Over the last several months I have been practicing the forging of Viking style hammers with forge-welded faces and peens. I am gradually developing a set procedure and a set of proportions to make these beautiful hammers in various sizes. I have settled on using mild steel for the bodies and W1 steel for the faces and peens. W1 is a high-carbon tool steel which can be heat treated very hard, and appears to hold up to forge welding quite well if care is taken not to burn it. After I am done with this form I will move on to others which intrigue me. These hammers will be for sale starting in June when I return from teaching Viking style axe forging in England.
Wedged Hammers
These hammer blanks already have forge-welded faces and punched eye-holes. In this picture the wedges of tool steel which will be forge-welded in place are visible. The borax which will aid this process looks either like a resin or crusty, white residue.
7 Hammers
These hammers all used identical blocks of mild steel for the bodies and have various types and sizes of tool steel for the faces and peens. The front hammer contains all of the features and materials I will use for these hammers from now on(admittedly we’re talking about fine points). It is my “end stage” hammer for this style.
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