51/107

This hammer was used for general blacksmithing purposes, but not for shoeing. It has a wooden haft (handle) and an iron head. One end of the head is circular while the other is shaped so that the striking edge is not perpendicular to the haft, meaning that the smith could wield the hammer with his elbow out and not near to his side. The hammer came from the forge at Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, where the Timms family have worked for generations, and belonged to Mr Timm’s grandfather, a blacksmith at Thame, Oxfordshire.

1 blacksmith's hammer: wood; metal; good condition

(Originally written in 1951):- Smithing is a very ancient craft. It is mentioned in the Book of Kings and in the Book of Judges in the Bible and thus goes back to at least 1400 B.C. The Greeks worked in bronze more than in iron as they were able to temper it to a keener edge. In England there were iron workers several hundreds of years before the Roman invasion, but only with the Romans and their roads did horse shoes become necessary. Smithing reached its height in artistry in the 15th century; it declined in the late 17th century but was revived by French and Flemish influence in the 18th century. It was in the 18th century also that coke replaced charcoal for the smith's fire. Today, with the decline in the horse population and with the use of factory made articles there are many fewer smiths than there were. But those who remain are busy and prosperous, mainly doing repair work, and using electrically driven bellows, drill and grinder, oxy-acetylene and electric welding. The blacksmith's hammer can be used for many purposes; in shoeing, shaping hot metal, driving a chisel, striking a top swage onto a bottom swage etc. Where the work is very heavy a sledge hammer is used. The metal which is being hammered is placed on an anvil., MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/107 // NAME: BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER // NEG NO.: 35/190 // STORAGE: P. Ex. [Permanent Exhibition] Blacksmith.'

Wood, Metal