Spent 3 months forging cold and my hammer was the problem, not my arms

I kept getting sore elbows and my hammer blows were landing soft on the anvil, so I figured I just needed to hit harder and build up my arms. Last week a guy at the shop in Columbus watched me work for about 10 minutes and asked why I was gripping the handle like a baseball bat down near the head. Turns out I had been choking up way too far for 3 months and losing all my swing, so the hammer was basically bouncing off the steel instead of driving it. I moved my grip back to the end and the difference in control was instant, no more stinging elbows either. Has anyone else had a grip or stance thing they fought for months before somebody pointed it out?

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lopez.karen7d ago

Man, three months of that sounds rough, especially when your elbows are screaming at you the whole time. It's wild how a tiny thing like grip placement can mess up your whole swing and you just keep blaming your arms instead. Glad that guy caught it for you, those random shop pointers are worth their weight in gold.

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