Is there something wrong with this ball pein hammer?

[zeb92]

I'm pretty new to jewellery making (and to this forum - hi all!) and rather clueless, so would appreciate some advice on ball pein hammers.

So I bought a couple of cheap ball pein hammers this year but wasn't getting the shiny results I got in my jewellery class. I read somewhere that the quality of the hammer may affect this - with poorer quality ones producing duller marks - so bit the bullet and got a more expensive one this week.

It arrived this week, and I'm not happy with it... It's got a very sharp tip and therefore doesn't produce nice hammering marks at all (pictures attached).
I don't know enough about jewellery tools to know if this is something I could return and ask a replacement for, or if this is normal for a ball pein hammer, so any advice would be appreciated! (Also any advice on how to get nice hammer marks would be helpful too ) Thanks!

EDIT: Mainly asking about the sharp tip - is this normal?


(marks made by new hammer on the right (test piece))

[ps_bond]

That does look fairly unfinished; I'd file it smooth & use abrasive papers (with a soft backing - dense packing foam for example) to get it to a mirror finish before attacking anything. Once you start reshaping these, you can create any pattern you want from the same start point.

[Dennis]

The truth is that if you are going to customise it, any inexpensive ballpein hammer will do.
So first return this one for re-fund. Then file, sand and polish the ones you already had, as suggested by Peter above. Dennis.

[china]

I'm not trying to be condescending, what do you call expensive that does not look like what I would think is a expensive hammer, if it is then quality is severely lacking so yes send it back.
just to clarify in Australia a quality/expensive hammer would be in the region of $60-120 each.

[Dennis]

Hi Bob,
People love expensive hammers and spend £££ on Fretz. For someone like me one from here, plus a little TLC will do the job for a lifetime:
https://www.google.com/search?client...ll+pein+hammer. Kind Regards, Dennis.

[china]

Yes I agree I was trying to make the point that I do not think that the hammer pictured was a expensive hammer

[Ruedeleglise]

Dennis, quite so. Refurbish your originals and then you will be proud to use them and get great satisfaction.