Old timer at the Tin City forge meet told me my hammer grip was wrong, and 8 months later I finally get why
Took a basic class in Paso Robles back in March and this guy who has been swinging a hammer since the 70s watched me for two minutes. He said I was letting the hammer open my hand at the top of the stroke instead of keeping my grip locked through the whole swing.
I was annoyed because I thought I knew what I was doing. But I stopped fighting it and kept my hand closed the whole time, just letting the wrist do the work. Turns out my control on the anvil got a lot better and my forearm quit aching after a full day at the fire.
Not gonna lie the first few weeks felt clumsy as hell. But now I can't even picture how I used to swing it. Anyone else get a correction that ticked them off at the time but turned out to be dead on?