Hammers Made in NA

Hi.
I am looking to purchase some forging and planishing hammers online that are made in North America. I’m not looking for $250 artisan type hammers, just some commercial type hammers I can start out with in a little home studio. Any suggestions or sites in the US or Canada would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Laura

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Hi

In case anyone is interested…

these are $200+, but here is another link to beautiful hammers hand made in the USA.

p.s, NC black delrin head hammers are a pure joy!

julie

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Thanks folks. The first look like interesting options. I’m not sure the naming of those as I’m new to hammers and they’re named after hammer makers. The 2nd are also beautiful but a bit outside my budget.
I’m trying to put together a studio from stuff I’ve made or recycled, stuff bought ‘locally’. I’m on the Canada/US border so my clients all come from the US or Canada.
I’ve been able to make or source lots of tools made in NA but an affordable hammer has been elusive. There’s some on Amazon made in the US but I’d rather buy from a smaller company. Thanks for the suggestions.

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When I started making jewelry, my first hammer was a medium weight ball peen hammer that I bought for $1.00 at a yard sale. I could forge with one end and texture with the other. It was the only hammer that I used for maybe 35 years until I bought some fairly inexpensive Peddinghaus forging and planishing hammers. I still use the old hammers as much as the new ones. The key is to keep them ground and polished to a shape that serves your needs. Regardless of where they come from, hammers need to be maintained or what is on the hammer face gets transferred to the metal you are moving with it. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding a USA made hammer. Good luck…Rob

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Thanks Rob.

It is not necessary to buy new hammers. Buy used ones change them by filing, sawing make how you need them to be. You can even put patterns on them. You would be surprised on what you can come up with. Vince LaRochelle

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Thanks. That’s a great idea. I never thought of making my own hammers.

Don’t know why you would insist that they be made in North America…I can understand staying away from India and China due to poor quality but very nice quality hammers are made in both Germany and France. Peddinghaus are made in Germany I have a number from both countries and they are very nice quality tools.

Of course most hammers you purchase will require polishing at the least and reshaping and polishing for some as well. All of my French made forging hammers required pretty extensive reshaping (rounding off sharp edges and bringing the cross peen end to the shape I wanted). Personally I use a belt sander for the reshaping, ending on a 100 or 220 grit belt then moving to the polishing motor using soft felt wheels charged with 120, 240, 400 grit compound with a penultimate run on a loose muslin wheel charged with 400 grit compound. The final step is white diamond compound on a hard felt wheel. Believe it or not that will remove the 400 grit marks and take your hammer faces to a mirror polish. You will want to revisit the white diamond wheel before every job and sometimes during a particular job depending on how much hammer work is involved.

Amazon has a pretty nice selection of Peddinghaus and other brand hammers but if you are American only, you probably are anti-Amazon too.

Don’t forget local yard sales, you might pick up some nice quality hammers for cheap that you can modify for your purposes.

Just as an aside, I have 3 French made forging hammers 600, 800 & 1000 grams. The 600 is my go to hammer for most jewelry work, forging 12 & 10 ga. Sterling but I do jump up to the heavier hammers for working thicker stock.

Happy hunting!

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good quality hardware store hammers can be repurposed for anything…a hand sledge hammer with a cross peen end weighing 3 to 5 lbs on a short piece of heavy steel I beam as an anvil can be used to stretch a piece of silver at is casted and too thick to roll in a mill…I bought some cheaper commercial ones at a local jewelry supply store and they also were adequate… no use to spend a lot of money on hammers, especially since none are suited for each particular job without being modified… they can be shaped by sanding as already mentioned, or by grinding carefully and further shaping with a sander… all need to be polished and kept polished… no need to spend hundreds of dollars.

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In Canada Princess Auto carry Italian hammers made by OSCA I used them for forging and the quality is very good at prices from $30 to $40 depending on weight.

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Thanks for all the info. Lots of great info. It will definitely help me.
I’m not really anti-anything. I’m just trying to build my studio from things I’ve made/recycled/locally bought/made supplies. I figure as much as I can if I am going to make stuff and ask local folks to buy it I want to buy my tools and supplies from local sources. I live on the US/CA border.

Thanks. I’ll check them out.

Hi,

you might like going to old tool sales! so much fun! i love to adopt an old tool and give it a new life…i need to find an okd tool sale too!

julie

hi,
I recalled you were looking for hammers made in N America

here is a beautiful looking one…1lb

i ordered some custom stakes from TRForge on Etsy…excellent craftsmanship

if you scroll down to the bottom of his homepage there is a video of him working in his amazing shop…i have anvil envy!

here is the link to the hammer

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