Chapter XXVI: Forging Hand Hammers

_Cross peen hammer:_ The sketch shows the form and gives the dimensions of this hammer.

_Stock:_ 7/8 in. square, 2-1/2 ins. long.

It is best to make this hammer on the end of a bar. In this way you dispense with the handling of tongs, and you are able to get the best control of your material. Mark with a centre-punch, the centre of the 2-1/2 in. piece. Through this, punch a hole with an eye punch. (See eye punch in tool list.) The hole will be a little less than the finished size. Draw the face end slightly tapering. Drive the four corners down and make the face of hammer octagonal in shape. The sketch will show just where to begin this knocking down. The hammer is now cut off and the face squared up. The centre of the face should be a little higher than the outer edges. Now drive into the eye a drift pin. This pin is made of 3/4 × 3/8 × 4 in. steel. It is tapered for the whole length down to 1/2 × 3/8 in., and oval in shape. It is driven into the hole. This gives the real shape to the eye of the hammer. Take the pin out and re-heat the hammer. Draw the cross peen out to a taper as you would if you were making a cold chisel. Be careful to keep all within the dimensions given. The hammer may now be filed and polished if one wishes a bright hammer; otherwise, it needs only to be tempered: then it is ready for use.

_To temper the hammer:_ Place the whole hammer in the fire and heat it red hot. Grasp it with a pair of pick-up tongs through the eye. Dip the face in water half way up to the eye, and hold it there until the face is chilled off. Reverse by placing the peen end into the water. While this is cooling dip up enough water with the hand to keep the face of the hammer cold. Take it out and polish both ends with a piece of emery cloth wrapped around a piece of wood. The colours now are beginning to run from the middle toward the ends. When the purple colour reaches either end plunge that end into water, holding it in the water until the purple colour reaches the other end. Then plunge the whole hammer in water. This tempering darkens the hammer if it has been previously polished. Rubbing well with emery cloth again will restore the brightness. The hammer is ready for the handle. A hammer of this kind can be made without the help of a second person.

_Round peen hammer:_ The form and dimensions for this hammer are given here.

_Stock:_ A piece of 1-1/2-in. square tool steel. This hammer, too, is best made on the end of a bar about 20 ins. in length. With a centre-punch mark off 2 ins. from the end. This spot marks the centre of the eye. Place this end in the fire. One inch from the end fuller down on the four sides of the bar (1). This makes a neck one inch in diameter and having eight sides. Place it back in the fire and heat again. Now put the bar again on the fuller 2 ins. from the first fuller (1). This time fuller only two sides, the two sides opposite the centre-punch mark. Fuller so that the thickness measures 1-1/4 ins. This means only 1/8 in. depression on the two sides. Put again into the fire and draw the first end out so that it measures 1 in. octagonal, any length. (See sketch 2.) Heat again, this time the whole body of the piece. Punch a hole with the eye-punch where the centre-punch was made. The hole will be a little less in size than the finished hole will be (see sketch) to allow for the increase in size while working the metal into shape. Put the drift pin into the hole. Drive it through until the small end just shows through on the other side. Place a fuller over the hole and work the metal out sidewise by striking on the top of the fuller with a sledge hammer. This requires a helper to do the heavy work. While the heavy work is being done the steel must be heated many times, but always without the drift pin. Keep the drift pin in water while the hammer is being heated, as the pin must always be cold when driven into the eye. Drive it in a little farther each time, so that by the time the centre is finished the hole will be the proper size (3). The thickness of the metal around the eye should be about 1/8 in. on the outer edges and 3/16 in. in the centre. This tapers a little from the centre outward, as is shown in the drawings. Put the 3/4-in. bottom fuller on the anvil and place the neck of the hammer on this and a top fuller above that. Strike on the fuller and reduce the neck until it measures about 3/4 in. in diameter, keeping the octagonal shape all the while.

Heat the hammer again where the face should be, and fuller down between the body and the face so that this will measure about 1-1/8 in. square, using the same large fullers as before and making it octagonal. This finishes up completely the body of the hammer between the face and the peen.

With a sharp chisel cut the hammer off an inch and a half from the body. You will then have enough stock for the face of the hammer.

The surplus stock on the peen allows for holding with the tongs, and the face of the hammer is rounded up to about 1-5/8 in. in diameter. Bevel the edges down 1/16 in. back of this face and, with a sharp chisel, trim the face off flat or square with the axis of the hammer. The centre of the face should be a little higher than the outside edges.

Grasp the face with the tongs and place the peen in the fire. Take it out and cut it off 1 in. in length and make the edges rounding. To shape the peen, place the neck on a large fuller and round up as shown in the picture. Be careful each time to give it one eighth of a turn so that the octagonal shape will not be lost. If the hammer has been carefully forged it will require little finishing in the way of filing, unless one wishes to make a fancy polished hammer. If such a one is desired some draw filing and polishing must be done. This makes the hammer look better, but it doesn't increase its efficiency. The tempering is done in the same way as the tempering for the cross peen hammer was done. However, this hammer is larger and heavier than the cross peen hammer and is more difficult to temper. While the same principle is involved in the tempering of both hammers, greater care must be taken in tempering this one.

The handle is placed. You will find that the driving of the drift pin into the eye, first on one side and then on the other, makes both outside openings larger than the centre. This should be so, as it helps to hold the handle firmly in place.

TOOL STEEL AND THE MAKING OF TOOLS

Here are a few problems which deal with the making of your own tools. When buying steel for this work always tell what the steel is to be used for. The merchant will probably recommend to you a grade of steel from which you can make tools that will last.

_Hardie:_ Take a piece of 1-1/8-in. square tool steel. Make this tool on the end of a bar if the bar is long enough. It is easier handled in that way. The dotted lines on the drawing show the amount of material required to make the shank. This should be made to fit the hole in the anvil; 3/8 in. from the shank fuller down on the two sides of the steel, leaving 5/8-in. thickness between the fuller marks. Draw the end out to a 3-in. taper on one side and widen it out to 1-3/4-in. taper on the other. (See drawing.)

_Set hammer:_ A set hammer is made with a piece of 1-1/8-in. square steel; 1-5/8 in. from one end mark the hole. Put one end of the bar into the fire and heat it. Take it out and punch a hole with the eye punch in the piece of steel when it is marked. Knock the four corners down, bevelling them as shown in the sketch, and trim the end off rounding for the head. Cut it off 4 ins. long; fuller the four corners 1-1/4 ins. from the face as shown in the sketch. The end view of the drawing shows the depth of the fuller marks.

_Hot chisel:_ This tool is made much as you make the set hammer. However, where the set hammer is fullered on the corners the hot chisel is fullered on the two sides, and the end is drawn out tapering. Used to cut hot iron. (See drawing).

_Cold chisel:_ This tool is made out of 1-in. square stock. The punching of the eye and head part of this chisel is made in the same way as the other tools described here. A blade is tempered from the centre to 2-3/4 ins. in length, and the cutting edge is finished a little rounding. This tool is made to cut cold iron, hence its name.