PCornett Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 I got this "hammer" this weekend as at a small sale. I went hoping to find an anvil and two guys walk out with one as I get there. I went ahead and looked and ended up getting a huge bench vise as well as this hammer and a coal bucket and shovel. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I am leaning towards some sort of RR spike hammer but as usual could be wrong. If it is a RR spike hammer I am considering repurposing it to a hardy tool somehow. Ilmarinen AKA Philip Cornett Joplin, MO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Yep, that be a spike maul all right. Easier to nail the spike on the side away from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy seale Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 generaly known as a double jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fosterob Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 generaly known as a double jack Here is a good description of single and double jack hammers along with some drilling tools and methods. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/fspubs/84232602/page01.htm They are different from spike maul. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Now I took one of those spike driving hammers and *made* and anvil from it. Using another smiths big powerhammers (200# Chambersburg and 100# LG) I forged a piece of 2.5" Sq Stock into a shaft about 3' long with a 9" spike on one end and a tenon that fit the eye of the RR spike hammer. I hot formed it using the eye as a shaping tool and then trimmed it and hot riveted it on and cooled it off before it drew temper on the ends of the spike hammer. Long range plan is to weld over the top of the eye making a small flat pad for forging and thus getting a medieval/renaissance styled stake anvil to use at SCA events with my hornless Y1K anvil. I've got a couple more of them; but have to wait on hammertime to make another (this time with a smaller shaft for use in armourmaking.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCornett Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 Now I took one of those spike driving hammers and *made* and anvil from it. Using another smiths big powerhammers (200# Chambersburg and 100# LG) I forged a piece of 2.5" Sq Stock into a shaft about 3' long with a 9" spike on one end and a tenon that fit the eye of the RR spike hammer. I hot formed it using the eye as a shaping tool and then trimmed it and hot riveted it on and cooled it off before it drew temper on the ends of the spike hammer. Long range plan is to weld over the top of the eye making a small flat pad for forging and thus getting a medieval/renaissance styled stake anvil to use at SCA events with my hornless Y1K anvil. I've got a couple more of them; but have to wait on hammertime to make another (this time with a smaller shaft for use in armourmaking.) I would love to see pics of what you have done! That is what my plans are to do with it.... I hate to destroy an antique but I am more anxious to get an anvil of some sort better than the RR rail I am using now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCornett Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 Thank you to all who replied. I really do appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted T Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Please show us what you did with it! I still have one that I use just for show and tell. I was a Gandie Dancer on a rail road. It brings back a lot of memories (some good & some not so good, from 20 below & Freezing on up to extreamly hot). The highly skilled men that I worked with used to have contests to see who was the most accruate when striking. They would turn a dixie cup up side down and with one blow punch the bottom out without damaging the side of the cup. Depending on the type of wood the tie was made of, my partner (290 pounds of work musle) many times would finish driving the spike all the way in with one strike after I had set the spike. In order to swing a spike hammer and be able to last all day, you had to learn how to use the rebound of the return energy when you hit the spike. If done with skill, there was enough energy returning back into the head of the hammer (rebound energy) to give it lift, while all you did was guide the tork direction of the hammer back over your head. I use the same principal when I forge as I have seen many others do. Sorry , got caught up in an old memory! Take care and enjoy your self, Ted Throckmorton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fosterob Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Ted, Please keep those memories coming. You write good posts. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCornett Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Well planning on doing some sort of bick when I get the time. Any ideas or previous attempts, or what not to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Great story Ted. I know exactly what you mean by redirecting rebound to make hammering easier, it's how I drive wedges splitting wood. Well, I rent a splitter now but I know what you mean. Single jack or double jack refers to how many hands you swing it with. A single jack is a one handed hammer and a double jack is a two handed hammer. Spike mauls and axes are double jacks while most cross peins, hatchets and claw hammers are single jacks. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Single jack or double jack refers to how many hands you swing it with. A single jack is a one handed hammer and a double jack is a two handed hammer. Spike mauls and axes are double jacks while most cross peins, hatchets and claw hammers are single jacks. Frosty the Lucky. Never heard of it used generically like that. It originally referred to a rock drilling hammer. One man used a single-jack in one hand while holding the drill with the other. Double-jacking was a two man operation. Thus we got also got the term "jack-hammer" for a pneumatic percussion drill. (Often confused with a paving breaker). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Well here is a pic of me working down the shaft for making the stake anvil from the RR spike hammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajajoaquin Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Never heard of it used generically like that. It originally referred to a rock drilling hammer. One man used a single-jack in one hand while holding the drill with the other. Double-jacking was a two man operation. Thus we got also got the term "jack-hammer" for a pneumatic percussion drill. (Often confused with a paving breaker). So the handedness is a second-order consideration? I.e. if you have two people, you have two hands available, but it's not strictly about using both hands. Interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 In Santa Fe the Indian jeweler next door had one of them all polished up as a bracelet mandrel, welded to a hunk of steel and that stuck in cottonwood stump. He got it from his grandpa who probably borrowed it from the AT&SFRR :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 So the handedness is a second-order consideration? I.e. if you have two people, you have two hands available, but it's not strictly about using both hands. Interesting. Well dang nab it, I don't know! The language morphs in unpredictable ways. A "Jack" was a man or a workman or such like "jack of all trades", happy jack, jack in the box. Seems to have just been like a fellow. I believe it meant the workers at first and later was associated with the tools and then to any one or two-handed tool, as Frosty was saying. Oh yeah, and "lumber Jack"! The playing card known as a "jack" referred to a knave which was often the name given to a journeyman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I like this guy for a hand hammer when I need allot of umph in a tight space......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Are you trying to keep us from hijacking this thread, Bruce? Looks like a nicely repurposed tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 It was so quiet, you could hear a pun drop....... .........ME hijack a thread???.The odd ends were pretty useful too....Bugs Baer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Allyn Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 In order to swing a spike hammer and be able to last all day, you had to learn how to use the rebound of the return energy when you hit the spike. If done with skill, there was enough energy returning back into the head of the hammer (rebound energy) to give it lift, while all you did was guide the tork direction of the hammer back over your head. That really works. And you all can call bullshit on me but I've used that method to one-hand 16# and even 20# sledges. The trick is in the momentum. Just as the head is rebounding you quickly yank straight back on the handle. Then with a turn of the wrist as the mass of the head passes by your knee you convert that momentum into the swing needed to lift the head back up high over your head. Granted, I could never keep that up for long, but just a dozen or so strokes was enough to show off to the rest of the crew. ;D If you want to learn how then practice with a lighter sledge against a stump first. Warning: breaking concrete with this method is pretty hard on the wrist (at impact). But bashing the heck out of a concrete slab by one-handing a 20-pounder will modify your coworkers' opinion of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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