Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Chrigneous

Members
  • Posts

    4
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Chrigneous

  1. I want to say thank you to everyone! This has been way more fruitful than I had expected. So many excellent advice and tips from types of steel and sourcing to types of handles (the picture were great) to how to forge a one piece hammer (I think the Y to T is probably the way to go). I think my plan will be to first source some jackhammer bits, star drills, or the sucker rod for cheap. I will do the wooden handle style first and see how it goes. When I get a better set-up in the future with more appropriate heat treating, quenching and tempering equipment, I'll go for the one piece construction. Thanks to everyone again. I will update this topic with the first one I make.
  2. Irondragon and Steve Sells, Yes that is definitely an issue, and you can feel it when your wailing on a rock. Fortunately it is not very often we beat on extremely hard rock and when we are it is not for very long. Usually if there is a rock that is too hard we bring sledgehammers and chisels (which I want to make as well). I might end up making one of each style and see how they work out. Someone has mentioned that 1050 could be good for a rock hammer. 1050 seems to be so much more difficult to come by than 1045, 4140, or S7. Are any of those good for rock hammers and chisels? I have not looked up L6 as of yet.
  3. Steve Sells, My reasoning for the one piece construction is that the amount of force needed to break some of the rocks puts a lot of stress onto the hammer. The wooden handles tend to break at the bottom of the head since that is what accommodates the stress, whereas if the handle and head are all one piece the stress is absorbed and distributed down the handle rather than being concentrated at the connection of the handle and the head. I hope that makes sense. It does take A LOT of damage before the wooden handles snap, especially if they are made and finished well and are not being treated carelessly, but I would rather try and forge everything as one piece if I can. I am still in the planning stages of how I can exactly pull this off, but I am sure it can be done without welding. Thanks Irondragon, I'll read through this so I don't become an annoyance.
  4. Hey everyone, I am a geologist and an amateur blacksmith. I got into blacksmithing so I can make my own field tools and tailor the tool to the exact job I need it for. I have been doing a bit of reading and it seems like S5 or S7 would be the best steel to make rock hammers and chisels out of. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on other steels that would work for this application? Another aspect of making rock hammers versus "normal" hammers is that the handle and the head is all one piece of steel. The head has a side for striking and breaking the rock and the other end is more of a pick. I attached a picture of a general rock hammer. Any advice would be awesome! Thanks in advanced.
×
×
  • Create New...