Fretz Sharp Texturing/Raising Hammer - HMR-12

The Fretz HMR-12 leaves a sharp, parallel-lined texture, similar in feel to what you'd get from a cross peen hammer, but built specifically for jewellery work. It's one of the hammers we reach for most in the studio, since the lines it creates hold up as a clean, defined pattern rather than a soft or blurred texture.

The two elongated faces, one wider and one narrower, let you vary the width of the lines within the same piece. Work them straight for a linear texture, or angle successive strikes to build a criss-cross pattern instead. Because the strikes stretch the metal slightly as they go, this hammer doubles as a way to gently increase a ring's size, which makes it useful beyond pure texturing work.

Like the rest of the Fretz range, the head is cast from 420 stainless steel and hardened, so the sharp edges of each face keep their definition rather than rounding off with repeated use. The hardwood handle is shaped and weighted to balance the head, which helps keep each strike consistent when you're building a pattern across a larger surface.

This is a finishing and forming tool in one. Rest your piece on a steel bench block for texturing work, and take a lighter approach where you're using the hammer to raise or stretch metal rather than just pattern it.

Worth knowing:

• Doubles as a way to gently stretch and increase ring size
• Best suited to soft metals: silver, copper and gold
• Studio tested: jeweller approved