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Thread: Hammer recommendations for wire wrapping & hammering

  1. #1
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    Question Hammer recommendations for wire wrapping & hammering

    Hi guys,


    Having had a play around with a bit of wire wrapping, I thought I'd get a hammer from one of my suppliers... I realised it wasn't as simple as that! there are tons of different sizses and weights ! So, what size/weight would you recommend to someone who wants to wire wrap, hammer and generally play about with wire?


    lotsaluv
    Jules x

  2. #2
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    A cheap 4oz ball pein hammer; dress the edge of the face then mirror polish the whole thing.

    Really, it depends what you want to do with the hammer! A ballpein of that sort of size will do some lightweight forging, flattening wires and a bit of texturing.

  3. #3
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    if i where you i would buy a planishing hammer and flat seel block hammer, you dont need anything to fancy.

  4. #4
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    Totally agree with Peter. My two most used hammers by far are my 4oz ball pein (which I have done a fair bit of work on to get really smooth) and my big 16oz ball pein (rescued from OH's toolbox after he tried to swipe it from me).

    These do almost all my forging and texturing too. I usually get my hammers from tool shops rather than jewellery suppliers though!

  5. #5
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    Miz George said

    I usually get my hammers from tool shops rather than jewellery suppliers though!
    I do that with lots of stuff - you pay over the odds if you get it from a dedicated jewellery place.
    Di x

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by ps_bond View Post
    A cheap 4oz ball pein hammer; dress the edge of the face then mirror polish the whole thing.

    Really, it depends what you want to do with the hammer! A ballpein of that sort of size will do some lightweight forging, flattening wires and a bit of texturing.
    Thanks Peter for that. What on earth does dress the edge of the face then mirror polish mean, ???

    Thanks George & Di for the recommendations about not using jewellery suppliers.... there's a good place I know I can go to to get those hammers then!

    cheers
    Jules x

  7. #7
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    Sorry for being obtuse! A hammer face as supplied usually has a sharp bevel edge around the face; this will put sharp dings in work with a less-than-perfect strike. To dress the edge, you need to round the sharp edges off - a file if it will cut, or abrasive papers if not (I use a linisher, a bit like a belt sander). Then you want to work progressively through the grits to make the hammer face & pein shiny, trying to make it as reflective as a mirror. A final polish with something like Tripoli, Dialux green or one of the Abramax polishes gets it the rest of the way. Now if you get an iffy hit in, it will put a rounded ding in which is much easier to remove.

    It may seem like a lot of work on a cheap tool, but it needs doing to the expensive ones too - and they all get repolished periodically.

    Woe betide anyone who even *thinks* of knocking nails in with your newly specialised hammer!!!

  8. #8
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    thats why i use a planishing , already shiny mmmm like shiny but hey each to there own

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    Quote Originally Posted by Emerald View Post
    thats why i use a planishing , already shiny mmmm like shiny but hey each to there own
    Still needs the edges dressing. And if you've needed to do that, you're a long way down the path of needing to polish it properly.

    Which reminds me, I have a couple I need to go and sort out...
    Last edited by ps_bond; 01-09-2009 at 06:19 PM.

  10. #10
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    Yep, I've ended up modifying pretty much every hammer I own - including a couple that were really quite expensive. I now stick to buying the cheaper ones and just putting the elbow grease in!

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