Rescuing heavily rusted hammers

[Thjoth]

How would you go about getting the rust off of hammers? I've got several hammers that have some serious pitting all over them (including on their faces) because of rust. Any ideas on how to get these squared away so that they're relatively smooth again? The only tool I have available for any kind of heavy polishing is a bench grinder with a grindstone on one side and a polishing wheel on the other, and I figured the stone would be a bit rough to use on this.

The ballpein isn't too bad, but the crosspein sledge and the...whatever the third one is are pretty chewed up.

[knots]

A regular hand held belt sander can be used to polish the hammer faces and sharpen chisels . The pitting on the non working surfaces does not affect the function of the tool so there is no need to make them smooth and shinny. However they should be treated to prevent the rust from returning. You might consider installing a wire brush on your bench grinder to remove the rust if not already equipped with one. The powered wire brush is a basic tool.

If you don't have a belt sander find a friend that does and give it a try. Used ones are easy for find and inexpensive. They have many uses sharpening as well as polishing steel. I used one for years before I bought my commercial belt sander. Think outside the box.

[Thjoth]

I'll have to dig out my belt sander and give that a shot. Would you recommend smoothing out the entire thing and coating it with something like black engine enamel, or just smoothing out the working surfaces (like you said, they're all that really matter) and leaving everything else? And what about the faces that look like they've been mushroomed out with use, do you think that they're meant to be that way or should they be ground back flush like you do occasionally with chisel striking surfaces to keep a piece from flying off and harpooning somebody's eyeball?

[RingingAnvil]

I would dress the working surfaces and rock the thing till i'm dead. Call the rest of it hammer personality. Listen to Dan.....

[knots]

Use your bench grinder to remove the mushroomed edges. Examine the face very closely for cracks along the edge. If you find cracks continue grinding using the bench grinder until the damaged material is completely removed. You may need to regrind the whole face to get rid of the damage. Then profile and polish the faces using the belt sander.

What I used to do was GENTLY clamp the belt sander in my vice, using leather or toweling to protect the sander handle. With the belt up at working height you have good control on the grind. Use new belts for profiling, old belts for polishing. If you want a really fine finish you can stone it as RingingAnvil suggests. Since I don't do fine finishes I seldom bother to go beyond the worn belt stage.

The most I ever do to protect mine is wax them. If you don't have the linseed/terp/beeswax formula mixed up you can use plain ole floor wax. I kind of prefer the look of the brushed steel waxed.

[ThomasPowers]

Drop them in a gallon or two of vinegar till next weekend and then wash them with a scrub brush under the hose and all the rush will slime off as a black goo leaving grey steel behind---which will start to rust immediately but could be painted, waxed or linseed oiled.

I would suggest removing the crud off the entire hammer so the eye will hold a handle better and you don't have more crud to come loose in use and try to find your eyes.

One of the cheap 4" angle grinders can be used to dress the working face; pitting everywhere else is "patina"!

Mushrooming should be dealt with first and the stone grinder can help with that. Sometimes old hammers have been through a fire and so will be soft and mushroom easily---these are GREAT to get started smithing with as you won't ding up your anvil while learning hammer control. Just keep them dressed as needed. When you get good you can then re-heat treat them or save them for new students and use harder hammers you have found in the mean time.

[archiphile]

Even better than vinegar use citric acid. It will remove the rust much faster than just vinegar. You can watch the citric acid work, the surface if the metal is covered in tiny bubbles. When you pull them out they will have a black coating that you can wash in water.


Check this post out this will give you a really good feel for rust removal.
Link http://cornishworkshop.blogspot.com/2011/03/further-to-further-adventures.html

Have fun and happy hammering.

[pkrankow]

A little ammonia or baking soda in the first rinse water will stave off the instant rusting for a while. I use about 1/4 cup of ammonia in a gallon and dunk the part in. Do this outside. Wash with dish soap and a stiff brush and rinse well, it will then remain rust free for several hours giving you a chance to dry and paint or use some other type of treatment.

Phil

[Marksnagel]

If you want to remove the rust from all surfaces and have or have access to someone that has a sand blaster that might be a good start. People that do monuments (gravestones) will usually help you out.

Once sandblasted then you could cleanup the faces with a grinder or belt sander.

Just a thought.

Mark<><

[Frank Turley]

I realize that you're a neophyte, but some day, as a smith, you will look at something like those hammers and start a forge fire. You will heat them and reforge them. The scale and hammering will smooth out the surfaces, and the mushrooming can be forged down and hot trimmed with a hot-cut. After normalizing, some cold sanding can be done. Then comes hardening and tempering and a little more sanding and polishing.

http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools