Tenebr0s Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 A friend gave me a 3 lb hammer. It had lost its heat treat, so I decided to give it a go... Forge was running way too hot. Yep, I burned the back of the hammer, melting the surface pretty badly. I think I already know the answer, but is the hammer a goner? I'm holding out a hope than in a thick piece of steel like that, maybe just the outside is ruined. Thanks, guys. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Show us a picture of it, perhaps its not. You might just have to regrind it. What kind of hammer, and what part melted off? Maybe this will be a good softer hammer for striking hardened tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebr0s Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 Thanks for the reply. It's a Japanese bladesmithing hammer. I'm not sure what kind of steel, but probably simple carbon. It was only the back that got burned; the striking face is still fine. Sorry, trying to figure out how to upload pictures. Do I have to upload it somewhere else first to link to the url? Can't seem to just add a normal file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebr0s Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 All right, studying up on how to do this. Will upload soon.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebr0s Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36954-burned-hammer-1/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36955-burned-hammer-2/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36956-burned-hammer-3/ Maybe this will work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Ouch. Looks like my first try at a cutoff hardy. Good luck! Well, looks like a hammer. But you get what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebr0s Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Does anyone have any advice? My main concern is that there could be structural damage in the hammer near the handle, something that I wouldn't see after grinding. I'm new to all this : ) Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 There is damage to the steel. I am wonder about how it lost its heat treat and wot steel it is and wot was done to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 This is my process for reforging old hammers and top tools. 1. Grind or hot rasp off the burnt steel, cracks, pinholes and shuts . 2. Make sure you get rid of all of the cracks and inclusions. 3. Reforge to desired shape. 4. Rough grind or file to shape. 5. Normalize the hammer once or twice. 6. Heat to nonmagnetic quench in a light oil. 7.wash off oil. temper in my home oven to 500F for one hour. I have had a very high success rate with this method. In the case of this hammer only heat treat the face do not harden the back end of the hammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Yep. Being an asymmetrical hammer, the actual working part is unfazed by the overabundance of heat. Grind off the bad parts and do the heat-treat from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebr0s Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Thanks so much for the advice guys. Any chance the damaged steel near the handle would break apart during use? (After grinding and heat treat, that is) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 if the burnt steel is removed and the remaining steel is normalized to reduce grain enlargement caused by over heating you should have no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 *always* a chance that any hammer might catastrophically fail in use. Definitely normalize multiple times to refine the grain and be sure to wear PPE in using it---just like you should with any hammer. Then if it fails so what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebr0s Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36979-hammer-re-ground-and-heat-treated/ Thanks for the help, guys. Ground out most of the bad crud, normalized three times, and heat treated. Still a few pits in the back end, but I didn't want to take off any more steel. The balance still feels ok, and it has good rebound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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