great Deal of very important Log of Blacksmithing knowledge ! Thanks again for sharing ! Take Care !

@ronthacker211 6 жыл бұрын

Great info... as usual.

@williamsultana3848 4 жыл бұрын

Hi John

@johnjude2685 4 жыл бұрын

Good point Thanks

@fauseth 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@HomeImProveMentHow 6 жыл бұрын

Nice

@grandadz_forge 6 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Was going to ask for a video on files. Kinds, uses and care.

@wadestewart9891 6 жыл бұрын

thanks for this one John . im still carrying around a piece of steel in my right eye that will need an operation to remove that actually went under my safty glasses

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

ouch. I guess no system is perfect except the one where you never go into the shop.

@lancemillward2462 Жыл бұрын

was just wondering this with a pien hammer i bought. the previous owner had made a v on one end.

@SchysCraftCo. 4 жыл бұрын

John awesome work I just completed this little project my grinder did not want to work so I use my dremal it took longer but with time it turned out very well I was quite proud of my self in the end

@BlackBearForge 4 жыл бұрын

Thats a lot of work for a Dremel.

@SchysCraftCo. 4 жыл бұрын

Black Bear Forge I took it pretty slow and steady but it ended up working out saprizeingly well. But I definitely think I need a new grinder

@workwithnature 6 жыл бұрын

I did my hammer with the angle grinder a wile back and put a ball peen on it. Was surprised at how it was nearly impossible to get it even so hot that I could not touch it.

@TheFleshAlchemist 5 жыл бұрын

Great tips! I work in Tool & Die and hammer on metal all day, so it helps to keep my hammers and punches maintained so I don't have to go buying more. Would you recommend doing some hardening to a hammer face if you dress it back to flat?

@ibjensen9798 2 жыл бұрын

Black bear forge two

@cogpastorc 6 жыл бұрын

Thank yo for taking the time to make these videos. You explain yourself well and it is evident you know what you are talking about. I just watched a guy restoring a vintage axe. It had some rust with little pitting. I thought all it needed was a little cleaning and sharping. The dude pointed out that there was a curve in the blade and to my horror he through it into his forge and then to the anvil. What a shame to ruin a rare right hand axe due to not knowing. Thank you John for your knowledge and experience and being willing to share with others. I have watched all your videos on this channel and most more than once. Thanks so much.

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the comment. I am glad you are enjoying the videos.

@LolitasGarden 6 жыл бұрын

I want to see that video.

@johnroot8215 6 жыл бұрын

Great information. Could you make a video on dressing hammer peen ends? Thanks. Congratulations on 10,000 subscribers. Very well deserved indeed!

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

I will try to do that, I meant to address it with the other tool dressing video. It is essentially the same. I do talk some about peen shape in the videos on hammer forging.

@DavidKirwanirl 2 жыл бұрын

Lmao might put a gi Joe outfit on the hammer for laughs

@billwoehl3051 4 жыл бұрын

Can't remember who it was, but they gave a tip for grinding blades, etc without getting too hot, don't wear a glove and hold material in bare hand, to hot to hold? Then dip it to cool it.

@billwoehl3051 4 жыл бұрын

I made a punch from rebar, put a very steep taper on the end thinking it would help center it on the dimple made when I mark it out, is this going to be a problem when I use it? Will it shear out a plug? Or just drive through spreading the material without a plug? When I mean a steep taper, I mean maybe 2° off square. Almost square, but a tiny point maybe 1/16" longer than the main body, body maybe 1/4" - 3/8" thickness.

@joelegrand5903 4 жыл бұрын

I know a man who was using a cross chipping hammer on a weld, the edge broke off smaller then a bird shot & entered his hand. The crew chief took him to the hospital, Doctor said if the steel chip had moved a half of inch deeper he could have lost most of the control in his hand. We removed all that type of chipping hammers from the shop. The man had NOT broke any rule safety or any other. But every time I see the claw/burrs on a punch or drift, I think about his freak accident & how that could happen if a burr fly off a punch while in use. Thanks for the reminder, we all should be careful with any tool that gets hid over & over again & again.

@danbreyfogle8486 5 жыл бұрын

I have been a carpenter and woodworker for over 50 years and the number one thing always discussed while taking a coffee break is, "should I dress the face of my hammer, it is really dinged up?" And the consensus of the coffee crowd has always been "NO you will ruin your hammer." So my question to you, is a carpenters hammer different than the hammers you use to shape metal? I have the very first hammer I purchased for carpentry work making it 52 years old. It is a Plumb with a fiberglass handle and is in great shape except for the dinged up face. Your opinion is greatly valued...

@BlackBearForge 5 жыл бұрын

If you do something to a hammer by repairing the past damage, then you probably did something wrong. Properly dressing tools should improve function and restore over used tools to usefulness.

@danbreyfogle8486 5 жыл бұрын

@@BlackBearForge Thank you for the thought, remember the advice I got during coffee breaks on the job came from very wise carpenters long before the internet and their knowledge base came from others during coffee breaks when they were younger, and so on... After watching you video I was convinced that dressing it would not harm it. Thank you again

@charlesmay8251 6 жыл бұрын

I would love to see a file video!

@insperatus 6 жыл бұрын

Great video, thanks! Here's an idea: Spark tests to identify different metals an determine carbon content.

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

It's a good idea, I wonder if the sparks will be clear enough to see on video.

@insperatus 6 жыл бұрын

Perhaps try turning off the lights to help that?

@eisenstahlbrenner3516 Жыл бұрын

Dressing can be done with a chissel

@bmcdermid100 6 жыл бұрын

hi i love your channel. I am making my own anvil and was wondering what you would recomend for the base of the anvil cold rolled or hot rolled mild steel i have a piece of 4140 for the face.

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

I don't really think it would matter to much which material you used.

@bogomir67 6 жыл бұрын

I guess I would have used a thin cutting disk (the kind used for stainless) on the angle grinder and cut the mushrooming off the punch, at a 45deg angle or so. I did that once with a wood splitting wedge, and it worked great.

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

That would work

@kennethbezanson4266 2 жыл бұрын

With a really mushroomed tool, could you heat it up and reforge it back to shape instead of always removing material?

@BlackBearForge 2 жыл бұрын

My feeling is that the mushroomed head will also have small cracks and forging those back into the tool will create problems in the future. Plus if you re forge you will also have to re harden and temper

@phredd6070 5 жыл бұрын

Wow I've been doing it wrong all this time. Now I know why the wife gave me funny looks when I took the thousand Island to the shop.

@BlackBearForge 5 жыл бұрын

Here I was expecting Barbie doll clothes 😜

@cerocero2817 6 жыл бұрын

Good video. Couldn't just have cut out the mushroomed parts of the old chisel with a hackshaw or a cutting disc?

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

I thought about it. But by grinding in from the sides I was able to save more of the struck end.

@compacteconomycar5300 2 жыл бұрын

My dad has a chip off a chisel in his liver. It's been there about 15 years because the doctors said it's safer to not remove it. He said it felt like he'd been shot.

@mickdog2 5 жыл бұрын

I'm curious, with the handled punch, could you have fluxed it and reforged it? forge weld the cracks back together and reshape it that way?

@BlackBearForge 5 жыл бұрын

I supose you could. But you are looking at perhaps a two hour project to remove the handle, weld, grind, harden, temper and then replace the handle. vs 10 minutes to grind. The key is to grind long before it gets that bad.

@kevind7617 2 жыл бұрын

I like me a clean hole😊

@JacobAHull-nx6rx 2 жыл бұрын

I have a blacksmith vise like you were using in this vid. Is it bad for them to be outside? I'm not really sure what there compositon is and if they ok outdoor? How did you secure yours to the floor. Mine only has single leg. Thks

@BlackBearForge 2 жыл бұрын

Its always better not to leave them outdoors, but they do seem to survive. The leg should be set in a socket in the floor so the shock from use transfers into the floor. But the vise is actually mounted to a post sunk in the floor or to a heavy bench.

@JacobAHull-nx6rx 2 жыл бұрын

@@BlackBearForge ok. Great. Thanks for the information!

@davephillips7550 6 жыл бұрын

Nice video. Drives me nuts to see people's tools all mushroomed those can turn into little bullets 😣

@nick_steele9790 3 жыл бұрын

I just started forging and have done a tiny bit of stone sculpting in the past few years and while it wasn't my hammer, I had the top of one of my chisels mushroom and a shard shot off and whizzed by me after a particularly hard blow. Scared the living shit out of me and now I ALWAYS make sure to grind or cut off any mushrooming!

@shawnoney5678 5 жыл бұрын

My Uncle had that happen in the Army and he lost his eye because of it . He still has the chip.

@bennyd5918 5 жыл бұрын

What is your opinion on a JHM anvils my brother and I are starting to play A round with blacksmithing

@BlackBearForge 5 жыл бұрын

I have never had an opportunity to try one or even look at one up close. As long as they are steel, it is better than the cast iron ones.

@bennyd5918 5 жыл бұрын

Black Bear Forge Ok thank you for your time

@strongsadventures 6 жыл бұрын

LOL stealing GI Joe and Barbies clothes. 😂😂

@randallhackworth421 11 ай бұрын

So I found an old sledge. I need a hammer to start blacksmithing and figured I could dress it to suit the need. I found a crack in the face should I cut it off?

@BlackBearForge 11 ай бұрын

I would certainly grind it back or cut it off. It may lead to a bigger failure in the future.

@randallhackworth421 11 ай бұрын

@@BlackBearForge That’s kind of what I thought. Maybe I should turn this one into a cross peen. It weighs about 8 pounds right now, which is way more than I can handle.

@JF-fx2qv 6 жыл бұрын

You can't tell guys that love tools not to go out and buy one? My bank acct. remains me, ha, ha. The antique punch looks like a nice knock out for hammer handles ... send er my way if'n ya don't want her. Hey! the large belt grinder ... is it a manuf. made sander or homemade? All Blacksmith videos are good videos.

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

The large grinder was made a friend from parts he salvaged from a grinder he got from another friend.

@daviddahl4148 6 жыл бұрын

What size is your big belt grinder?

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

That big grinder runs a 3" x 134" belt on a 14" wheel at 5000 SFPM

@tjjohnson310 6 жыл бұрын

Have you ever thought about a media / sand blaster to remove scale for finishing? If you have, why not use it?

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

I have had a small sand blaster. Unless a piece is being powder coated the sandblasted finish really looks bad on iron work. It is way to clean and invites rust. It is also a nuisance to use compared to using the tools I already have in the shop. For pieces I really want to remove all of the scale on I prefer a tumbler, but I need to build a new one and don't have one at the moment.

@carsonmcmahon8830 6 жыл бұрын

Black Bear Forge did you say tumbler build? That's a great idea!

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

I Hope to do that. But it may be a while before I have the time

@kennymiller4428 5 жыл бұрын

The sparks say that is decent steel, is that correct?

@BlackBearForge 5 жыл бұрын

If you know what you're looking at they can

@londiniumarmoury7037 5 жыл бұрын

Is it just me or the camera angle or is that soft cross peen hammer set to a diagonal slant? I've never seen one like that.

@BlackBearForge 5 жыл бұрын

I do use a diagonal peen from time to time. It places the peen at a better angle for drawing out length wise, but it isn't as good for spreading width wise.

@londiniumarmoury7037 5 жыл бұрын

@@BlackBearForge Oh okay, thanks for the info, interesting to see one.

@truegeekified 6 жыл бұрын

At this moment, 9,997 subscribers... Just saying.

@truegeekified 6 жыл бұрын

9,998

@truegeekified 6 жыл бұрын

Oh.... 9,999

@truegeekified 6 жыл бұрын

Woohoo! Congrats John on 10k Subscribers! That’s an amazing achievement. Glad I happened to be catching up on videos to see it roll over!

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

you where watching it even closer than I was. It is certainly a huge moment in the life of the channel.

@jetblackstar 6 жыл бұрын

truegeekified aww I only spotted at 1016, but yeay. Congrats black bear forge! Bring on the quiz :D

@scottreynolds4827 4 жыл бұрын

Like to point out what I had read on the Blackbear Forge facebook page. If the struck end mushrooms, the tool is improperly made. The mushroom effect is thus causing work hardening. And thusly.... the struck end, becoming work hardened will now be very dangerous and splinter/fail causing injury because work hardened/mushrooming is very hard. It will shatter like glass. Again, what I read. If the above is true, then why can you clean up a distorted/mushroomed punch with a file? If it is glass hard from work hardening ......??? And why do so many struck tools show signs of mushrooming? Are they all poorly made/poor quality tools? Sounds like bad information to me. Which is ever present on public forums.

@BlackBearForge 4 жыл бұрын

All tools will eventually mushroom on the struck end unless they are harder then the hammer and then they are more likely to chip. But as with everything people will have different opinions

@scottreynolds4827 4 жыл бұрын

@@BlackBearForge so very true. I have ( recently) taken time to dress a couple hammers ( Atha and Iron City ) as well as some Heller Bros top tools. These are top of the line tools. I seriously doubt these brands are improperly made. I want a soft striking surface. I have had a chip fly off many years back from glass hard steel

@poorboytrapper1960 6 жыл бұрын

Another great video as always. I think I've got a great idea for a short n sweet video for you. FIRST AID KIT in the shop. Burn ointment, bandaids, alcohol wipes, tape and TWEEZERS!! I'm the owner/operator of Hillbilly Bling Blacksmith Shop. Check my stuff out on Facebook and Instagram. Thanx for your videos.

@BlackBearForge 6 жыл бұрын

I would have to think about that. Could just be duct tape a relatively clean shop rag. I will certainly take a look at your Instagram.

@poorboytrapper1960 6 жыл бұрын

Black Bear Forge there's more photos on Facebook. Thanx sir for the reply.