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.
Attachment 373167
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.
Attachment 373168
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.
Attachment 373169
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.