Had a hammer blow up on me at a ren faire demo in rural Pennsylvania

Three months ago I was doing a demo at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, just normal forging in front of a crowd. About 20 minutes in, I hit a billet and the head of my cross peen just cracked right off and flew past a kid's head. I was using a cheap hardware store hammer, thought it would be fine for light work. Now I only use forged hammers from a local smith who heat treats them proper. Anyone else ever had a tool fail like that mid-strike?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryanburns23d ago

Oh man, you're not kidding. I had a ball peen from one of those big box store three-packs literally shear the handle right at the head during a light riveting job. The head went bouncing across my shop floor and I swear it was a miracle it didn't hit my dog. I learned the same lesson the hard way, cheap steel just doesn't get the heat treatment it needs. My go-to now is a Vaughan hammer, but even those I check over for cracks before every session, especially if I'm swinging hard.

sam_rivera22d ago

Read somewhere that old wrought iron hammer heads were actually safer because they'd bend before fracturing like that.