Cast iron hammer heads?

[Greg & Jocelyn House]

These hammers probably have a seam down the side because they were made by
drop forging not casting . You should be able to forge them treat as medium
to high carbon steel ie do not work to cold or to hot

regards Greg House Brindabella Blacksmiths School

Chris K. Hepburn wrote:

> Hey all...
>
> I recently found a stash of autobody hammers on sale at Princess Auto.
>
> I need a light cross pein hammer but all these cheap hammers had a round
> face and a square one on the other side.
>
> I'm thinking of taking the heads off the handles and forging them into the
> shapes I need. The only problem is that it looks like the heads are cast
> (they have a seam running the length of them).
>
> Before I try one and possibly destroy it, are there any precautions I
> should take with regard to heat, quenching, etc?
>
> Chris, AB

[Chris K. Hepburn]

[J. Kimberlin]

Chris K. Hepburn wrote:

> I'm thinking of taking the heads off the handles and forging them into the
> shapes I need. The only problem is that it looks like the heads are cast
> (they have a seam running the length of them).

A common practise was to cast hammer head (golf clubs, door
hinges, other stuff) out of white iron. The white iron was
heated in a brick oven to make maleable iron. Then the shape was
finally produced by forging. You might be seeing the split line
between the forging dies.

> Before I try one and possibly destroy it, are there any precautions I
> should take with regard to heat, quenching, etc?

I doubt you will hurt it much. It has already gone through a
lot. It is possible you will make it softer by annealing it.
You might check into heat treating after forging as well as some
characteristics of maleable Iron.

JerryK

[John G. Olson]

Chris K. Hepburn wrote:
>
> Hey all...
>
> I recently found a stash of autobody hammers on sale at Princess Auto.
>
> I need a light cross pein hammer but all these cheap hammers had a round
> face and a square one on the other side.
>

> I'm thinking of taking the heads off the handles and forging them into the
> shapes I need. The only problem is that it looks like the heads are cast
> (they have a seam running the length of them).
>

> Before I try one and possibly destroy it, are there any precautions I
> should take with regard to heat, quenching, etc?
>

> Chris, AB
Chris, If these are the low priced auto body hammers I am familiar with
they will break easily. I don't know the material but my broken one has
coarse grain at the break. It appears to be cast, not forged, made in an
asian country I believe. , John O.

[jk]

"John G. Olson" <blacks...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:

>Chris, If these are the low priced auto body hammers I am familiar with
>they will break easily. I don't know the material but my broken one has
>coarse grain at the break. It appears to be cast, not forged, made in an
>asian country I believe. , John O.

I dittio that, The one I used to use for planishing broke clean off
just behind the round head, with a relatively coarse grain at the
break as well. It wasn't being particullary stressed at the time
either.

jk

[hitu...@my-deja.com]

I ran across an old hammer that was wedged on both ends one verticle
and one horizontal and used a bench belt sander to round them off to
what I needed.Then used fine emory cloth and then a buffing wheel to
polish any scratches out.Presto..two cross pings in one.Try tool
dealers at flea markets and if you don't see what you want, ask.They
might have something you can use and will bring it next time.
> David Thatcher

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

[hitu...@my-deja.com]

I also have what I believe is an old cobblers hammer that I cleaned up
and it makes a wonderful planishing hammer.I had gotten a set of auto
body hammers with the idea of using them for some cold forging and
ended up giving them away.

[Seppo Vataja]

A good skill to aquire is the spark test
learn it by watching sparks closely when grinding
colour of cast is more red or orange as compared to straw yellow for steel
the strands are also more straight as compared to cast iron
the carbon content can be estimated by the carbon burst
the shorter the straight strand is before the spark burst as well as the
number of bursts indicates a higher carbon content
the best thing to do is collect known samples,
do the grinding the same way each time
use a dark background
and learn as you go
its an aquired skill

jk wrote in message <3786e2cf...@news.slip.net>...

[Chris K. Hepburn]

On Sat, 10 Jul 1999, jk wrote:

> I dittio that, The one I used to use for planishing broke clean off
> just behind the round head, with a relatively coarse grain at the
> break as well. It wasn't being particullary stressed at the time
> either.
>
> jk

Ah yes. This is probably why they're so cheap. That's why I bought seven
of them. Lots of room for experimentation!

Chris, AB

[DukeAndrew]

I totally agree, check out one in the fire and hit it on your anvil (if they
were cheap enough
Ya gotta be smarter than a rock to pick up a rock.

[Gene Olson]

Chris K. Hepburn wrote:
>

These cast tools are flooding not only our shores, but the world market.

At the GoM June hammerin; our guest demonstrator Aaron, a smith and
instructor from Zimababwe, said that the real smiths he was training
there were getting work from craftsmen fed up with substandard import
tools that broke, hammers that shatter, pliers that snap. They found the
hand forged tools superior.

The faux tools, are especially hard on people in developing countries,
who spend a real large portion of their income on such a purchace.

--
Gene Olson,
Resident member of ArtMetal project
http://www.artmetal.com/gene-olson
Webmaster - Guild of Metalsmiths:
http://www.metalsmith.org

[Seppo Vataja]

A good skill to aquire is the spark test
learn it by watching sparks closely when grinding
colour of cast is more red or orange as compared to straw yellow for steel
the strands are also more straight as compared to cast iron
the carbon content can be estimated by the carbon burst
the shorter the straight strand is before the spark burst as well as the
number of bursts indicates a higher carbon content
the best thing to do is collect known samples,
do the grinding the same way each time
use a dark background
and learn as you go
its an aquired skill

jk wrote in message <3786e2cf...@news.slip.net>...
>"John G. Olson" <blacks...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Chris, If these are the low priced auto body hammers I am familiar with
>>they will break easily. I don't know the material but my broken one has
>>coarse grain at the break. It appears to be cast, not forged, made in an
>>asian country I believe. , John O.
>

[Brad Sandberg]

On Fri, 9 Jul 1999 17:27:05 -0600, "Chris K. Hepburn"
<chep...@calcna.ab.ca> wrote:

>Hey all...
>
>I recently found a stash of autobody hammers on sale at Princess Auto.
>
>I need a light cross pein hammer but all these cheap hammers had a round
>face and a square one on the other side.
>
>I'm thinking of taking the heads off the handles and forging them into the
>shapes I need. The only problem is that it looks like the heads are cast
>(they have a seam running the length of them).
>
>Before I try one and possibly destroy it, are there any precautions I
>should take with regard to heat, quenching, etc?
>
>Chris, AB

I always thought cast Iron was too brittle to use for hammers, they're
steel, althought hardened

[jk]

moto...@netins.net (Brad Sandberg) wrote:

>
>
>I always thought cast Iron was too brittle to use for hammers, they're
>steel, althought hardened

Some cast iron is brittle (okay most is) but some are not some are
even "malleable", lots however are shrapnell tartar.

How ever, cast iron being to brittle for hammers, is the point here.
This stuff is to brittle, but it is in a hammer shape.
jk