a more complete guide to dressing a hammer .. I hope

content/pages/equipment/hammer_dressing.md

@@ -6,33 +6,63 @@ tags:
 - howto
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 {{< notice warning >}}
-Always wear a respirator and eye protection when grinding metal
-
+Always wear a respirator and eye protection when grinding metal{{/br}}
 Never operate an angle grinder without the guard securely installed
 {{< /notice >}}
 
 ## Why should I do this?
 
-Dressing your hammer face will prevent unsightly marks left by the edges on the faces of most commercially produced hammers. It is also a way to reprofile the hammer face, making it more (or less) convex and thus more (or less) aggressive in moving material.
+The edges on the faces of most commercially produced hammers are sharp enough to leave marks on your workpiece if a strike lands at a small angle.
+Found hammers that you wish to re-purpose or rescue from the rust pile may come with an overly rounded surface, an indented or tilted surface, or even have chips knocked out of them
+Dressing your hammer will reduce the chance of these problems marring your work.
+
+Experience and personal taste will eventuallly inform as to how much one should round off a hammer's edges.
+A reasonable starting point is to create a radius of about 2 mm (1/8 inch) on the edges of a hammer that you intend to use to smooth a surface.
+
+On a hammer that will be used to fuller (spread out) the work you might want to reprofile it to a rounded shape. The more convex (the rounder) you make it the more agressively it will move the metal.
+
+Avoid using a double cut file for dressing as it will likely leave marks on the tool.
+Someone with good filing technique may be able to dress a tool without needing to finish by sanding or grinding.
+
+Flatters and Setters may also be dressed. 
+Both need their striking surface to be absolutley flat, with the edges of the flatter rounded gradually from about 4 mm (1/4 inch) from the edge, and the edges of a setter to be made as square as possible.
+
+Using a vise to hold the hammer as you work on it is recommended.
+It is important to keep the striking surface perpindicular to the axis of the hammer.
+
+When cleaning up a hammer will require a larger effort removing the handle can make it easier to clamp the hammer's head as you work on it.
+
+Machine grinding will obviously speed up the dressing process, but one has to pay close attention to the grit used, and how the grinder is held to the tool.
+A sandpaper grit of 120 or smaller value will leave scratches on the tool's surface that can affect the finish of the workpiece.
+Tools for working softer metals (gold, aluminum etc.) should even be polished to as high as 500 grit to ensure success when planishing.
+
+{{< notice warning >}}
+Using machine assistance to dress surfaces correctly requires skill and stability to avoid harming the utility of a dressed tool.
+The tool being dressed is best clamped, leveled, and arm supports used to hold the grinder perpindicular to the axis of the tool.
+Using a flap wheel is not recommended as there is less control over the position and angle of grinding than with a belt or surface grinder.
+{{< /notice >}}
 
 ## You Will Need
 
-### Materials
+### Consumable Materials
 
-- [ ] Sandpaper, flap discs, or grinder belts
+- [ ] Sandpaper
+- [ ] (Optional) flap discs, or grinder belts
 
 ### Equipment
 
-- [ ] A hammer
+- [ ] the hammer to be dressed
+- [ ] flat, single cut file(s)
 - [ ] (Optional) an angle grinder or belt grinder
-- [ ] (Optional, but very helpful) a vise (to hold your hammer while you sand it)
+- [ ] (Best Practice) a vise
 
 ## The Process
 
 ### Make sure the flat face is actually flat
 
-Sometimes commercially produced hammers have a very slight indent on the flat face. Grind or sand the flat face down until it is flat
+Sometimes commercially produced hammers have a very slight indent on the flat face. Grind or sand the flat face down until it is flat.
+Gluing a sheet of sandpaper onto a panel or table top and then rubbing the hammer head over it can make it easier to keep it vertical.
 
 ### Remove sharp edges
 
-Most commercially produced hammers have sharp edges on one or both faces. These edges will add unsightly marks to your work and should be sanded or ground away.
+Most commercially produced hammers have sharp edges on their edges that should be smoothed and rounded off to mitigate the risk having them mark on your work.