Thread: Care Package from San Antonio

Ian

Calling the saw hardware "nuts" has become a habit. All the old catalogues referred to the hardware as screws.

I got to use the hammers yesterday and I think with them anybody can become proficient. They really are very good. I will post some pix in a day or two of the saw I corrected.

I told the client that all 16ppi saws are filed rip because by that stage it doesn't matter. So rip he is getting. I have not used the new files yet as I am saving them for the finishing stokes once the tooth is nearly the correct shape.

Those little teeth really are a battle. I would not want to be doing them on a regular basis.

Regards
Paul

They look fantastic.

Luke

I hope I can do justice to Rob's hammers. I certainly will not be able to use the excuse I have no material to work with! Initial reports to be in a couple of days time.

Regards
Paul

I thought this might be a good time to post a link to Rob's most interesting and very informative thread on his dog head hammers. It documents the raison d'etre for his journey as well as the exhaustive process he undertook. Although many of you will have already see his thread, it is worth re-visiting.

Sawsmithing hammers

Regards
Paul

It has been a busy time. First there was the feeding and watering of the face frenzy that took place over the festive season and then the reality that I had a number of commitments to honour so I have not really had the time to evaluate the dog head hammers the way I would have liked.

There has also been the weather, which has spent too many days hovering around that 40 deg C mark. The cooler days have been a mere 35 deg C. It has taken it's toll.

Here are a couple of saws that I subjected to a mild hammering. The first is a Simonds No.4
panel saw (the one at the front):

Minimalist tools final collection 001.jpg

The second is a Simonds No.4 handsaw (that has been cut down from 26" to 20" by me because some clown had put teeth on the back of the saw. Ugh! Shiver me timbers!)

Simonds No.4 handsaw 20 inch 001.jpg

They both had gentle curves to the saw plate and the panel saw also had a couple of very small dents. Using the Streeper dog head hammers the necessary corrections were made.

I used a slightly different process on the two saws. I lightly cleaned the panel saw first merely to remove dirt or contaminants so the hammering process would not leave marks. With the hand saw I completely finished the restoration process first and then hammered. This resulted not really in marks but discolouration. It was easily removed by working the plate again.

My take is that hammering is best done with partial cleaning of the plate. Neither of these saws was really bad. I will have to grab a wild one when I gt some time and see if it can be resurrected.

So far I am really pleased with the way the hammers performed. They have considerably more surface area to the head than the improvised hammer I have been using up to this point. Of course I also have a good selection of weights and I think that too helps enormously.

Regards
Paul

Paul what were you using for an anvil.
And does your anvil have any noticeable radius at all.

Cheers Matt

I also had the opportunity to use the Corradi file. The first thing I did, which resulted in a hiccup, was to put the file into my Veritas saw file jig the same way I use all my files. I clamped up the grub screw, which holds the file and promptly broke off the end of the file!

Corradi file.jpg

Oh bother! I exclaimed, or something similar which I can't now recall .

I had not looked closely enough at the end of the file and appreciated that it really is far more tapered than the small DEST files and the file teeth extend right to the tip unlike conventional saw files. So the file is very fragile to begin with and with the teeth to the tip has lines of stress just waiting for pressure to create a failure.

Fortunately the break was not as bad as I first thought. The handle is a parallel with some cross hatching on it, but no taper. It did not fit any of my file handles. I cobbled up an improvised handle out of a champagne (umm. sparkling wine) cork. The hole is undersized and forced on. For a hasty improvisation it worked quite well enough

After I had done that the file performed beautifully. It cuts fast and smoothly. It really is a little jewel. I just have to remember not to be heavy handed.

Regards
Paul

I recently saw a picture of a golf ball being used as a file handle.
It looked good in the hand. Probably worth a try.

I actually have a fairly plentiful supply of golf balls despite not playing golf. The crows steal them from the Millmerran golf course mistaking them for birds eggs.

It appears that they work out their mistake over our property and ditch their ill-gotten gains in disgust. When we had neighbours who had chickens I saw the crows fly off with a chook egg in their beak. Quite interesting seeing the bird five feet off the ground with the prize in it's beak trying to get altitude. I had always assumed they would hold the egg in their claws.

Regards
Paul

I often find golf balls on the driveway - I'd assumed they were dropped on the hard surface to break them! Your thought has probably more merit
I keep them to throw at the neighbouring cats

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Paul what were you using for an anvil.
And does your anvil have any noticeable radius at all.

Cheers Matt

Apologies Matt

I saw your post and realised I would have to go looking for the thread where I posted my lump of railway iron. I mentally filed it away temporarily forgetting that my automatic retrieval system leaves a lot to be desired.

I still can't recall which thread I posted it in: Probably one of Rob's saw smithing epics. Anyhow, it has no radius as I flattened the top with a surface grinder.

Saw anvil 003.jpgSaw anvil 001.jpgSaw anvil 002.jpg

It seems to work fine.

Regards
Paul

Well, as if life could not get any better, regarding dog head hammers, it just did.

I was missing one hammer out of the Rob Streeper set. Today I picked it up from the Post Office:

Rob Streeper Dog Head hammers 002.jpg

This one is the second heaviest at .978Kg. I thought it was worth showing a few detail shots so you could see the workmanship that has gone into these tools. In particular the radiusing of the head is very refined.

Rob Streeper Dog Head hammers 003.jpgRob Streeper Dog Head hammers 004.jpgRob Streeper Dog Head hammers 005.jpgRob Streeper Dog Head hammers 006.jpgRob Streeper Dog Head hammers 007.jpg

I like 'em. as in really like 'em.

Here is the whole family.

Rob Streeper Dog Head hammers 001.jpg

How did I come by the last of these hammers? I heard Fence Furniture mumble in an unguarded moment that although he had taken the opportunity to purchase one of these hammers he did not forsee putting it to use any time soon. I took the liberty of asking that if he ever chose to part with it might I have first refusal.

He made the offer and now it resides in a good home. Like in the famous folk song, I can hammer all over the land.

Thanks Brett. We will have to come to an arrangement should you ever need to straighten a hand saw.

Regards
Paul

Hi Paul,

What's your section of rail weigh in at? I'm still intending some sawsmithing anvils but...

Regards,
Rob

Rob

Very roughly (just on bathroom scales) my "anvil" weighs 10.5Kg.

And some dimensions just out of interest as as you probably know there are very many sizes of railway iron and not all are intended for trains: Some will be for gantry cranes and the like as well as different gauges of trains.

Bottom web width......5"
Height......................5"
Width of top rail.........2.5"
Length.....................10"

I have given measurements in inches as I think this section would have dated from that era and the inches fitted better than metric in terms of round numbers. Of course I am not consistent, otherwise I would have said it weighed 26.5lbs .

Regards
Paul