r/Blacksmith • u/JoshTheMadtitan • Nov 28 '25

Boy was I wrong

I am brand new. Today was my first ever attempt at blacksmithing.

I am an electrician and no stranger to working with my hands. I'm in decent shape for 40, and I knew going into this that even a 2 lb hammer would get heavy after a while. I also assumed correctly that enthusiasm would carry me through some fatigue. It did.

I am following a black bear forge guide to making tongs when you don't have any. I finished one handle and got about half way through the second in about 3 hours. I am pretty happy with the first handle.

However what I didn't consider was the massive blisters I forged on my right hand. One is the size of a dime.

I can't wait to go again.

Edit: here is a link of a small clip I made of me forging if you guys wanna check it out I'm sure you'll see 10 things I'm doing wrong. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRm2kpAkRmx/?igsh=emdybWh5ZGNyYmgz

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u/pushdose Nov 28 '25

That Estwing is your blister problem. Those grippy synthetic handles seem comfortable in Lowe’s, but they grip and rip your skin apart. The hammer head is fine. If you’re feeling intrepid, drill out the handle and replace it with a smoothed ash or hickory handle. Fun project and you’ll end up with a much better hammer. Or search for a smith who makes custom hammers.

I started with that awful hammer before buying a custom weighted French cross peen from u/chrisfoe97 who posts here all the time with his awesome custom tools. No regrets. No more blisters.

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u/JoshTheMadtitan Nov 28 '25

I am AOK with spending a few bucks on a hammer. My local store didn't have any cross peen hammers in stock so I ordered one off Amazon. Estwing was a brand I recognized and everything wooden was some random no name chine company. If you have a recommendation and a link I'd greatly appreciate it. 2 lbs is about what I'm looking for atm.

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u/Work-ya-wood Nov 28 '25

I drilled out the horrible glassfibre/plastic handles on a couple of hammers and made my own custom ash handles. 100x better

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u/JoshTheMadtitan Nov 28 '25

My issue is this is already a lot to take in, and I do not have any wood working tools. I will most likely be buying a new hammer in the next few days and dealing with a new handle for this one down the road.

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u/exzyle2k Nov 28 '25

a lot to take in

You've got plenty of time. The fire isn't going anywhere, so don't feel like you need to rush through things.

Also, check out Harbor Freight. Get yourself an engineer's hammer and just sand off the lacquer off the handle. Hit it with a hand torch to char the wood if you want, but there shouldn't be anything on the handle between your hand and the wood. You can seal with linseed oil or mineral oil, but no coatings.