Hammer faces

[Shedendman]

I've a few hammers of all weights and sizes,some donkeys years old,as we all know the faces get rough as a badgers backside,pitted,chipped and domed shaped etc.
Be nice to get the faces all flat and true.
Was thinking of asking someone with a lathe to skim the face,angle grinder doesn't do the trick,filing them takes an age,has anyone got some tips to bring them back nice and flat,these are mainly ball pein plus my nail hammer i also have a smiths flatting hammer

 

[brightspark]

I've a few hammers of all weights and sizes,some donkeys years old,as we all know the faces get rough as a badgers backside,pitted,chipped and domed shaped etc.
Be nice to get the faces all flat and true.
Was thinking of asking someone with a lathe to skim the face,angle grinder doesn't do the trick,filing them takes an age,has anyone got some tips to bring them back nice and flat,these are mainly ball pein plus my nail hammer i also have a smiths flatting hammer

THEY have hardened faces so even grinding will be hard that's why they have chipped in the 1st place if they have hit anything that's hard and shelled off

 

[Pete.]

You're going to have a hell of a time holding a hammer in a lathe chuck, and even more fun machining them.

 

[Shedendman]

Yer i get all you mean,but be nice to get near on flatish,esp save marking the metal when hammering down etc

 

[Shedendman]

You're going to have a hell of a time holding a hammer in a lathe chuck, and even more fun machining them.

Without the handle of course,wouldn't a 4 jaw centre it enough?

 

[sparkysy]

If you could hold it would a milling machine work or a surface grinder?

 

[brightspark]

If you could hold it would a milling machine work or a surface grinder?

there as hard as hell and would ruin the cutters on a miller. surface grinders normaly have magnetic chucks so u would have to mount the hammer head in a vice and clamp it on the magnetic chuck . its not worth doing anything with them. if u must just use an angle grinder on em then it will upset the balance

 

[Pete.]

I don't see a surface grinder being much use, hammer faces are rarely flat. I think your best results would come from a belt sander.

 

[julianthegypsy]

They don't need to be perfectly flat anyway, but they should have a good polish to them. Smiths hammers have a slightly dished face with a rounded edge. If you don't you will leave horrible hammer marks on your work. The polished face is also essential for driving nails or punches. It's the opposite of what you'd expect. The hammer needs to be able to slide over the face of whatever you're driving, otherwise it will jump, nails will bend etc etc. Sand them down with really fine emery and see the difference.

 

[Gritineye]

I fear your hammer faces have been neglected for far too long.

As a young'un I was taught that all it took to stop my hammer from glancing off and bending nails, was a quick rub on sandpaper every so often.

Little and often is the key.

Some of the old'uns I worked with had hammers with faces almost sanded back to the handle!

 

[Shedendman]

My chippy/nail hammer is not the main concern,i know all about rubbing the face up to stop it glancing off nails etc,its things like the ball hammers that go oval shape just trying to eliminate hammer marks to a lesser effect

 

[Gritineye]

My chippy/nail hammer is not the main concern,i know all about rubbing the face up to stop it glancing off nails etc,its things like the ball hammers that go oval shape just trying to eliminate hammer marks to a lesser effect

Sorry, didn't pick up on that, I think a belt sander with a rest plenty of patience and a steady hand would be your best bet, rotate check ,rotate check etc...

 

[Shedendman]

Sorry, didn't pick up on that, I think a belt sander with a rest plenty of patience and a steady hand would be your best bet, rotate check ,rotate check etc...

Worth a shot i'll give it a go,thing is not to put to much heat into it i guess?

 

[Gritineye]

Worth a shot i'll give it a go,thing is not to put to much heat into it i guess?

You won't put too much heat in if you do a few hammers at the same time and keep changing them.

Gently does it very time...

 

[JEZGUZ]

I saw Tom Lipton, Oxtool, on you tube sorting out a few of his hammers, using a belt sander and oilstones, seems to do the trick.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

When I started panel beating I already had a fair selection of hammers* that had been abused so I polished the faces up on a linisher.

Some people have a vice fetish, with me it's hammers. I will buy unusual hammer heads at car boots for pence, clean them up and make new handles out of Ash.

 

[awemawson]

Holding Hammer Heads in Lathe:

Place hammer head in a short length of tube that just surrounds it.
Stand tube on metal bench top
Pour in Woods Metal (an alloy that melts well below boiling water temperature)
When solidified machine as you see fit.
When finished place tube in Pyrex bowl and pour on boiling water from kettle, then pour the released Woods Metal back into its box

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood's_metal

This stuff is useful for fixturing all sorts of things for machining, both on the lathe and the milling machine

 

[Kent]

Linisher required

 

[MattF]

Some people have a vice fetish, with me it's hammers. I will buy unusual hammer heads at car boots for pence, clean them up and make new handles out of Ash.

I like hammers too, especially the unusual ones. There occasionally seems to be certain tasks, (foregoing the obvious choice of applicable hammer for the task in hand), where one suits better than another too, even if it's just due to one having a shorter handle or something else as minor.

Reshafting them is one thing I need to get into the swing of though. I'd rather make my own than buy a random selection of shafts and pick the closest match. Need to get hold of a suitable supply of wood first though.

 

[Shedendman]

Looks pretty good and simple to me,right,off to have a hammer head fetish