Making the tools to make a hammer- first steps | The Tools of the Trade | Forum

Lynn Gledhill;17459 wrote: Tracy, sure was fun to watch you and the boys forging this hammer head at the hammer-in today!!! Good job!!:D Couldn't tell you "didn't know what you were doing".:bounce::bounce:

Thanks Lynn. I had a good time with it- some trial & error involved to be sure, but progress was made.

I definitely need to get the steel hotter than I was getting it though- even when I had one of the guys swinging a sledge, it didn't move as much as I'd like.

I'm going to be going back up to scout camp on the 8th, and I've got a 2-burner forge there that should make it easy to get this sucker good and hot.

Here's a couple pics of what we got done today:

We punched the eye and drifted it partway. (I didn't want to go up to the final size yet; I'll drift it up when the rest of it is done.)

One side has been upset and flattened and the other upset and rounded. I found very quickly that my cupping tool was too small for this size hammer, so we switched to the dishing block (cut off oxy tank bottom) and that seemed to work well.

I've started fullering out one face, but it was really slow going. Perhaps my big dual-burner forge will have better luck getting it hot enough (or as I mentioned today, maybe I just need to be more patient. 🙂 )

I'll leave off with one last pic for today- this one has a Coke can for size reference:

Thanks to everyone that offered suggestions and help today!

--Tracy

Neil Gustafson;17521 wrote: I don't think that it is a "TRY". I think it is a "DONE GOOD" It is twice as good as the one you had before!!;):)

Don't look too far for handle material, Lots of pallets are made out of great material. They throw them out everyday!!! Already seasoned, pick the wood you want. Cut out a piece with the grain you want and have about twenty spares!!

Neil

Oh, great idea on the pallets, I'll do some scrounging. I have been growing to like rectangular hammer handles with radiused corners, like you see on Hofi's hammers.

bill apple;17523 wrote: Hi Tracy great job on the hammer it looks good. Hope to see you at hammer in. As far as makeing handles get a side hatchet you can get real close with it and then go to draw knife. I will try to bring one to show you. Good job on handle and hammer. Bill Apple

Thanks Bill, I'll be there at the clubhouse meeting. I'm still planning to come down early with the guys and help set up.

I've not heard of a side hatchet before, I'd like to see one. Is it basically a hatchet with the bevel only on one side?

Thanks,
--Tracy

Eric Sprado;17525 wrote: The only thing you need to do different with the second one is send it to my house. Looks great to me!!!!

Thanks Eric! I think we all tend to be very critical of our own work. I can see lots of flaws in this one. I remember Jerry Culberson saying "when you want to learn to make something well, make 50 of them, and keep the good one. Do that until you have 50 good ones."

I don't know if I'm going to make that many, but there is certainly some value in iterating on the same design to get better at it and learn from your mistakes.

Right now my list of things to do better next time includes:

1) a larger cupping tool. The one I made is too small. The swages at the clubhouse made from the bottoms of old oxygen tanks worked well, but I'd like to make one that will fit in a hardy.

2) larger spring swage. I did some of this using a top and bottom fuller, then did the remainder on a spring swage I made. However the spring swage was about 3/4" round. A larger radius fuller would be more appropriate.

3) start both fullers the same distance from the hole. I did the flat side closer to the eye, and it came out a little nicer/thicker.

4) use bolsters every single time I put the drift through, even if I'm just lightly tapping it into the eye to use as a handle. Otherwise the bottom edges of the faces get impacted on the anvil face.

5) either build a hardy block or use one of the railroad anvils when flattening the cheeks. Similar to point #4, it's easy to impact the sides of the faces on the anvil when working the cheeks down. I used the corner of the anvil & the horn when I realized this was happening, but a 2" wide flat surface would work even better.