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Cyber Smiths Int.
Volume 29 - Page 3 of 6 May 12, 2003
West Virginia Armour-In
Hammer and Stump

There were tools, strange and common everywhere. Among the most used by the armourer is the hammer and there were hundreds of examples.

Hammer Photos

Stumps for dishing and bending of plate are necessary and inexpensive tools. The advantage of working on a wood block is that it does not scratch the metal and reduces the possibility of thin spots from mis-strikes.
Charley watching as Clang shapes a piece over a large ball stake.

Ted Banning has a fantastic collection large steel balls and ball stakes for shaping and planishing armour. Some are large ball bearings, others are cast cannon balls and the largest is part of a 12" stainless steel ball valve!
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Charley plannishing a shoulder plate using a ball pien hammer. This is not the best plannishing hammer but it is suitable for many types of work.

Allen Bauldree demonstrated a little planishing on a piece of this work and in a few seconds had produced a patch that only a light buffing away from polished and no showing a single hammer mark!
Finished These parts are as-hammered after a light acid etch.

Right: Finished parts and unfinished parts
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May 12, 2003 Edition
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