That one critique about my hammer blows finally clicked

Old timer at the shop in Nashville watched me forge for about ten minutes. Said I was hitting too hard and too fast, killing the steel's heat for nothing. He had me slow down and let the weight do the work. Made a set of leaf hooks after that, took half the time and the grain looked way better. Anyone else get told their rhythm was off and had to unlearn it?

1 comments

1 Comment

charlie_ellis23d ago

Is it really that deep though? I mean, sure, slowing down helped, but a lot of that old timer advice is just them wanting to hear themselves talk. My uncle told me the same thing about hammering nails once, and honestly, I just hit them harder and they went in fine. You probably just needed a break, not a whole new technique. Half the time and better grain, sure, but that could just be because you weren't exhausted by the end. I'd take a win like that but not turn it into some life lesson.