“Do not take medical advice from a blacksmith”. That should be a tshirt.

Good advice. I spent over three decades permanently hurting my neck, shoulder, and arm in another field, where nobody ever realized injuries developed over time. It brings bitter meaning to the phrase “pain in the neck.” If you’re young and getting into this, LISTEN to John, or regret the constant pain in your future. I see a number of young smiths on YT beating themselves to death. Celebrities now, disabilities later. My 4 cents worth: yeah, absolutely don’t grip the handle. Never push the hammer into the work, with wrist, arm, or shoulder. Accelerate it through the air with as much relaxation as possible, fling it, then let its mass do the work. I’ve seen people actually unconsciously try to stop the hammer at impact, too. That’s tough on an arm! You can also hurt yourself picking the hammer back up. Keep it close, not at arm’s length. Lastly, I’d advise anyone to not roll the hammer-side shoulder forward. Talk about nerve pain in the future, a burning, searing pain that NSAIDS and even heavy duty prescription pain meds won’t touch....

I am 21 years old, I am just getting into blacksmithing, I am also a guitar player, I have been playing much longer than black smiting, my point is, I try to make things as easy as possible on my body and hands, with guitar I switched from 10 gauge strings to 9 Guage, had my guitar setup to my specs, and it made a world of difference in terms of playability. With blacksmithing I chose 3 hammers, I have a 2.5lb cross peen. A 2lb Engineer Hammer. And a 24 Oz ball peen (weird choice I know.) I noticed. My preference is the 2lb hammer, it has a smaller head and shorter handle and it makes it much easier for me to forge longer. Young guys and girls, you don't need to impress anyone. Use a lighter hammer when you start off!

Began hammering for pay at 21 yrs old, near 71 now. What has changed is endurance and the weight of the hammers. I told everyone that at 55 yrs that I was counting how many nails I would drive in a day! You will pay with pain in your 60's and beyond for abuse you did to yourself in your 40's. I agree with Black Bear that wrist action greatly accelerates your strike. I used to teach new guys to hit harder but slower, aim was "keep your eye on the nail head" and you'll hit where you aim. I really prefer very skinny handles, even though I have to wear L or XL gloves. Do not fail to wrap your thumb around the handle, the hammer can fly right out of your hand, bounce off the anvil and come to get you. It takes thought, visualizing first, for striking other than flat parallel to the anvil. Then it takes lots of practice to get the control you are after. Only with a lot of practice, can you move up in hammer weight. Overall, good control and medium power is a lot better than heavy strikes without much control. Think while heating, what your next strikes will be, it will improve your productivity. Still hammering.

I've been swinging hammers for 35 years and what helped me is grabbing the sweet spot of the handle. Having the extra length on the opposite end from the head helps with balance. I wouldn't recommend cutting the handle off. Just my opinion and what I've experienced.

15:40 My Grandfather was a master wooden shipbuilder, he specialized as a ship's caulker, but apprenticed at a time where every man on the crew learned every job. There's a lot of blacksmithing that goes with building fishing vessels and such. He taught me to frequently swap "working hand with supporting hand," if you hammer for half an hour with your right, you should hammer the next with your left. This was important to him for a number of reasons; If you have an accident and break a bone (or a bad cut or bruise...) in your strong (on) hand you are not left inept working with your weaker (off) hand. If you think you are not inept with your off hand, stick your on hand in your pocket then attempt to do something, almost anything that takes a modicum of coordination, it can make you feel like a moron. Repetitive motion damage~ the cause of carpel tunnel, tennis (smith's) elbow, and the like is halved, it may or may not be enough to eliminate the problems before they start but he claimed neither hand got as tired or sore by changing up what he required of them. He used to say, "A change is as good as a vacation." He also said that changing hands made him think about what he was doing, it made him diagnose his own technique and improved his understanding of the process better. I never became a true craftsman, but I do pride myself in the ability to use almost any tool ambidextrously (60/40 R/L anyway) I can use whichever hand I pick the tool up with. I was nor am I now naturally ambidextrous, but I have actually found that if I am doing delicate work I sometimes prefer my left (off-in my case) hand to my right although I have more power and accuracy in my right, using my left can slow me down and make me pay attention~ in a good way.

I'm a DIY mechanic who just shopped for some new ball peen hammers, and got this recommended. Watched the whole thing, very well presented. You're a great teacher.

I'm fixing to turn 53 here in a couple of weeks so I'm a little late to the game as well. I grew up on a farm and the became an aircraft mechanic as an adult so I have a pretty good background in mechanical endeavors. I've started my smithing adventure almost a year ago and I am pretty satisfied with my progress. There is still a tremendous amount of knowledge to be learned and skills to be mastered and it's not something you can pick up in a year or two but I'm satisfied with my progress. My forge is up and running and giving me about 8 hours of forge time on a 20 lb tank and 20 lb regulator with a Reil style atmospheric burner. I have access to quite a bit of "scrap" still here on the farm and most of it is high carbon, particularly 1080 HC based on the part numbers I've been able to discern. I've made all my tooling from hammers to tongs, chisels and punches, hammer eye punch and drift as well as a hatchet eye punch and drift. I made a makeshift anvil by turning a very large piece of I-beam on its end and welding 1.5 by 2.5 inch sections of 1080 plow steel onto it. I didn't know it was 1080 at the time or I would have used something else except as the face of the anvil. Anyway it's a work in progress and weights around 250 lbs with the face shaped pretty much like a traditional anvil. It even has a pretty respectable horn. I have it mounted into a hard maple stump. I'm enjoying it tremendously so far and I absolutely know, that without your channel and others like it, I wouldn't even have considered taking up this craft. Thank you very much and know that I truly appreciate it.

Best line of the video : "Don't take medical advice from a blacksmith." Hahahahaha

Peter Ross is like a machinist with a hammer. Thanks for your videos. I'm starting a little smithing at 71 yo so I',m listening to any and all helpful hints.

I’m 22, without a doubt my body will thank me later in life because of what this video has brought to my attention

(Funny, I did the same thing you did to learn to forge.) Some good advice about hammer swinging: I find its also a good idea to Give your body 24 hours to rest between forging sessions and that its a good idea to stretch before hammering to warm up your tendons. I also find Heat management helps a lot in how hard you have to hit the steel to make it flow. I own a LOT of hammers of varing weight and pretty much use them all i start heavy and end light. well i stick to bladesmithing most of the time i started making tools too and am getting into jewelry making. yesterday (march 24th) I actually took a piece of .203 round w1 (i had since 2018 and I likely did not need to make this out of w1 i could have used mild, but I had some w1 overkill) and made a soldering pick i dont think I used anything heavier then 1 pound for that ....if I had used anything heavier it would have flattened that small stock. you dont need heavy hammers for the entire piece.

I've been working as a ships fitter all my life. I have suffered this tennis elbow as it's sometimes called for years. Problems arising out of bad maintenance of tools. Sometimes if the wooden handle broke then somebody would weld a pipe. That sends shock waves directly to the elbow and shoulder. There are a number of physiotherapy exercises for tennis elbow. But the best one is to just give that part some rest and let it heal by itself.

exercising the extensor muscles is such great advice

I recently broke my wrist, and am watching this while recovering with a mind to training in good habits as I regain my strength.

Man, this video is a God send. Seeing the doc on Wednesday. Can't even lift my rifle...

Hey John, watched alot of your videos, I have only been blacksmithing for about a year and a half, but have been fighting tendonitis for the entire time. (Previous injuries) Lots of great ideas in this video my instructor was a long time blacksmith who started fairly young and has a grip like a vise.. I dont think any of this was ever an issue for him, so he never talkd about this.. I look forward making some changes based on thia video and hopefully it will allow mw to spend more time at the anvil and less recovering! Thank you!

Preventative medicine is the best medicine.

Thanks for this. As a new blacksmith in my 40s I’ve been looking for information on proper hammer technique. I can say from my past experience with weightlifting that if you experience *any* pain at all stop doing what you’re doing and either adjust your movement or stop your workout (i.e., anvil time) and come back tomorrow. Otherwise you *will* injure yourself - perhaps permanently. Thanks again!

Hi, Just found and greatly like your KZfaq episodes. Numerous experiences have helped me appreciate your experience and recommendations. I’m a retired family physician who worked in rural Maine, much of my practice involving people who do physical work. I also worked, for the past 15 years, for a disability insurance company, reviewing medical records of people applying for disability benefits. Personally, I’ve experienced a few musculoskeletal injuries, surgeries and physical therapies, and have learned a lot from them. I worked for two years, in Malawi (Central Africa), in awe of what people were able to do with “almost nothing,” resonating with your comments about historical and prehistorical smithing and anvils. I liked this episode, about working reasonably and safely in the shop. You did a great job of being upfront about what comments were based on your experience and your decisions about your own care, and might not be endorsed by the medical profession. Your repeated recommendations for viewers to follow the advice of their doctors, rather than your advice, were appropriate and valuable. Doesn't mean the doctors know best, but it's important to get that disclaimer out there. I’d like to share some thoughts I had while watching that episode. Writing this does not indicate any unhappiness with your presentation. I thought enough of that episode that this feels like having a conversation with a colleague, rather than standing up in a class and lecturing (the “colleague” issue is interesting; if I get another life, I’d really like to be a blacksmith/machinist and musician; I do some tinkering, so your show and comments about working safely are valuable to me). In this life I submitted to my first love, medicine. Now I can move on and be a blacksmith/machinist musician when I grow up. • Tendinitis of the elbow: Technically, “lateral epicondylitis,” inflammation of the point at which forearm extensor muscles (extend the wrist, bending it up away from the palm) attach. Repetitive, forceful extension of the wrist causes and aggravates this condition. I got a nasty case, left arm, lifting pieces of firewood on to a stump for splitting with a maul (did not want mechanical splitter, with kids around), when I was late doing it one season and had to do several cords quickly. Rest, ice, massage, and ultrasound all helped; very valuable to recognize that resisted extension of wrist causes and aggravates this, so if you have it, try to use opposite muscles (picking up things, as much as possible, with palm up and flexing the wrist, uses the forearm muscles that attach at the inside of the elbow (medial epicondyle) rather than the outside (lateral epicondyle); when pulling, pull with wrist flexion, rather than extension); I had several setbacks when something important, and heavy, started to fall and the only way I could grab it was with palm down and wrist extension taking up the sudden load (think of full iron skillet falling off a stove when you already had a grip on the handle); each episode set me back weeks; eventually got back to normal and planned my wood splitting better, ever since. • Hearing protection: With and without fixes to reduce anvil noise, I could guarantee you’re having some hearing loss. Hearing loss due to noise exposure starts in the high frequency range and is often not noticed until it is severe enough to get down into the speech frequencies and you start missing things people are saying. I’ve had loads of people come into the office from the local mill or a life of shooting and chainsawing and want me to clean the wax out of their ears because they recently noticed hearing difficulties. Surprise, no wax! Unfortunately, the hearing loss from noise exposure accumulates over the years, from numerous sources, and is permanent. I’ve always had some hearing loss in the speech frequencies, so have been religious about avoiding loud noise exposure when I could, with earplugs in my toolbox, car (lost some hearing left ear driving particular car, for years, with loud wind noise when driver’s window open; started using earplug left ear when realized this), shop, etc. If I have to drive a couple of nails into a live board the earplugs go in, even for a couple of shots with the hammer. If your ears ring after a loud noise, even for a couple of seconds, you’ve done some damage. The noise does not have to be particularly loud: constantly exposed to the whine of a motor at a constant pitch, even if not loud, will cause damage to the nerve endings that pick up that pitch; I would also expect the recurrent ringing of a hammer blow, at the same pitch, would do the same thing. I use earplugs when I vacuum around the house, mow the lawn (even with electric mower), etc. I’m 73 and just started using hearing aids because my high frequency loss from age and noise exposure finally connected with my inherited mid frequency (speech frequency) loss and became a real problem. Ironically, I now take out my hearing aids to put in earplugs, or use hearing protective muffs over my hearing aids. So, do the best to muffle your anvil and other tools, AND use earplugs and/or protective earmuffs. For me, it’s always a great experience, taking a break from loud activity, to remove my earplugs and suddenly hear all the small sounds in the woods, my shop, yard, etc. If you need to prove it to yourself or others, I advise getting baseline hearing test (free at Sam’s Club and other places); if it’s normal, be happy, repeat every several years, AND use hearing protection. • Eye protection: I have seen too many people with eye injuries due to pieces of wood or metal (especially with grinding) that ricocheted off their cheeks then hit their eyes in spite of wearing eyeglasses. Regular glasses don’t cut it. I have to use reading glasses for close work, so I took the temple pieces off a pair and glue-gunned them inside real safety goggles. If not doing this, consider a face protector over your regular glasses, but be sure it goes low enough to avoid ricochets. You can get prescription safety goggles but they’re more expensive than glue-gunning an old pair into safety goggles. • Eye protection II: Long term exposure to hot materials, especially red-hot (infrared radiation) can cause cataracts: glassblower’s cataracts, foundry workers, blacksmiths, bakers, etc.; IR protective eyewear needed • Tendinitis: Excellent recommendations but I also tell patients to change what they do every 30-45 mins, if possible; I’ll chainsaw for a while, then physically handle the results of my work, refill gas & oil, take a leak, sharpen the chain, get a drink of water, etc. Splitting wood, I’ll do a bunch and then take a break to throw it into the shed, stack it, rearrange last-year’s left-overs so they’re used first, etc.; this gives changes of postures, muscle groups used, etc. (unfortunately, did not prevent my one lateral epicondylitis episode that hung me up for months) • Gripping: It takes a stronger grip (more stress on joints, tendons) to handle something small, with force, than something large. Try turning a tough screw with a screwdriver that has a slim handle, and then try with a larger-handled screwdriver. Patients with muscle weakness and/or severe arthritis can get special cooking and eating utensils with thicker handles, to allow appropriate use with less gripping force needed; I’ve got my share of hand arthritis and often use thick gloves to handle tools with less need for strong gripping, while being able to use the tools with the same effectiveness; you mentioned roughing up a hammer handle with coarse sandpaper for a better grip; I wrapped the handle of my favorite (masonry) hammer in friction tape (start at the bottom, work toward the head), making it easier to grip and use; hammering with the tape and a thick glove is almost a dream. Non-blacksmithing tools like hoes and rakes can be fitted with tough, sponge rubber tubes to increase diameter and decrease need for strong grip. • JUST WALK AWAY!: Have seen too many injuries due to fatigue, inattention, rushing or pushing through to complete a job, etc. The most aggravating case was a carpenter who actually visualized himself removing his thumb and index finger on a table saw, just before he actually did it. That cost him a lot more than it would have if he had just shut it down and walked away, completing the job late. And I’ve seen too many fingers and hands damaged in logsplitters, after long, sweaty, tiring days of splitting, getting refreshment from a 6-pack (doesn’t take much when you’re fatigued and dehydrated), and wanting to finish up that last little bit. Listen to Kenny: “…know when to hold ‘em, Know when to fold ‘em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run.” Just sayin’ Dan Krell, new fan

All helpful hints. I've been a heavy equipment repair welder since '95 but I've also earned myself back surgery and a double hernia repair. Why I thought blacksmithing would be a softer exit to the lifestyle I've chosen is still a mystery to me but is my choice nonetheless. Thanks for the foresight that I've conveniently not considered. Love your videos and just gotta say they have become my binge watching choice for the covid lockdown.

The grip part is very interesting to me , when I used to take some kenjutsu classes , we were told that you should grip the sword so that if someone pulls the end of the sword outward the sword could just escape your grip , I never used this in terms of blacksmithing but when I chop wood I do use some of those principles like leverage and loose grip and firstly it feels a lot easier and I can chop for a much longer period of time and it also improves the chops

I have that exact same 2.5# Craftsman cross pein hammer...great little hammers!

I enjoy your videos. I’m 40 and thinking of taking a late start into blacksmithing and knife making. I’ve got a decent hammer and an old piece of railroad. All I need is a forge and eventually a real anvil. But for information I’ve come to KZfaq U, and I’ve found your videos the most useful. Thanks.

I am married to an occupational therapist who is also a hand therapist. Definitely helps!. Especially knowing when to stop. I also find working with really hot metal is personally better as I get more rest breaks and the metal forming is much easier. Thanks for technique tips

Excellent advice about listening to your body. After I had some injuries and during my recovery, I have learned to listen to my body and know when to take breaks and for how long. It is no fun being cooped up in the house when there is a job to be done, but your injury is preventing you getting the job done. Excellent video. Looking forward to seeing more of them.

The rubber band works very well. I also use my car seat. I put my hand between the cushions and work my hands.Very good advice.

Great information!

Great vid on this topic - thanks!!

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Thank you!!

Thanks for the great advice.

Very instructive. Cheers!

Wise words, wise man. Thank you.

Excellent video. Thank You.

Thankyou for another helpful video.

Good advice especially starting out in the later years

thanks for the great information I really enjoy what you do

I can swing a 4lb hammer comfortably for a good hour or 2, but 3lb is usually my favorite is just a sweetspot

Thanks for the Video. Its an Big help .

John, Excellent presentation. Much appreciated.

Hello Black Bear Forge! Been eagerly watching your videos for a couple years(?) and love your down-to-Earth/straight forward approach to teaching blacksmithing! I've certainly learned and continue to learn a lot from you. Great video on injury recovery and prevention techniques(In fact as I type this, I'm icing my 'non-hammering' elbow for for different reasons(Disc Golf also takes its toll.) One thought I had when you mentioned leaning on the anvil (24:00) as support for a particular hammer stroke was taking a moment to prepare for shaping the metal, imagining what strokes and positioning will be necessary, imagining going through the steps before heating the workpiece. To invoke another old saying(I learned from my grandmother) "a stick in time saves nine". How often have I wasted time and heat not having the next tool at hand or how best to work the metal to achieve my goal that could have been saved by a moments preparation? Thanks so much for all you work! I love your channel!

Thanks so much for. Your advice Dr. Blackbear

Lastwrap is awesome. Thanks John.

I start forging and find this very useful. Thank you

Great explanations and so useful content! I formerly studied to be a welder, and now I'm getting attracted to learn some forging by myself, so I've not formerly studied that yet... But after having seen like 20 videos of yours, even if you are quite modest and recognizes yourself what you don't know and tell us to ask to proper experts, I feel you like a great teacher 'cos you really have the willing to teach well. Most of your old videos would be a reference to me. Cheers from Spain.

Thank you for this advice. I have been working through this very problem and will try these techniques.

thank you

So many camera angles, great production value and very good presentation down to earth and you can just tell this is just how this guy talks on his day to day

Good advice

Fantastic video my friend, thanks for solving my problem 👍

All around great video

Thank you for addressing my questions from the previous video on handles. Very informative!

One of the things i use is called Penetrex. It is a pain relief cream and anti-inflammatory. This has helped me with muscle pain, authorities, etc. Plus it doesn't smell bad.

I already have nerve damage in my neck and arms. I’m going to be very careful doing this lol.

Thanks for your video. I will be 64 on Jan 8 and am embarking on a new direction. Men my age have to be careful when embracing new things.

John , I wish I had seen this Video , long before now ! You have talked about things, I really haven't thought about enough ! The grip , I have always try to find a comfortable grip ! Your stance at the anvil is almost the same as a shooter's stance ! Which I am very comfortable with. You really have opened my eyes to everything you have put out to us ! Thank you so much , I hope you don't get tired of hearing that ! But I do very much mean it ! Take Care and Be Safe

Thanks for video, peter ross is amazing to watch. You too big bear!

Great video, I'm a mason and hurt my elbow last yr at work, this will deff help with the way I swing a hammer hitting stone this yr, also thanks for the video... keep up the great work, been loving the vids

I can really relate to this John. I was a production welder for 11 years. I developed elbow problems from repetitive motion. Very hard to get rid of once you have it. All of your advise is right on point. Great job

Great points, I've just recently found your videos and have just been binge watching! your way of explaining what you're doing is so easy to understand. i remember during my jewellers apprenticeship how incessantly i had rammed home the technique of holding ones elbow against the side of your body while hammering, due to being in a seated position it ment it took all the strain off your shoulder and minimised the stress on your elbow, 16yrs later and i can say it's certianly worked :)

A farriers hammering is the same type toy are doing there the handle bounces back and forth but helps your arm. Nice video thank you for sharing this

Dang I'm 3 months late tto see this is all head this great advice I wish it would have came up in search when I was first researching my pain.

I appreciate the advice iv just recently started and if I use the the hammer for too long at a time my elbow hurts for a couple of days hopefully the techniques u talked about will help

This was a wonderful tip. I have been struggling with a sore hand after a day at it and discovered after watching this that I was holding the hammer too tightly. Thanks for this!

Thanks for the videos. I think I have caught up watching all your videos. You have a lot of good information. I am fairly new to blacksmithing only been doing it for 9 years. Something that you could do to help take some of the shock out of the hammer blow is to take your handle down like you said and then take some pipe insulation that you can get at any hardware store and put hit on the handle. Then use electrical tape to secure it this has worked really well for me. I did not come up with this idea a friend that does construction swinging as hammer all day shared it with me. Thanks again for all the good info. God bless. Glen

I spent a lot of years competing as an archer. I managed to get a spot on the Canadian National Team and made a trip to the World Cup in Turkey. I got a case of Tendinitis and couldn't shoot for months. Long story short, gripping a hammer is the same sort of grip. My Physical Therapist taught me how to take it easy on it. Relaxing your grip is everything. Exercising your fingers daily also helps a great deal. Thanks for the video, we all need to be reminded to take care of the old body, we only have one, and some parts are not replaceable.

I wish I would have seen this video before I made my first set of tongs! Better late than never though. Thanks!

A really good idea for a video. Too many people - me included - use or have used hammers that were too heavy, for too long; far more sensible to start with lighter hammers and just use a heavier one at need. Also good to mention handle surface and thickness, and where to grip on the haft; these three things - especially the latter two - make an enormous difference. Best lesson I learnt was to use my shoulder for heavy or hard hitting rather than just my arm / elbow. Not paying attention to an injury, and then trying to work again too soon could be the most stupid repeat-idiocy of my youth...

I've got ongoing tendonitis from computer (mis)use. I so like the rubber band suggestion. Done all the medicine, shots, exercises, ice, etc, etc... never seen a way to stress the tendon in the opposite direction for fingers!

New to blacksmithing and got myself a case of tendonitis now. Thanks for the information.

Always good to see this stuff. I'm out of the shop with a tendon injury. But it's a cut tendon.

I've also found that a wheat bag or heat pack works well after being in the forge on your wrist to reduce some of the pain

My elbow developed a bone spur, where a tendon attaches, from repeated injuries. All it took for me to start being more careful was the doctor saying "I'll grind the bone spur down if it happens again".lol. I'm a lot more careful now. At the first sign of strain or pain I stop what I'm doing, and do some of the stretches he showed me. I also adjust the way I'm working. My worst elbow injury kept me out of the shop for two months. I honestly don't ever remember injuring my elbow before this serious event, but the doctor said I must have to develop a spur. Thanks for this video. Hopefully it'll help others before they damage themselves. .

Grasias amigo

Thank you again, also for answering my question, you are so right. For myself I noticed, training is an issue. If I have not swung a hammer for two weeks and than hammer for a few hours, it will hurt the next day. But than again, I'm old (46, ;)) and only weigh 62 kg. Size and weight actually makes a lot of difference.

An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure! Great video, John. I wear thick leather bracers on both wrists to keep them steady. I have a bad habit of letting my wrists "whip" too much. When I started blacksmithing, I had the bad habit of extending my thumb along the hammer handle. To unlearn this habit, I would strap or tape my thumb down. Working better will save trouble down the road.

Thanks for reminding me that I need to work on my hammer technique. I have some bad habits to correct.

Hello, I follow you since severals months. I really Learn a Lot of things.i like thé way you teach and your sense of humour. Now about this video, I would like to Thank you for your humility. Sorry for my bad inglish... Best regards. Eric

I have been a sometimes blacksmith for almost 20 years and love this info. i am a disabled vet with some big physical issues so most of my smithing is done on sitting down (back issues). it takes more time to do larger work but i have adapted to it and it was a pain in the arse when i first started lol. gave me a few things i never thought about but i have thought of most of this and its a good thing to teach newer smiths this. thx

More Power to your Elbow John , lol good tips

I’ve been doing steel work for sometime now. I’ve had tendinitis with my right arm from elbow to my hand so bad that I could not hold a plastic cup. After dealing with the pain for years and nothing help to release the pain, I decided to start looking and reading. I found out that that my tendinitis was caused from my neck. C5 - C7 vertebrae’s were popping out and locking up pinching the nerves going down my arm and also causing the muscles to tighten up in my shoulder. After a year of chiropractor and massage care I’m now pain free and able to swing a hammer. Hope this information helps others.

Thank you! I'm not a blacksmith, but I've been doing a lot of different customization & restoration work. Out of nowhere I got a shooting pain whenever I tried to grip a hammer. I'm going to see the doctor in a couple days, but I had to power through to finish a project on time. It was agony. I didn't realize I was doing it wrong till it was too late. This helps, and I'm definitely going to be more aware of my form & my tools in the future. I'm going to customize MY tools (once my arm works again).

@blackbearforge or anyone else for that matter if you have issues with the wrist or elbow take some oilve oil to the affected area and a pinch of cayenne pepper to the affected area rub it on and wrap it up it works WONDERS for joints in that type of pain you're discussing and is 100x better than icyhot or them otherpain relief topicals on market. the more its agitated itll heat back up

A great topic that's very important for everyone; thanks. I like to hear your opinion on what you consider the ideal shape(s) of a handle (for those that make their handles).

Great info for us beginners and experienced alike. My dad was a carpenter all of his life and boy, could he swing a hammer all day. When I was a small boy he would say to me, ( keep that thumb off the handle) as you showed.

Only hammer using one joint. Tap with your wrist, Swing harder and use you elbow and lock your shoulder and wrist. Wailing use your shoulder and lock your elbow and your wrist. Advice from a carpenter but works well for acurassy.

overall good advice :)

Recently I was team striking with my daughter and the sledge I was swinging rebounded and hit me in the cheek and safety glasses. It wasn't hard. It didn't even leave a mark, but it woke me up, that's for sure! I'm battling pinched nerves up and down my hammer arm so this is a very good video for me. I'm already on physical therapy and it helps greatly. But yeah, it's best to prevent the injury in the first place.

Thank you sir. Very useful and thoughtful. The loose grip is ultimately important. "Throw the hammer into the anvil" my old man said. And lift it with the shoulder. The rest will follow. Funny you wear the bick on the right .

I kinda like a longer hammer handle and go with the bounce back of the hammer. So I am not gripping the hammer to tightly, wspecially on the recoil.

I have hand problems and that is great advice. I've had about every surgery you could have done on it just due to overuse. they said quit using it ,but actually if done right it can help. blacksmithing has helped me. it feels better now than it did before.it's amazing

I have fairly extensive shoulder issues that render me useless for anything involving weights or excessive movement in that area. I had previously ruled blacksmithing out as being impossible for me, until my friend pointed out that it is possible to do blacksmithing with a very light weight hammer and minimal shoulder movement. As long as the anvil is at elbow height or lower, I can do all the movements from the elbow and wrist, keeping my shoulders mostly out of it. This probably goes against a few people's rules, but the alternative is that I sit at home doing nothing, and make myself miserable watching blacksmithing videos on youtube :-p

Over about 40 years,a Sheffield forger at Abbeydale Forge wore a hole clean through the shaft where his thumb was on the top.Hammer about half the size you have there.Cutlery work.Mitch

Another great video. Great information. Thank you. Hows the hand

Might try skateboard tape. Shooting coach had me do my pistols.

John upon your recommendation I watched a Peter Ross video. He is a genius with a hammer BUT that left thumb.

Haven't forged for two months and my elbow is quite bad after just half a day forging (although almost non stop, so quite a lot of work for me). Really useful video, thanks so much! Going to modify my handles and work on my grip tomorrow.

Other ways to deal with tendinopathy are IASTM, commonly called Graston, and Kelly Starrett's MobiltyWod channel. IASTM can be performed with a butter knife, & Kelly's techniques require little more than a lacrosse ball and bike inner tube.

I'm only 29 and if what I Knew about swinging (sledge) hammer now when I first started in the oilfield would have prevented carpal tunnel. Again with that experience in mind. If you use a glove on your hammer hand that puts a lot more stress on your wrist and elbow. Noticed the same stress when working over the anvil. Hence I don't use a glove in the shop.