Could you possibly post some images of your project? Errant lines can sometime be minimized with planishing chasing tools.

Fred Zweig
Metalsmith

You`ve already mentioned that your hammer and you are not getting along.That`s the first thing I`d fix.Think about what you would like the hammer to do and then move in that direction.I`ve seen people produce excellent work using hammer heads made from everything from cast iron to rubber and nearly everything in between and of different weights.Likewise handles made from metal,wood,etc of both thin and thick stock of short,medium and long lengths.
It`s all about working in a way that makes you more comfortable,relaxed and at ease.Do whatever it takes regardless of what the books may tell you.
If you are at a loss as to how/where to start then look into who is active in metalwork in your area.Look for clubs and guilds on the net and then follow the galleries or links till you find someone doing work you`d like to turn out yourself and e-mail or call and see if you can arrange to visit their shop and see them at work.
Look at what others are doing to make long days at the bench more tolerable or enjoyable and see if you can adapt some of what they are doing and how they`ve modified their tools to make things easier for you.
Not everything you try may work for you but what it will do is get you thinking about how you can do things to make your work both more enjoyable,efficient and probably safer in the long run.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice there is.

I too recommend getting a hammer that really suits you. That hammer is you r most intimate connection between the hand and the tool, and it needs to be a thing that is completely unconscious. That takes time, but it also take a decent hammer.

i prefer the traditional jeweler's chasing hammer with the big flat face and tiny ball pein. I have them in various weights from about two ounces to five ounces head weight and all have the pretty much standard handle with a very thin neck and dropped-bulb handle. I got use to them and they work great for me. I know others who favor entirely different hammers, different handles and so on. It's all about comfort and confidence. The confidence comes with experience, but the comfort pretty much needs to be there from the beginning - no sense trying to force yourself to accommodate a bad hammer. Change the hammer.

One thing I want to pass on here is your working position, especially your arm. Lear to operate the hammer with your elbow in close to your side or you risk carpal tunnel and tendinitis problems before long.

As for erasing tool marks, you can sometimes do it simply with a burnisher right after annealing. Use a bit of light oil on the burnisher to make it work without dragging and work slowly and carefully from both sides if necessary.

Rich

Rich

I too use a traditional chasing hammer with the thin necked handle which makes it easy to swing with the wrist not the arm as in raising a form. It the metal is bumped in the wrong direction, bump it back. If the marks are more like cuts or stamping and annealing and striking with broad bottomed punches does not eliminate them and the metal is thick enough, you can resort to filling. For this, use rifler files. These are files with the tips bent up and as with other files, come in different sort of punches. If what you are doing is in copper and you are becoming terribly frustrated with it, abandon it and start a new one. You are learning a process and should not get focused on producing a masterpiece. Just keep learning and have fun!

marilyn

Wonderful suggestions! Especially about the position of the arm, my elbow has been sticking out like a chicken wing! I will work on that. And I think my pitch bowl might be sitting too high.

I have started this project over at least three times now. Each time I have improved the design and my technique is improving as well. I am using 22g now and my arms and wrists appreciate that. The current attempt is going much better.

On the very first version of this picture frame, I was using 18g "industrial copper" that I got at our local Daniel Smith's. It is copper that they sell for etching.
I could not get the thing to anneal properly even with my weed torch. I have used and annealed 18g before so I am wondering if this was a special hardened copper?

Burnishing for scratches- of course, I didn't think of that.

But, I will order a new chasing hammer and probably a set of rifler files. I took a class from Nancy Megan Corwin a while back and got to use one of her really nice chasing hammersand it did make a huge difference.

Again thank you thank you thank you, I really enjoy this forum!

Sandra

After many permutations and re-starts, I finished the picture frame. I learned A LOT! Mostly that I want more chasing tools! I am going to be muscle bound if I do this a lot. heeheehee.

Any way, 2 pictures are posted under the YAK gallery.

Thanks again for everyone's help.
Sandra