I've been wanting to make a small hammer for a long time. I finally got around to turning some 4140 on my tiny 7x14 mini lathe (the radius form tool almost killed the lathe lol).
The head is 4140 that I hardened and tempered in my kiln. I have no idea what kind of wood it is but it was from our old dining room table that we got rid of a few months ago. Whatever wood it is, it's really really hard; even a 40 grit belt was struggling. So that hopefully means it'll last a long time.
I cut the slot in the head on my mini mill and then widened one side of it with a rotary tool so that it'll have a taper to seat the handle. I cut a slot in the part of the handle that goes into the head and drove in a wedge to lock it in place.
Edit: Oh and the ball side was done by hand with a file. After the lathe could barely manage the grooves, I didn't like my chances with a large radius form tool.
Edit2: Head dimensions are 0.800" diameter and 2.125" length.
And here are some in-progress photos:
The head is 4140 that I hardened and tempered in my kiln. I have no idea what kind of wood it is but it was from our old dining room table that we got rid of a few months ago. Whatever wood it is, it's really really hard; even a 40 grit belt was struggling. So that hopefully means it'll last a long time.
I cut the slot in the head on my mini mill and then widened one side of it with a rotary tool so that it'll have a taper to seat the handle. I cut a slot in the part of the handle that goes into the head and drove in a wedge to lock it in place.
Edit: Oh and the ball side was done by hand with a file. After the lathe could barely manage the grooves, I didn't like my chances with a large radius form tool.
Edit2: Head dimensions are 0.800" diameter and 2.125" length.
And here are some in-progress photos:
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