rthibeau

You used it on a mild steel fuller which had some severe denting and mushrooming on the struck end.....are you saying you hardened mild steel to the point a file skated off it??

methinks you are looking to leap before crawling...........as it were.......

Nowadays....getting old don't ya know....I'd buy a sledge hammer at Menards in the weight I wanted, knock out the handle....put it into the gas forge and shape it the way desired, heat treat, rehandle, voila!! A perfect whatever..........

the best way to search IForgeIron is with a very large packed lunch and no known future commitments. Oh, bring a flashlight.

just paint 'em gloss purple and you will do ok..... ^_^

walk into??? :P why do I have this vision of a mean and ugly birch tree?? just funnin'........

I'm with Kurt.....eyeball it and you will be well within tolerances for balance

two blacksmiths walk out of a bar.................hold on!.......................one says to the other "I thought an establishment that size would have had a larger supply of beer!. Let's go find another"............

I make hammers by myself and although I now use a flypress to punch the eye, I've done it by hand hammering a punch and then drifting it to finished size. To make a 3lb hammer head (not counting the weight of the handle) use a weight chart to determine the length of the size material being used that's needed (add a little to the length to compensate for material loss in making the pein) then make the hole and put a stick in it. There ya go. Simple to do once you've done it enough times to make it come out right. Have fun.

That is classic!!!!!

Glad to see the interest in this thread. And yes, you can start out on the cheap and make do as you go along. But....if you stick with it there will be costs and sometimes only more money will fix it. Just wanted people to be aware.

Many people come on this site, whether in the forums or the chat room, and ask where can they find tools, equipment, stuff, etc cheap and fast. It should be public knowledge that it takes money to get into blacksmithing, it is an expensive hobby and even more expensive to set up as a profession to earn a living. A 100 lb anvil will cost more than $200, tongs are better than $20 a pair, hammers are $20 and up, chisels and punches and flatters and swages and tools too numerous to mention all cost money...whether bought outright or made. Unless you want to emulate the poorest of the third world country smiths.......don't ask for cheap, it ain't happening any time soon in this country.

I buy flap disks in bulk from AA Abrasives....good product... http://www.aaabrasives.com/products/coated-abrasives/flap-discs/flap-discs-high-density-t-29-phenolic-backing-tru-zirk-58--78-ah-4---7

Much care must be taken while doing it, but yes...to raise worn numbers stamped into metal use strong acid, be prepared to neutralize the acid as soon as the numbers show or you'll lose everything. The acid will eat away the less dense material leaving the denser compressed areas of the numbers.

youse just needs to put the plug to your tongue to know if it's plugged in or not................. :wacko: :blink: oh....don't do that !!!!!

ya mean one of these guys???...... http://www.iforgeiro...995-steel-frog/

if I understand this right, you want to heat the metal in the heat treating oven, quench the metal, then put it back into that oven to temper after the oven cools down some. The metals you mention are oil quench (A2 is air quench, not sure on oil results), so I would just leave them in the oil until the oven is at the temper temp.

:huh: ....but I thought the whole point was the hunt? not the game. The journey, not the destination. Ya know???? :ph34r:

david...thanks for the post.......i have been thinking about making some fullers and such, but had not gotten around to deciding how to start. now I will use some of the old hammers I have to do so.

I go along with using one piece of steel, spitting one third the length to make the two arms. The final shape to be forged will be different if using flat stock versus round.

According to Wikipedia...."A dead blow hammer is a specialized mallet helpful in minimizing damage to the struck surface and in controlling striking force with minimal rebound from the striking surface. The head of these hammers are commonly hollow and filled with sand or lead shot, which both absorbs the impact of a strike and concentrates all of the energy of the blow in a focused point." That description sounds reasonable for such a hammer...so methinks the minimized damage to struck surface and minimal rebound are polar opposites to what is normally wanted in a blacksmith hammer. But if it works, who is to complain??

it's in the high 70's up here in my part of michigan. I've been cleaning up downed trees for the firewood...way too warm for that kind of work, but where I'm working still has a large bank of snow in the yard, so it keeps the beer cold......life is good!

one of my post vises is in the right location and is handy to drap the oxy/acet torch or the mig gun over the handle part

a lump of metal on a pedestal....must be of some use although it's too awkward for a hammer