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  1. #1
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    Default Sawsmithing hammers

    As I mentioned in another thread here I'm going to make some hammers for saw work. My inspiration comes from two sources - first the very fine hammers made for me by Glen Stollmeyer some years ago and second the ridiculous prices that antique sawsmithing hammers bring these days. I know I've shown these before but just to bring everybody up to date here they are.

    Stollmeyer hammers.jpg


    The larger is a 2.5 lb and the smaller is 1.5 lb. The heads are made from D2 steel, extremely tough and very expensive material. The handles are some form of wisteria available in Taiwan where Glen lives. These are great hammers for tensioning saws with the exception that the wisteria handles have a habit of slipping despite being secured with both epoxy and wedges. The wisteria handles give a great feel but the head slippage is no good.

    More recently Glen and many other blacksmiths have started offering hammers, including dogs-head, cross and straight peen as well as twist or diagonal peen heads. The majority of these hammers appear to be made with medium carbon 1045 steel. Unfortunately most of the new made hammers I've seen for sale are too heavy for handsaw work. The scuttlebutt on the blacksmithing fora is that 1045 is fine for hammers. Some commenters however are of the opinion that the chrome molybdenum steels 4130 and 4140 may be a bit superior.

    I looked up the prices for both 1045 and 4140 and they are within a few dollars of each other so I opted to go with the tougher 4140 given the hardness of the 1095 saw steel.

    The first bar of 1.75" diameter stock arrived today, this is for the heavier hammer.

    1.75 4140 bar.jpg


    The 1.5" bar for the lighter hammer is scheduled for delivery tomorrow.

    Looking around the web I've found heat treating information for 4140 to construct this tempering curve.



    I'm planning to make up a test hammer using a hickory handle that will duplicate the form of Glen's hammer. If I'm successful I plan to offer a range of types of hand saw smithing hammers including the difficult to find cross and diagonal-peen styles.
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Have the day off today to work on MY projects. After thinking about a variety of ways to shape the hammer heads I settled on using my low speed cut-off saw with titanium carbide toothed blade. It's hard to see in the picture but the blade is marked "For heavy metal".

    Carbide metal cutting blade.jpg


    Works like a charm. Not exactly like cutting hot butter but it goes through 4140 pretty easily.

    Bevels cut.jpg


    First head blank done.




    Now for the handle hole.




    Some grinding and filing and here's the first head.




    The head weighs in at 33.25 oz (~950 gm.).

    Here's the first hammer with a hickory handle I made up. Remember, this is a tensioning hammer, not for forging. The hammer made for me by Glen pictured above is a forging hammer.




    Next step for this head is heat treating.
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  4. #3
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    Default

    While I was working the 1.5" diameter 4140 arrived so I made a half dozen small heads to complement the larger ones. They weigh in at ~700 gm. each. Now I've got to drill, heat treat and handle all of them.

    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  5. #4
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    Great project.
    Will they be uniformly hardened or differential, with a hard face and softer at the eye?
    I'm keen to see how you think they compare in action.

  6. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by hiroller View Post
    Great project.
    Will they be uniformly hardened or differential, with a hard face and softer at the eye?
    I'm keen to see how you think they compare in action.
    I'm thinking to differentially harden them and maybe try to reproduce the Pexto hard in the center softer to the edges profile of the face. I'm also going to look into case hardening or perhaps hard-facing them with flame spray if I have an appropriate alloy in stock.

    Diagonal peen heads are next.
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  7. #6
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    I roughed out all of the handle holes today and roughly shaped eight of them. Lot of work, lot's of swarf too.

    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  8. #7
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    As I noted above, sawsmithing hammers are getting very pricey. 5lb Twist Face Saw Filer Hammer Machinist Hammer Leveling Circular Saws | eBay
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  9. #8
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    interesting

    I was thinking of making a little hammer out of a bit of stainless rod I have which was sold to me as 1" or 25 mm but was actually closer to 15/16" or 23 mm, so not really good for what I wanted it for (lathe tool post)

    I was thinking of flaring the hole for the handle so as to negate the likelihood of the head coming off after being wedged

    something like this (excuse my artistry)
    ammer ead.jpg
    the blue is a Sydney blue gum wedge
    regards
    Nick
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    Without wood it's just ...

  10. #9
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    Hi Nick,

    Should work nicely. The holes in the heads I'm making are tapered from both sides. I'll press the head down on the shaft coated with epoxy and sand and then drive wedges in from the top after the epoxy set's up some.

    I'm planning tensioning hammers running from about 3/4 lb up to 2.5 or maybe 3 lb. Your 1 inch stock should make a nice hammer in the .75 to 1 lb range, likely best for thinner plates around 20 thousandths or so.

    I'm hoping to finish out the forming work on these tomorrow and if I get lucky at least harden them.

    Cheers,
    Rob
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  11. #10
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    Hi Rob.

    Nice project.

    I was wondering, when making the handles, if it would be beneficial to create a shouldered tenon for the base of the hammer head to sit firmly against. I thought that, together with a neat fit, a wedge and a little epoxy, it would reduce the chance of slippage over time (I'm thinking a very long time as these will surely become family heirlooms). I did this recently on my old German joiners hammer resto and it worked really well. What are your thoughts?

    Regards

    Pete.

  12. #11
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    Hi Pete,

    I will likely do as you say. The first hammer is pretty much straight hafted under the head but I may make up a new handle or modify the one pictured and add some bevel to the inside of the bottom of the hole in the head to accommodate. I'd like to see a picture of your joiners hammer.

    Cheers,
    Rob
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  13. #12
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    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  14. #13
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    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  15. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by rob streeper View Post
    Hi Pete,

    .. I'd like to see a picture of your joiners hammer...

    Cheers,
    Rob
    Have a look here Rob
    Gussstahl - Joiners Hammer?
    Those were the droids I was looking for.
    https://autoblastgates.com.au

  16. #15
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    Default Finishing and hardening

    I managed to get all of the handle holes shaped and the profiles cleaned up. Next I shaped the faces. I improvised using my small wood turning lathe and an angle grinder.




    Now for the hardening. Several months ago I was trolling eBay and I happened across a vintage tool advertisement, I think it was for Pexto hammers. The add claimed that maker used a proprietary process to harden the faces of their hammers such that the center of the face was harder than the edges. This struck me as interesting because steel usually hardens from the outside, facing the coolant toward the inside. Now of course the face of the hammer is on the outside but behind it is the center of the body of the hammer which carries a lot of heat. Thus, the edges of the hammer face when cooled by immersion in quenchant would tend to be harder and thus more liable to chipping, than is the center of the face - exactly the opposite of what the maker claimed for the hammers in the advertisement I noticed.

    This has been on my mind for some time and my decision to make these hammers made me think about it again. How did they do it?

    The solution came from some other reading I was doing concerned battleships from the dreadnaught era. Part of the discussions of course concerned the contest between guns and armor. Guns got bigger to pierce armor and armor got thicker to deflect ever larger shot. The discussion of armor included the various manufacturing processes pioneered by Krupp. One of these was face-hardening. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krupp_armour Krupp used water and or oil jets to differentially harden the armor that was to face the impact of the incoming shells.

    Thus was born the idea of using a jet of water to rapidly cool the face of the hammer heads. Here's my rig.




    If I'm correct the heads should end up with faces that are hard in the center and softer on the edges and at the end near the eye for the handle.

    Here they are cooking, should be done in just about 26 minutes...

    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

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