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Repousse’ Tooling : The Basics by Wendel Broussard From Hammer Notes, the newsletter for the Mid Atlantic Smiths association Acquiring the correct tooling is important for a proper repousse. This is not a suggestion for “toolamania”, but rather a scope of tools needed for getting started on the road to being a repousseur. You can obtain most shapes and designs with seven basic repousse’ hammers. Two of these hammers can be different size ball-peen hammers used for embossing. The remaining five hammers being 2 veining hammers (one for thin and one for thick veins), 2 plannishing hammers and embossing hammer with small radiuses, are difficult to find on the market and are either adapted from other hammers or made from scratch (a material well suited for this task is jackhammer bits). | |
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The veining hammers should have a straight area in the center of the face equaling half of the face and the shoulder of the face radiused slightly leaving the remaining two quarters. (fig.1) The progression of the radius allows smooth lines to be made almost as if accomplished with a single blow due to the fact the hammer can be cocked over and only the required radius is to be used. A continuous radius of the face causes dips in the material and an undesirable vein and should be avoided. Jig. 1 The opposite of the veining hammer can have a straight face with slight radiuses on the shoulders to avoid “dinging” the surface of the material. (fig.2) This side is for creating straight veins. THE FINER THE VEIN THE THICKER THE FACE OF THE HAMMER. That just sounds backwards I know, but a THIN face creates a line by pushing the material down, abruptly causing a trough. The wider face hammer pushes the material down in a more subtle fashion causing the stake underneath to crease the material to a pristine line. The general veining hammer should have a thickness of approximately 3/16”. As for the finer veining hammers, they can vary from 3/8” - 1/2” in thickness. (fig.3) A word to the wise. Keep your hammers relatively light (11-12 oz.). The integrity of the work requires a series of blows, so a heavy hammer can fatigue an arm in short order. |
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The two plannishing hammers should have a convex face on one side for plannishing inside radiuses of embossing and the edge of the face needs to be radiused a bit to prevent those “dings” that occur on those not so controlled strikes. The opposite side of the plannishing hammer is concaved for the outside radius of the embossing. This concaved face makes good use of the striking surface of the hammer covering more area with each blow. Sounds like splitting hairs, but with the number of blows plannishing takes, you need all the help you can get. (fig. 4) One plannishing hammer, can have a face approximately 3/4” dia. The other hammer is a smaller 3/8” for those hard to reach places. Embossing hammers can vary in styles. |
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As I mentioned before a ball peen hammer can be used. These hammers create volume in your repousse’ so the sizes of the faces need to progress from smaller face to larger face hammers depending on the design and size of repousse’ at hand. The material used for embossing into can be either lead, wood, or a steel form. Steel forms are typically used on hot work. The lead and wood need to have an indentation either hammered in or carved to accommodate the portion of the work to be embossed. Veining stakes need to reflect the shapes of the veining hammers, radiused and straight, because the same theory is being used but on the underside of the work. In a nut shell you’re working with a top and bottom die here. One difference is the stake needs to be sharp, about the sharpness of a butter knife. This allows the edge of the stake to bite into the material, but not cut through, preventing the piece from slipping off the stake and keeping the vein flowing and graceful. | |
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Plannishing stakes need to echo the shape of the embossing. These stakes can be made from any tool steel as long as it does not acquire flat spots during long periods of use. By putting an embossing hammer face up in a vise, “bingo”, you have a plannishing stake. Another way to acquire a plannishing stake is to weld different size ball-bearings on a piece of mild steel bar stock and you have a perfectly round surface for plannishing. Be sure to pre-heat the ball-bearing before welding to prevent the weld from crystallizing the hard material of the ball-bearing. As far as the care and feeding of repousse tools one should always keep the working surface of the tools smooth and semi-polished. A nick in a tool can cause die printing in the surface of the piece. |
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