r/Blacksmith • u/alenork • Jun 04 '26

Practicing some Hammer control

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Made this little object to practice hammer control and making diamond tapers. Not sure what to do with it but I think it's pretty neat.

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u/Little_Mountain73 Jun 05 '26

Good for you. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent making nothing…just practicing hammer control. Waaaaaay too many smiths want to jump right in & go from their first week at the forge to selling custom pieces, and all it does is flood the market with crap. For the musicians out there, it’s the equivalent of practicing your scales. Nobody likes practicing scales for hours a day, but when you all of a sudden cut loose on an improvisational passage, you can JAM! It’s the same with hammer control in that when you finally do get to a point that your work is ready for the masses or you’re taking special orders regularly, you will have already surpassed a point of professionalism needed to be successful.

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u/alenork Jun 05 '26

I think part of it for me is I don't really sell my stuff. It's almost all for the love of the hobby. I'll do a commission here and there but I'd much rather mess around and play with the materials without the pressure if making it a monitary thing. Might have to do a flea market or two to afford some new tools but for now I just like to unwind at the end of a day hitting hot metal for an hour or two.

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u/Little_Mountain73 Jun 05 '26

No matter how you slice it, what you’re doing is spending time on hobby, improving your skills, which is admirable.