Thread: Home made Fullering Tool

One the trickiest moves for a newby smithy to do by themselves is to create a double sided notch on a piece of metal usually done with what are called Fullering tools. Even using the hardy hole to hold the underneath fuller the lone smithy has to then hold the work piece, the top fuller and of course wield a hammer.

One way around this is to use a blunt guillotine like gizmo like this.


The workpiece can then be inserted between the jaws and the floating top jaw is then struck with a large hammer and the jaws bite into hot metal and grab the metal like this.

The indentation made on hot steel by the jaws after just a couple of blows of a hammer can be seen in the end of the square cross section piece laying on the anvil


The thingie hanging out the back in the breeze on the right is an adjustable depth stop which can be quickly removed.

These devices are purchasable in the US for not a lot of money but freight is a bit of a killer.
Usually they are mounted in a square post that fits in the Anvil Hardie Hole but I made mine with a chunky clamp that grabs the whole anvil.
The body i cut out of a 250 mm long 75 x 75 x 5 mm piece of SHS.


To hold the floating top jaw open while the workpiece is inserted between the jaws a spring backed plunge rod applies pressure onto the back of the top jaw.
If the top jaw is loose it has to be lifted up manually to pas the work through the jaws. The plunge rod enables the jaws to remain open so the work can be inserted and a simple tap of the hammer on the top jaw is all that is needed to overcome the plunge rod friction and set the top jaw down on the work.


After the work piece is inserted the top jaw is tapped into place with a hammer prior to giving the jaw a series of controlled WHALLOPS

The sort of notch this tool generates is an important initial indentation particularly for transitions from round or square to flat as often use on some axes heads etc eg see the first picture again at the hatchet gizmo laying on the lathe. That is not a hatchet but something called a "hot set" for cutting up hard hot metal.


BTW the blades are replaceable as they will wear out. I made the blades out of the 10 mm thick tool steel blades from a large woodchipper. They are tough as but not super hard so as to shatter. I have tested them out for brittleness as I gave one a good pounding with a large sledge hammer on the anvil while wearing full PPE - they did eventually start to dent but did not chip or shatter.

They were there when I logged out and then they seem to have just disappeared.
Anyway they are back now.

Just a coat of paint to keep the rust down.
Colour not chosen deliberately to match the anvil, it's just what I have that needs using up at the mo.

IMG_3951.jpgIMG_3950.jpg

Very nice work.

What is the purpose of the double sided notch (that warrants a special tool to create it)?

Originally Posted by Vernonv

Very nice work.
What is the purpose of the double sided notch (that warrants a special tool to create it)?

The notches create starting points for shoulders on stock that is to be reformed.
The notches are then hooked onto the corner/edge of an anvil so that the stock can be drawn (thinned) out.
The notches enable tidies squarer shoulder to be formed during this process

The fullering tool can also itself be used to preferentially thin out various sections.

Next time I'm doing that I'll take some pics.

Cool. Thanks.

Also, should you find yourself forging some battle-ready longswords of a bygone era, you can hammer a fuller down the length of the blade to reduce weight yet retain strength!

Nifty work, Bob. I'm impressed!

A quick and ready version of this tool can be achieved by welding the fullering tool near the end of a flat bar, do the same with a second one and then weld both flat bar with both the tool facing each other. Weld a square bar for the hardy hole under one of the flat bars.
The tool will then look like thongs with the square bar on one side. all you need is to place it on the anvil in the hardy hole, push the piece to be whacked between the jaws when red hot and start hammering!
if you want to use this for the so called "blood" groove in a knife, pay special attention to the round bars you will use as fullering tool so that both are precisely facing each other and perfectly parallel or you knife will look rather crooked.