Head and shoulders

    Ready...Shoulder hammers...Whoa!  Did you feel that little Ka-Chunk?  Well for cryin' out loud put the hammer back down.  In this fourth article in the series on team striking we will speak of many things; of cuts and bumps and fractured bones, of hammerheads a-fling.

    There's nothing that irks me quite so much as seeing an otherwise competent blacksmith swat the daylights out of a piece of iron, then pitching the piece back into the fire, the barrage is punctuated as he whacks the hammer, handle first, onto the anvil face to drive the head back into the handle.  All right, fess up-you know who you are!  For Pete's sake, you're a blacksmith, make some wedges!  Among the other lame excuses I've  heard are: "Aw, the handles always dry out and shrink-you can't keep 'em tight." and the ever popular "Once the head warms up the  eye expands and the head loosens up."  Pardon my French, but borscht!  Hickory is a remarkable material.  Used by Native Americans for short bows because of its exceptional resilience and shock resistance, it makes an ideal handle because when properly installed and wedged in position it applies a constant force pushing outward on the inner surfaces of the eye, so that when the head gets hot and the eye expands, the hickory expands along with it maintaining a tight mechanical joint regardless of its moisture content!

    Let's remember gang, if we're talking sledge hammers, attention to such detail can save your hammering partner from a blunt trauma vasectomy (Invariably a sledge head will always cut  loose waist high).  Make certain before you use a sledge that the growth rings are oriented as in Fig.1.  This guarantees the greatest strength and flexibility in the direction of greatest stress.  Next, make sure that the handle is wedged in both directions.  Wedging front to back is most critical, but a wooden  wedge (So it can be crossed by steel wedges) should have been used side to side.  If the handle is undamaged, knot free hickory, arrow straight of grain and Ka-Chunk free, you are cleared for takeoff, otherwise prepare to create firewood.