Smiths And Hammers

[Guest Rayhan]

Hi All!

 

I was just wondering if any of the smiths on the forum would know how Japanese sword smiths in various provinces shaped their hammers? Was there a specific shape in different schools, a different composition to the Iron used, were weights very different, was it customised to the smith? 

 

Was the tamahagane used quite uniform by region (as in from a centralised source or from each individual forge making their own? Obviously changed over time from Koto to modern day.

 

Sorry for the random and maybe silly question but I was curious and don't know any siths

 

Ray

[Jussi Ekholm]

I remember I had posted about this subject earlier so I found it by searching, this might give some insight on regional tamahagane: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23184-steel-analysis-of-different-regional-schools/

 

Unfortunately I don't know anything about hammers. Would be nice to hear about it from modern swordsmiths/blacksmiths.

[SAS]

Most Japanese smiths use a variety of what is called "dog head " style hammers with an eye that is offset to the rear of the head. I do not currently use that style, so i cannot speak to the benefits of it; I do have a piece of wrought iron to make that style, but haven't done so yet. I do have one hammer from Japan that is double headed with the eye centered that i use for blade smithing, along with my Champion turning hammer and numerous others.

[SAS]

Some of them....

[Grey Doffin]

Here is a hammer I had on my site a while ago: http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/other/swordsmiths-hammer

Grey