Sunday, May 17, 2015

Hammer Time

Hand Forged Top Tools

When I got interested in blacksmithing, one of my primary goals was to be able to make my own hammers.  Here are a few of my first attempts.  These are three "top" hammers.  This means that they are not used for hammering, but rather, they are placed on red hot metal and another hammer is used to strike them and move the metal in a particular way.   The top hammer is a slitting hammer for slicing and parting steel.  The middle is a 5/8" top fuller.  The bottom is a 1/2" top fuller.  These were made with 1" and 1 3/8" round 4140 steel bars, that were first slot punched, then the eyes were drifted followed by drawing out and forming of the working and striking ends  The working ends were hardened and tempered while the striking ends were left at a more or less "normalized" state to prevent chipping while being struck.  I plan on making at least 50 more hammers.. A guy like me really can't have enough hammers!

Eye View

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