How to Make a Hammered Stainless Spoon?

January 22, 2024 6:52 PM

I have never worked much with my hands or hand made anything, but I have a special interest in making a hammered steel spoon similar to this one.

I just really need some basic pointers or first steps to help me with this project. I’ve Googled it, looked at YouTube, etc. But nothing gives me quite the help I need. Where do I buy materials? What tools do I need? Where can I get those tools? What should I do first? Would a course on making handmade jewelry help to get some idea of how to work with small objects and stainless steel? I need “from the ground up” advice for someone who is more of a knowledge worker and not experienced in the ways of material and manual work!

posted by uncannyslacks to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

How cool! I've made some hammered jewelry in silver but I think stainless would be about the same, you'd just hit a little harder. You need a ball-peen hammer, which you can get from a hardware store, and to start, just go to goodwill and get a handful of mismatched spoons. That way you'll know they're a suitable material to be safe for eating. You'll probably want something like an anvil, which you'd place the spoon against to support it while hammering. But if you don't have an anvil, look around for something hard that you could try hammering on. Is there a solid tree stump nearby? Things attached to the ground directly will work the best.

Go ahead, just use the hammer to experiment on some spoons, and get a feel for it. Each strike will add a divot like you want, but it will also change the shape a little. It may also work-harden the spoon, eventually making it brittle and it may crack if you do too much. But that's important experimentation too. There are ways of dealing with that if it becomes a problem.

Do wear eye protection.
posted by fritley at 7:30 PM on January 22

And ear protection. Going to town on a piece of metal is good fun, but LOUD. You’ll want to practice to make regular marks rather than random ones.
posted by janell at 8:11 PM on January 22

If you find this sufficiently amusing, investigate buying a dapping/doming set.

…I’m not saying do that first, just that you’re likely to find it useful if this is something you want to pursue more generally.
posted by aramaic at 8:29 PM on January 22

Would a course on making handmade jewelry help

I think so, or at least a class on metalworking in general. If there happens to be a good class in your area, you'd have access to both equipment and advice, especially about dealing with the work-hardening and shape changing fritley mentions, so it seems like a good route if available.

A good teacher should also have advice about feasibility in general - the metal in an existing commercial steel spoon might be much harder (in both senses of the word) to work with than a sheet of softened steel, for instance. The hardness of stainless steel is much greater than silver, I think (but I have zero expertise so don't take my word for it), and it's apparently very difficult to anneal with non-industrial equipment.

Anyway you said you looked at youtube - if you didn't come across this video, it shows what kind of result you might expect from basic hammering with a ball peen hammer.
posted by trig at 4:19 AM on January 23

The easiest part of this project will be getting some metal.

This project seems very difficult to me, not least because SS isnt very malleable. I have lots of SS fittings on my sailboat, and mostly they don't fail by deformation. They break or tear. Of course, there are many different SS alloys. But I would suggest that you start by getting some experience with a softer metal like copper.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:58 AM on January 23

SS is ridiculously harder than silver, cutting it is a real chore so the idea to play around with commercial cutlery first sounds reasonable. See if you can find something relatively flat because hammering it in this method will cause the metal to stretch increasing the depth. Also try to avoid the edges as that might make them uncomfortably (ie: sharp) thin.

Be aware that whatever you use as an anvil and your hammer will imprint the material. You want them to be shiny smooth if you care about the surface texture.

An alternative anvil would be a block of hard wood. Use the end grain not the side. It has a little give and will be a lot lighter. Or for a steel anvil a body dolly mounted on a piece of wood.
posted by Mitheral at 7:06 AM on January 23

Start with a softer metal for practice. Copper or brass. Do you have the ability to anneal the metal? You will need to
So torch, heating surface,pickle liquid for pickling, a non asbestos surface for heating, a jewelers saw, and sone files and sandpaper,doming steak, leather mallet and a ball peen hammer. Polishing compound and maybe a polishing wheel. Do take an introductory course in metalsmithing or jewelry making. Sheet metal is readily available on the Internet. Know about sheet metal gauge and thickness.
posted by Czjewel at 8:53 AM on January 23

Consider, too, that the spoon in your example may have begun life as a stamped blank (i.e. pre-formed by machine) which was then textured by hand. The description does say "hammered" which could very well mean "textured" and not "hand made."
posted by Thorzdad at 9:43 AM on January 23