A guy at the county fair told me my hammer control was 'all arm, no shoulder'

I was demoing some basic scroll work at our local fair last fall, just making some simple hooks. This older smith, must have been in his 70s, watched for a few minutes and then just said, 'Kid, you're working too hard. You're all arm, no shoulder.' He came over and showed me how to let the hammer fall more from my shoulder, using the weight of the tool and a loose wrist to guide it, not muscle it down. I tried it right there and my hits got way more consistent. I went home and practiced on some scrap for a week, and now my work has less hammer marks and I'm not nearly as tired at the end of the day. It's a small change but it made a big difference. Has anyone else had a simple piece of form advice totally change their forging?

3 comments

3 Comments

sandra14626d ago

Funny how the simplest advice sticks... my grandpa said something similar about using a shovel, just let the tool do the work.

danieljenkins26d agoTop Commenter

My high school shop teacher called it "tool trust". He'd watch us struggle with a plane and just say "stop pushing, start guiding". That shift from force to finesse changes everything.

the_henry26d ago

Read a book on old school carpentry that said the same thing about using a saw. The idea is to let the tool's weight and sharpness do the cutting, not your muscle. It's wild how much easier everything gets when you stop fighting your own tools lol.