When I recommend you buy a welder....

This is why.  

Yea, we can all agree that the hammer isn't the best design to ever come down the pike, but it's getting the job done.  Without a welder and some rudimentary skill at gluing two pieces of steel together, making even the most basic hammer is orders of magnitude more difficult and time consuming.

I'm not a welder by trade, and I would never allow my welds to be used on anything structural, but my smithy is filled with examples of how having a welder made things a lot easier.  Scroll forms, tool racks, hardy stems, candlesticks...  even my anvil stand is made from steel bars welded together.

Being able to quickly fabricate something, even if it's only as a proof-of-concept, is invaluable.  Sure, we all want to be amazing blacksmiths, but there's a time and place for everything.  Some will say that it's "cheating", but lets be realistic - the people who say that are the same people using steel made in giant factories, that they picked up using an automobile rather than a horse and buggy. 

I like this video because it shows a hammer design that can be made with steel sizes we see pretty regularly in the scrap bins -- small-ish angle iron and channel, with flat bar that you could buy at any hardware store.  From top to bottom, nothing about this hammer design would be particularly hard to source or stick together.  It's not the greatest design ever designed, sure, but it will get the job done and allow you to grow your abilities.  It's not perfect, but it's a step up from hammering by hand.  This is what a welder can do for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_CF5cGNEg8