Making Small Hammers

[george wilson]

View attachment 96540 View attachment 96540 View attachment 96540 Making a small hammer head.

This is a test on uploading pictures with the new format.

The hammer head is first contoured out on a lathe. You can use freehand HSS wood lathe cutting chisels,to smooth out the contours, after you rough out the shape with normal metal lathe tools. Then the hole is milled for the eye,and the cheeks are milled flat on each side. I prefer to accurately smooth out the contours before milling the flats. This helps keep the edges of the flats nice and sharp.

The eye is stuffed very tightly with fine steel wool with a hammer and a flat nosed punch. This keeps the head from cracking through the eye when quenching. These hammers were made from 1" 01 drill rod. Hardened,quenched in a gallon can of vegetable oil,and drawn to a spring blue color to be about 52 RC.

 

[Andre]

Wow, those really look great!

I saw your post of these hammers on another forum, I turned a handle for a 2oz ball peen in the same style as one of your chasing hammers. It's my favorite hammer now, handle feels great and almost pivots in your wrist. I also used tru-oil as I had some left over from a stock refinish,

 

[brav65]

Awesome hammers. Thanks for the post!

 

[Bill Gruby]

George, when ready to upload the pics look under the pic. It will say Thumbnail -- Full image. Check the full image and it will post the full size pic. I edited and did just one of yours.

"Billy G"

 

[george wilson]

Thank you for alerting me,Bill. I did not see that. Well,now I have 2 full size images,and cannot seem to make one of the repeated images go away.

 

[Bill Gruby]

Hmmmm -- I only see one George?

"Billy G"

 

[george wilson]

Somehow the pic of hammers got lost. Back again now. I must say,the images load instantly.

 

[middle.road]

Did you marked your name on them somewhere? That way a few hundred years from now if they show up at a tool show, folks will wonder who 'Wilson' was.

 

[george wilson]

The angle of the pictures don't show it,but G.Wilson is stamped on the flats,with the year of manufacture. I always mark my tools.

 

[randyc]

This is one made for my sister who designs and makes custom jewelry. It is called a chasing hammer and has a very strangely shaped handle. In fact I've made SIX of them so far and she still says they they don't "fit" her hand, LOL. She was specific that the head had to weigh 8 ounces so the shape had to take that into account.

The material is pre-hardened 4140, first roughed on a horizontal mill then turned in my old Sheldon. Finally - and the most challenging part of the process - the head was transferred to a toolmaker's vise mounted on a rotary table and the elliptical mounting hole produced on a vertical mill.

Handles are oak and myrtle, bandsawed to rough shape and refined on a knife sander. The aged patina on the head was produced by immersing the head in a solution of vinegar/water.