What can I do with my Helve Hammer now that I have it?

[Wray Schelin]

Note : topic moved to the correct forum by Wray

Richard Ferguson wrote:

I have gotten my Helve Hammer working, but I have a long list of improvements that I need to make, starting with more weight on the base, more head faces, a foot pedal, and a guard. My Helve has an 18" arm and a 2 pound head, so a benchtop model, smaller than most.

I have a plastic flat hammer face on it right now, and it doesn't seem to stretch 18 ga steel much, when used with my sandbag. I hope that a harder face with a crown will make it more effective. I hope that a rubber anvil will work better than a sandbag.

But what can I use it for?

I know that I can make a rubber anvil and should be able to use it to stretch metal. I was thinking of 1" thick neoprene for an anvil to start out, but maybe there are other materials that would be better. McMaster Carr has a bewildering variety of neoprenes, in various types and softness.

I am hoping to use it as a kind of small blacksmith hammer, with different heads and anvils.

Even with the plastic head, it seems to hammer out tucks or beads pretty well against a flat plate of steel, so that is good.

Part of the reason I built it, besides the fact that I got a good deal on an air drill, was that I started getting carpel tunnel in my wrist after a blacksmithing class, so I know my body is not going to accept a great deal of hammering.

But I do feel a little silly that I have built a tool and now am not sure how to use it, or even what I can use it for! When I was in Robinson I was scared to death of Bob B's large helve, so I did not try to use it there.

So thanks in advance for any suggestions, especially from those who own Helve Hammers.

Richard
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