Great discussion. I have often found myself modifying my approach to make that same point. But lately I feel that is really passing myself off as something I am not, just to satisfy someone else's expectation of how they think I should work instead of presenting an honest look at how I would really approach the problem in my shop. One reason I really like Torbjörn's videos is that he never seems to modify his approach to the craft just satisfy viewer expectation. We should all remember that power hammers didn't replace blacksmiths, power hammers just made them more efficient.

My take on Power Hammers is: *Any* historical smith would have given his left testicle to be able to use one. That said, learning the fundamentals by hand at the anvil needs to be done, because the understanding you get of how metal reacts snd moves under force, will translate to effective work under a power hammer. So for the newbie, a power hammer will just let you make a mess faster, but once some basics are mastered, the power hammer opens up the door to using those skills, faster.

I love the "I don't use a power hammer because it isn't historically accurate", or the "I don't use a welder when making Damascus for a Katana because I don't want to contaminate the sword with modern steel, so anyway this is a 400 layer Damascus using 01 tool steel and 5160".... Um did you make all your steel for your sword? Did you make your own steel for your hammer? Did you make your steel for your hammer and forge? Did you grow your own flax and make your clothing while blacksmithing? No, well then shut up about others using modern conveniences to make their lives easier.

My views of the power hammer have evolved greatly over the years. I think I went through every negative thought you mentioned at some point in time. A few years ago, I started seeing that I could really use a power hammer. I came to realize that I don't have two or three apprentices running around my shop that can act as strikers. The way I see it is that strikers are force multipliers. Today, a power hammer replaces strikers as the force multiplier, allowing the smith to do certain operations more efficiently.

Unless the people who call it cheating to use a power hammer are willing to pay 3x the going price for a finished product, their opinion is irrelevant. I do 90% of my forging work under a power hammer, forging damascus and pattern weld simply would not be economically viable without one.

Best blacksmithing speech this year. I particularly connected with "standing (kneeling do me) in the rain and snow with an old BBQ grill..."

Nils, That was a great heartfelt message. It's always nice to have goal in ones life. Thank you for taking time to film, edit and post this video

I started with a homemade forge and a broken heeled anvil from the scrapyard.. I thought for a while, beforehand that a power hammer and a press would solve everything.. I forged for around 5-6 years without a power hammer, while I sold work to save up for one.... Then when I finally got a nice hammer, I learned eal fast that if you cant make it without the hammer, you still cant make it with it.. In fact a big hammer will destroy work in unskilled hands fast, real fast.. I know, I did it.. Same thing with a press.. I messed up a lot until I learned to use it right... Its great to have them, especially when your making money but they do not solve all your problems.

Your videos have been an inspiration to me in learning to forge axes by hand. I still have a long way to go (it’s hard to get into the shop consistently with an infant), but you have provided the inspiration to develop the skill set.

Echo all of your comments, well said. I have a Champion no1, and at 74, I need it ! No swinging a 65-pound hammer for me... ever!

I have yet to have a friend come help as a striker. But i recently bought a 6T fly press with 12 inches of daylight so i can change dies easily and do a number of different forging tasks. It is definitely the most useful tool in my shop. The fly press can do more tasks than your mind can think of. As long as you have a welder and some scrap steel you can tackle most tasks by yourself.

Härlig inlägg och en väldigt "Nils" video. Tack för att du delar med dig av dina tankar och fortsätter köra ditt race. Som alltid väldigt genomtänkt och arbetat. Tummen upp.

I totally agree!! I feel the same way. Still looking for a powerhamer and a place to put it.

This is the most profound 5 minute video I've seen. Thank you for posting this. I think it might have been a Jay Bates video some time ago, making a Roubo workbench from construction lumber for $100 (would be $300 with today's lumber pices though...). So many comments denigrating him, "$100 bench made wiht $60,000 worth of tools", etc... and it irritated me so much. I think that is the excuse of the lazy, zero imagination, zero drive person. I had just built my construction lumber Roubo at the time with a couple of hand planes, hand saw, circular saw, bit and brace set (my Makita cordless was not up to the task of drilling 3/4" holes in 3-1/2" thick wood), and a 4 pc set of Narex chisels. The thing is, it took me about 6 months to build, working as many evenings and weekends as I could pry away for the day to day family life. You can do things with meager tools. All it takes is drive and determination.

My first forge was a fuigo/japanese box bellows that I built and some stones with clay sourced from the homestead. Homemade pine charcoal a 123ibs block of 4140 heat treated steel I altered. Inspired by traditional japanese block anvil and a store bought cross peen that I still use. I currently use a propane forge, so I agree that if one wishes to do blacksmithing/bladesmithing, the greatest tool in your arsenal is determination. And you just slowly work your way up. great video nils godbless and good health.

I have always wanted to use a power hammer or a hydraulic press when im forging but the best i got is a buddy with a stong back and a weak mind and a sledgehammer😂

I agree with you on the cool factor of vintage power hammers, and I love seeing them get used. And I'm convinced anybody complaining about "cheating", has probably never moved anything heavier than their computer mouse.

Great discussion and outlook on you process and Jurney in the craft. When i was a young boy. i apprenticed under my uncle, a journeyman smith and master Farrier. he had lots of nice tools. but would make me build my own forges out of scrap and use hammers that i would have to rework to even use. even using rocks as hammer and anvil. just to instill in me the fact that it was my love for the craft that influenced my work, not the tools. only after he saw that i would not give up did he let me use his nice equipment. and it was one of the best lessons i have ever learned in my life. As most of my demos and classes are for historical recreation or beginner techniques. these lessons sill come in very handy. as i am able to pass down those skills to my students.

Love your thoughts. Looking forward to the hairdryer video!

More power to you Sir, thank you for your video.

When I started forging 12 years ago, my teacher didn’t allow me to use the powerhammer at first (a Sahinler 40 or 50kg), I had to learn the technique by hand first. All good and fair. Soon after I met the then president of BABA for a chat and some advice on how to start out as a blacksmith. His advice was to get a powerhammer if I wanted to have any chance of working economically i.e. profitably. They both were absolutely right and I‘m thankful for their advice. After less than a year of forging, I built myself a threadle hammer and then motorized it. It’s a crappy piece of cobbled together leftovers, but it sped up my production process by a factor of 3, easily. Simple tasks like drawing out reins or damascus stock was now no longer an arduous task, but merely a heat or two. Eventually I got into my current workshop and now have a selfcontained powerhammer and a mechanical spring hammer. They allow me to finish a pair of tongs in 30 minutes or a geologists hammer in 90. The hammers make it possible to sell products at a price that some people may be willing to pay. Do they enable me to do things I couldn’t do without? Not really, unless we start talking about big stock above 1.5“, where manual work becomes prohibitively taxing (without a striker). Do they magically let me do things I didn’t know how to do by hand before? Neither. Powerhammers, like welders, have a place and an important role in a workshop, but it very much depends on what you’re trying to achieve. You want to forge a few whatsits in your garage and make a few Christmas presents along the way? You don’t need a 20‘000$ powerhammer. You want to make and sell series of tools at a marketable price? That backyard forge is not going to cut it in the long run. Different goals, different means to get there.

I absolutely love your attitude towards forging. Great content.

Blacksmithing is such a great skill, it just forces you to understand history better. And it also gives you better understanding of how to use hand tools proper, urges patience and much more. Power hammers or any power tools are essential only if you do blacksmithing full time and that is also debatable. Ofcourse if i had money for it i would buy it for shits and giggles, but maybe one day. Thanks for making awesome videos!

Fantastic thoughts... Thank you for sharing your honest opinion. Not easy on YT these days

Great stuff, Nils. Heartfelt and on the money!

Keep doing what you are doing. I like how you share the process and. the thought behind what you do. No matter where that takes you.

I like your style and your videos. I watch you and black bear the most. Im a ranch cowboy/mechanic, im gonna be 62 next month and my grandpa started me blacksmithing when i was a kid. Im what i refer to as a "necessity" blacksmith. That is to say i do a lot more repairs than i do actually making new stuff. Sure ive made some knives, coat hooks, fire sets, etc. But ive fixed a lot more broken plows, discs, axes and chains. A power hammer would be awesome but for me it wouldnt be practical. I still dont own a real anvil, i still use the double wide railroad track anvil that i built 40 years ago. It works for me. BUT, if i was going to be a full time bladesmith, id want a power hammer and press for sure just for production sake. Keep tne videos coming!!!

Nice video Nils. Its the same as a gas forge vs charcoal or coke. I myself love the charcoal forge as its quiet and I enjoy the theatre of the flame and sparks and the precision required to heat the steel without burning it. That said, forge welding a wrapped eye axe in gas forge is much easier than fire welding but the trade off is added noise and heat blasting you when forging. I would love a power hammer as it compliments forging by hand but I do not have the space for one nor and area where neighbours would not be annoyed by the noise.

Excellent video. Great message that tools don't create anything, they simply make creating more efficient. I don't have a power hammer but suspect that one could also mess up a project really quickly as well...😊

This is the type of channel I like to watch, the type of channel that shows someone like me who wants to get into things like this in the future and basically saying look all these beautiful and amazing things can be made by someone who doesn’t have expensive tools and machines. It is still entertaining to watch people who build stuff with these machines but it just takes a little away too see them toss the project in a 30k USD machine which does half the work. Love your work and this was just some thoughts and opinions from one of your southern county/state neighbors

Thank you very much Nils. You have confirmed what I have been thinking since I started smithing as a hobby. I would rather do without a power hammer.

Power hammer forging is a skill of its own, that adds another trick in the belt to help someone along the way. The more tricks youve got under your belt, the better maker you can and will be.

Very well put!. As a full time professional smith who started with a the old grill and track anvil, i absolutely agree! I have spent the last 20 years reinvesting my profits in upgrading my tools to be able to make my products more affordable to my clients. It isn't cheating. It is business. Not to mention the skill set tou use power hammers, presses, etc. effectively!

Well said my man! Instead of making excuses why they can't do it, they should just have a go they might even surprise themselves. I've not long just started and I've made my own coal forge out of an old gas bottle cut in half with a dirt cheap angle grinder, an old hair dryer for a blower. The only other tools I have is a hacksaw and a couple small hammers. Once I made the forge I made a couple chisels and a pair of tongs and with that I've made quite a few knives but next up is going to be the tool for the eye of the axes and then I'm hoping to start making axes. It's not a fast process because I still have a job and working to support my family but all good things take time and one day I will be good enough to to it full time to make a profit but until then I will keep working hard. My point to my long winded story is to set a goal and work towards completing it then set another and work towards that so on and so on until you get to where you're happy.

Echoing my thoughts exactly, we're all moving metal around, just in different ways and stages - I'd 100% prefer a striker every day, currently collecting parts for a treadle hammer but still aspiring to a power hammer! Use yours more, negativity or not, it's too beautiful to sit unused.

If I had the money, I'd snatch up a power hammer .. after buying a 300-400 pound fontanini anvil. But I've made it 18 years without either, and I still love hammering steel by hand on my old 200 pound hay budden. I built a treadle hammer because I almost never have a striker in my shop.. some people consider that cheating too.. but those same people have likely never even forged a nail yet, and likely never will. I say, use your jigs, your power tools, and your welders.. just don't be entirely reliant on them. I forge anything I want, regardless of weather or power outages. So long as I have light to see, fuel to burn (coal, charcoal, or even corn), and air in my lungs, I can hammer hot iron. Don't concern yourself with the opinions of soft handed men barely strong enough to lift their chai lattes to their lips.

I think this is why I find your channel to be one of the most inspiring and exciting to watch and learn from, it breaks the art form down to its essentials and shows how capable humans are with fairly basic tools. Keep up the amazing work!

I'm not a blacksmith, but I enjoy watching blacksmiths doing their amazing work with steel. I sure don't have any issues with anyone working with hot steel & using any and all tools available to them to do the work. It's a personal choice. Blacksmiths should use whatever they feel is necessary for each project they are wrestling with. Keep up the good work.

I enjoy watching your videos. This one had a great message that applies to many things in life. Thank you for the inspiration!

I always tell people that you only have to look at the artifacts from Sutton Hoo and similar archeological sites to see what's possible without a power hammer. The ancient blacksmiths were able to accomplish feats that boggle the mind, especially when you consider that they were working by the light of lamps and candles, using the most rudimentary tools. There's not a single "viking" smith who wouldn't have given their right arm, firstborn son, and three goats if it meant just a few hours shopping in the modern hardware store. When you compare what's available in the average home-supply store today with the tool kit of the Mastermyr Find, the difference is amazing, yet those smiths from Days Gone By were able to make truly magnificent works of beauty to the highest technical level. They worked to such a high level that expert today are baffled as to how it might have been done. And those Smiths of Old worked without any of the modern conveniences we take for granted. So, yes, you can do great things with few tools. All that is required is Patience and Perseverance.

Excellent point. It's about the craft, it's about you challenging yourself. I don't forge often, as I have a regular dayjob and a houshold with kids; but I found myself using my way-overbuilt treadle hammer more because I built it to replace a striker and to avoid myself getting tennis-elbow and wrists. Also, if you can't forge it by hand, using a powerhammer will also fail; the machine doesn't add skill in the mix, just speed and power. The skill needs to be there already.

Forging is never boring, sanding/finishing is another story.

Thoughts. Thank you for the video.

Here you mention a fender P bass and in one of your videos I saw a bass guitar body template in mdf? Anyway I’ve throughly enjoy and learn a lot from you. Once I tried to build a few guitars I’m a woodworker who’s learned blacksmithing because of trying to build guitars! Anyway thanks for you sharing your knowledge! Best of luck

Well said!

Always great to watch your videos. So impressed with your skills👍🏻

Power hammers existed before electric power, even before steam: people started harnessing water power to mechanize forging centuries ago.

Thanks Nils just subbed to this channel to get your numbers up . Really like your work and appreciate your thoughts on the art

I am an amateur blacksmith. I got into it as an offshoot of welding and metal working activities. It is one of my many interests, and I will never do it as a professional. Like many of your viewers, I watch videos to learn technique. When I see a power hammer in use, I move to another video. Not having a power hammer, I prefer instruction that 100% applies to me. I have watched projects with enthusiasm, only to arrive at a point where I cannot accomplishing the task without power. I think well of power hammer users, but that is not my path. I am not a purist; I often combine arc welding with forged pieces. I just like to "get it done". For me, a power hammer os like a vintage Martin D28 guitar - something I'd love to play with, but beyond the money I will spend on that facet of my life. I don't know how many others feel as I do, but I suspect that as a KZfaqr, using a power hammer will cost you viewers, which translates to money. Depending on the ratio of KZfaq income to product sales income, that may be a consideration. Or you could be in it just for the fun, in which case, d_mn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. I enjoy your videos, and wish you the best of good fortune.

I agree. I haven't used a powerhamer very much, but I do have press. It gives me the ability to work on large projects to forge weld and draw out thicker metal faster. However forme there's nothing like hand forging on an anvil. It's the best part for me.

It was one of blackbearforge videos that I was watching when I first started. He said there is no reason to run right out and get a power hammer unless you have some sort of reason you can't use a hammer that well. I'll tell you what I can do almost everything that a smith with good hands can do with mine. I'll always be thankful I seen that video because I was just about to give up. I love your content anyway you go.

I love the ideas in this video. Would you be willing to do an interview on our podcast to talk about the power hammer, working with a striker, appropriate technology, and getting started in blacksmithing?

Brilliant insights...Thanks for sharing this...!!!...Those with NO SKILLS (or willingness to learn) make excuses about tools. Those who have lived a traditional life and/or traveled a lot see people, for example, on the side of the road in India making all kinds of things from knives to farm implements to even fixing vehicles with tools they have made and such basic materials and tools it seems impossible...but the reality is...tools do not make it...tools only enhance the brilliance of what the human behind them and working in concert with the wisdom that comes from “doing.”

I definitely agree with the idea of a power hammer as a similar thing to strikers, and strikers are very historical. The predecessor to power hammers, the trip hammer, was also historical, going way back to the medieval era. Power hammers themselves are pretty old. Steam hammers were from the mid 1800's.

I still hand forge some knives from time to time, but it gets harder. 50's with a heart condition, the temperature cranks up to 42C in summer and the forge is blowing through the workshop, drinking 2: of water an hour to avoid heat stroke. It sucks! There's no nice way of putting it really, it a hot, dirty, dangerous and grubby activity that was mostly carried on the backs of people through history that died before they were 40 years old from dust in the lungs or some kind of horrific industrial accident. The power hammer is a very time honoured tool that built western civilisation- structural ironwork in bridges, the railways, tools for industry, agriculture, warfare, shipping and eventually its legacy has someone sitting in the relative comfort of their home with the trappings that come with 21st century life. However you make things out of iron or steel in the modern age means you carry that history regardless of how someone thinks it should be done and in a lot of cases you'd bet they'd never made anything in their life with a hammer. Do it how you see fit and what works for you

Great video with a great message @nilsogren. I really liked the "Or Is It You"... Whiners will always find a way to make excuses, forget them. You weren't thrust into that position with all the equipment at the ready, you earned it and worked damn hard for it. Please use your power hammer...... at least occasionally. 💪⚒❤

Thanks for making the craft seem so accessible! Just bought my first anvil last week, now to find an old barbecue grill to “perfect”, hahaha 😂

What a lot of people told me often, oh yes if I had all you tools, I can also do your work… rubbish, passion skills ideas…cheers from Luxembourg 🇱🇺 you’re right

I especially get why "eye candy Damascus" is done with a power hammer. But as a viewer I'm glad they use it, because I have no intend of watching 45 minutes of "flatten it, draw it out, fold it, repeat". But for your style of content and cinematography there's just something about the simplicity of letting hammer, anvil and furnace set the stage for the glowing center piece that is slowly going from a lump of whatever into gorgeous item. I get more time to absorb how each blow does its work, and the striking rhythm is more calming than the rapid fire of a power hammer.

Very well said. I love being a blacksmith and have no power tools. You and others have shown that we don't have to have them to love this craft. Thank you!!

Very well said sir.

this reminds me that I still have to cut a log into the base for the small anvil I have bought last year x.x I have everything for it, the log, the tools, in my garden and workshop, just gotta do it

Well said, I have a friend with a power hammer and it's a ton of fun but it doesn't have the precision I need, or I guess I don't have the precision I need when I'm doing hatchets. I like to set my welds with it and do an initial draw out cause that is very time consuming by hand but all the finishing work is done by hand. I am setting up a treadle hammer for my shop as I can't justify a power hammer but they're very handy tools in the right circumstance.

Nice Job Brother.As a fellow blacksmith and power hammer owner ,I agree 100%.

I highly appreciate that you make ax blades, etc. by hand.

Forging in the snow isn’t bad at all. I prefer it to forging when it is 105°F in August.

Respect.

Ignore the nay-sayer Nils. Keep developing your skills, techniques and knowledge, with or without a power hammer in the equation. It all comes down to the finished product and yours are excellent. I would love to have a power hammer like you have, but where I live they are like rocking-horse poop and hens teeth, so I’ll be making a tyre hammer style. You have more than proven your abilities to do ‘traditional’ forging, so to hell with the negative “others” and enjoy the hell out of that big green beastie. You, TA, Black Bear and some others produce excellent videos for the rest of us to learn from. Keep up the great work mate….

Solid advice

This is the internet mate, you can find all kind of people here & lots of envy and even worse evils. Just keep doing what you do and don't pay attention to those negative comments. I am here because I am an axe nerd and because I like your art with metal, made both with elbow grease AND cool machines. Thanks for sharing!

human almost always used power hammers. what do you think 2-3 guys with sledge hammers pounding the iron is?

Hur än du gör så blir de snyggt =)

Hey Buddy I love your videos, I could care less what tools you use or do not use. It is your teaching manner and the end result that I am interested in. Please don’t bother to give any more time to the detractors, just skip over their jealous comments and you should too. Please don’t change anything I enjoy your content just the way it is. A Canadian admirer.

Throughout history blacksmith used powerhammers run by watermills to make their work more efficient.

Thanks Nils, the Blacksmithing community has some pretty nasty gatekeepers. I'm slowly but surely working towards getting some space for blacksmithing, but had been getting discouraged.

Excellent video 👍

❤ Very good video. Who’s to say what is right or wrong concerning this topic? Enjoy the craft.

I look at it this way. Different strokes for different folks. use what you want.

The only real things stopping me from forging is I live in an apartment complex and they frown on anything and everything with an open flame. And my employment being working 5 days a week working nights.

Well put

Well spoken.

Thanks for sharing this one ;)

Well, if you don’t like powerhammers, why do you look att Nils’ videos? It’s not mandatory. And Nils, you don’t have to convince anyone or prove anything. You do what gives you more satisfaction. And that’s that! Simple!

Well put Nils.

Ironically, the power hammer is probably one of those tools that does more than it costs. We don't all walk or ride horse, cross country, to make deliveries anymore. Tools. And probably the most traditional concept of human history, Would be innovation of new tools. From the first improvised tools, to the newest technologies... The principal is the same, and now an ancient tradition. As to the power hammer. If it can produce certain products much faster... If it can reduce the time spent on certain stages. Two things happen. Either you produce more oof the product, in similar or less time... Thus improving revenue, and allowing a blacksmith to enjoy making things. Or, you speed up the slowest part, or time consuming part, which has a similar outcome. But also, some processes involve heating the metal repeatedly, and working while its inside a specific temperature range. The more work you can complete with each heating... The less money you spend on running the forge longer... Which then reduces costs as well. Further, because not everyone is built like Schwarzenegger or Stallone, And even those who are, Every tool and every exercise has a 'best practice' for application, or range of motion. To reduce strain or injury. And many innovations through generations have worked towards reducing strain or injury, increasing function or safety. The power hammer, used correctly, seems to be a very beneficial tool, for the reasons above, but also because it seems to be able to reduce strain and injury, and increase safety.

5:29 Cheers.

Great informative video Nils! Since you don’t use it anymore I will gladly take it off your hands😂

Well said.

Pretty cool video.

Let’s see some of those people try to forge down a 2 inch shaft 12 inches long with their hand hammer see how that works out!

When you get older and your joints start aching you'll appreciate your power hammer more. Ask me how I know 😂. I really enjoy your channel

The problem with me black smithing was priority I had to raise and feed my family now I can but I am attempting for a second time to get the tools I need.

Dude, 50's PBass make me drool! I wish I could get one.

Next video. Making something simple, that the power hammer excels at, Perhaps folded steel. I've enjoyed watching the repurposing of old tools, like, drill bits or files, or whatever, Into folded or compressed steel... With the power hammer... Watching it is just so cool. But, make something simple with the power hammer, and make a copy by 'hand' Showing how similar the two processes are, and how it mostly a time saver.

I noticed in the clip of you and your friend using the striker, you keep lifting up the smaller hammer before laying it back down again on the piece of metal. Why do so many smiths do that?

Easy for you to say! :P Wish I could start in the rain with anything at all but can't do that from a flat in the city. So I'd have to find a suitable place without neighbors to complain about noise but I'd also need to pay rent and food somehow. Which means I would need a job in such a place. I've been looking for years...all I can do is continue to watch various smithing channels and despair....

The iron doesnt know or care if its a hand hammer or powerhammer hitting it… all that matters is the quality of the work.

Come on, if you showed modern tools and steel to a Japanese swordsmith back in the day, he'd give no f**s about making tamahagane. Blacksmithing is a very practical craft and smiths used the best that was available.

True words 👍

My view is, pay homage to the past. Give them the respect they deserve, but use whatever tools you can to ensure your business is profitable enough to keep going.