Hall Ironworks: Little Giant #25

Things have been busy around the shop lately. We've been overhauling everything from the shop layout to mounting and making old machinery operational.

Seriously, folks, we've been putting in some time. We have all things for forging on one side now, and all of our equipment like grinders, sanders, and saws along one wall. For the first time in the 6 years we've been at this location we can walk freely through our shop. What a difference it's made already. We don't have to worry about stepping over long sections of stock, squeezing between stuff, or tripping over extension cords.

Let's get to the meat of this post, though. We finally remounted and set our Little Giant #25lb power hammer. I know that throughout my posts I've been a bit of an advocate for doing things manually but... holy COW this thing is a beast. I had used it a bit here and there when I was younger, but was never really big on it. I didn't like the noise. I didn't like the lack of control. I didn't like how sticky the pedal was. I didn't like the thought of not doing it by hand. For each of those dislikes I had when I was younger, I've found some solutions. Allow me to explain:

I didn't like the noise.
They make nifty things called ear muffs.

I didn't like the lack of control.
As I've grown older, I've learned the value of practice.

I didn't like how sticky the pedal was.
They make grease guns, too!

I didn't like the the thought of not doing it by hand.
I still love doing the work by hand, and by hammering out a hawk or piece on the Little Giant, I'm still doing all of the dressing, tweaking, and final shaping by hand. I'm just doing the most exhausting part on a machine.

Young Benton sure was a persnickety little shit, wasn't he? I still am, very much so. Here's where I stand on this: it's most important to know how to do things by hand if ever need to, whether that's a consumer request or if your machinery breaks. However, making a quality product efficiently and effectively is almost equally important. There was a time when I turned up my nose at the thought of shaping a hawk or knife with a 2x72 belt sander instead of using a file, too. I quickly realized that I could spend hours shaping and draw filing with a file or 30 minutes to an hour on a 2x72 and be finished.

I need so much more practice on our hammer. I remember when we were at John C Campbell, watching Ryan Johnson of RMJ Tactical literally form a hawk on a pneumatic power hammer in two heats. TWO HEATS! He made it look so damn easy. That's my goal, to demonstrate and teach to folks and make it look easy whether or not you're doing it by hand hammer or power hammer, just like Ryan did.

So, folks, whats your viewpoint on traditional vs modern techniques? Where do you as a craftsman personally draw the line?

Cheers!