Went to a hammer-in at a historic forge in Virginia last weekend

I walked into this old 1800s forge and noticed they still do demos using a wooden trip hammer from like 1850. It honestly made me want to stop overthinking my modern power hammer setup. Has anyone else seen one of those old trip hammers in action?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jake1mo ago

Might be cool until your foot gets crushed by that thing.

margaretj401mo ago

I get what you're saying @the_jake but I see it different. Those old trip hammers are actually pretty safe if you pay attention, they run slow and steady compared to a power hammer that can get away from you. I watched a guy at that Virginia forge work a 2 inch billet into a scroll and he never even broke a sweat, just let the wooden arm do the lifting. The rhythm of it is almost hypnotic once you get the timing down. I'd take a well tuned trip hammer over a modern press any day for certain jobs, especially when you need that light tap tap tap to control the metal without mashing it flat.