Thread: Sawsmithing hammers

It is close enuff to 2kg, (1.97kg)




Started out from one of these

thus was ma first hammy I's mayed

Looks like a workout!

Yes. I think swinging one of those for any length of time would make you a bit Thor.

Regards
Paul

Must be some serious forging going on.

You should see my big ball peen sledge for when I'm acting as a striker for another smith. I must say I'm fine usually smithing with my 2kg hammer but if I take any sort of extended break away from smithing like a month over xmas etc, when I come back I wonder why my hammer hammer seems to have gotten fat on too much pudding. I'll swap to a lighter hammer for a few weeks then start picking her up more and more until she is the go to hammer again.

By the way as she is good steel but a mystery steel it was quenched from memory in oil, and the eye tempered with a hot drift by color. No hardness tester to check with or tempering oven although I'd love both.

Your steel is probably something like 4130, it's used a lot in such applications. Lacking an analysis we'll never know but it doesn't matter if it works. I'm suspicious of the hammers made of 1045. 4130/40 is only a little bit more expensive and it offers greater toughness. The use of 1045 seems like a purely economic expedient and given that the savings are in the range of pennies I don't think it's worth the decrement in durability.

The hardness tester and oven give me a lot of control over the hardening and drawing processes allowing me to make good decisions. 4140 is more difficult to temper properly in the absence of testing than is 1045 as well. I'm sure that a very experienced smith can use visual methods quite effectively for carbon steel but in this area of endeavor technology and measurements trump experience and eyeballs. Quality materials and analytical methods make for better products.

Unfortunately some of the people selling high end hammers these days aren't very good at it. I have one hammer, sold to me by a guy who sounded like he knew his stuff, that is soft and inconsistent. It's very nicely finished but the maker clearly knew nothing about hardening steel. I'll post some measurements when I find the thing.

In between interruptions* I did a series of experiments with my quenching techniques. In the process I completed another hammer and brought four more closer to completion. Here's the big one with the smaller one completed earlier.

first two completed saw hammers 3-13-16.jpg

And an arrangement reminding us of one of the great progressive psychedelic rock bands (but lacking the snappy black and red paint).

first two completed saw hammers 3-13-16 b.jpg

The bigger hammer goes 975 gm. all-up and is HRC 51 at the center of the face.

Tomorrow 1.25" and 1.875" 4140 bar stock will arrive.


*(Replaced a water heater pressure release valve for a neighbor, reviewed and discussed a grant application at the last minute, guided the repair of house water feed line for the kids, nearly parted ways with my left index finger by forgetting to remove gloves prior to using drill press and so on.)

Looks great, Rob. You've managed to create a unique, distinct shape all your own.

Out of curiosity... Is one handle Oak and the other Cherry?

Cheers,
Luke

Hi Luke,

Both are Hickory. I have access to Live Oak locally but I don't know if it will work for hammer handles. Live oak is harder than hickory. I really like the feel of the Wisteria on the Stollmeyer hammers but it won't stay in the heads.

Cheers,
Rob

This is what happens when a hammer head is quenched too fast. HRC 59 at the center of the face.

cracked hammer head side view.jpg

cracked hammer head face view.jpg

Despite the full length crack I've been unable to make this head fail completely.

Originally Posted by rob streeper

Hi Luke,

... I really like the feel of the Wisteria on the Stollmeyer hammers but it won't stay in the heads.

Cheers,
Rob

There is an Australian mallet maker who taps his mallet heads - but then again they are timber for adjusting plane blades
Not sure if that might be an answer to your wisteria issues

BTW nice crack in that hammer head

Nick

Tapping a thread in high carbon steel (ex railway iron), even in the annealed state, might be a big ask. I agree about the crack; Very impressive and hugely disappointing after all the work to get to that stage.

I can't recall the quenching method Rob used. I always use oil and have never had that problem, but neither have I ever had to harden anything that thick. In the past it has just been heavy chisels made out of truck leaf springs. My gut feel is that oil is a more gentle quenching medium than water.

Regards
Paul

Rob

For the Wisteria problem and if you are making new handles there may be some mileage in the Japanese technique. They oversize the handle and then compress the fibres by hammering them until the handle can be forced on with an interference fit.

Then they soak the hammer and handle in oil to swell the timber. I am not suggesting you only use this method, which is the traditional JP way, but in conjunction with your normal techniques (wedges etc). In other words as well as, not instead of .

Regards
Paul