Dale M. Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Was wondering if using a bronze or brass hammer is useful to do things like straightening out curve in auto coil springs to get a "straight" piece of material to work with without destroying the more or less pristine circular (round) shape of material.... Yes I understand anvil will leave its marks if proper swage block is not uses, but I don't have any swage blocks yet and not sure how to make one.... And do not want to distort ( hammer marks) surface of material any more than necessary.... http://www.harborfreight.com/2-lb-brass-hammer-with-hickory-handle-69103.html Every once in awhile these come up on pretty good sale price... Just wondering if purchase of brass hammer is useful.... Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aljeter Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I dont know about using them for straightening, but I use one for my G2 guillotine tool dies. That way I dont have to spend much time dressing up the edge of the die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knots Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 In general I don't know of any one who uses a copper alloy hammer for straightening. The link below will take you to a thread that I started that has a nunber of opinions on what to use to straighten hot iron. The consensus seems to be use a wooden mallet or maul. I generally keep a piece of scrap 2 x 6 to use as a bottom cushon on my anvil. I have known smiths who used a dedicated stump. Another thing to consider is that using a bronze or brass hammer to flatten or form red hot iron would almost certainly leave seposits of the yellow metal at the strike points. If brass hot brushing leaves color, hot hammering on sharp edges certainly would as well. That effect may be an interesting point to explore on it's own merit. http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/27124-firewood-maul/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Brass hammers are great for: stamping letters & numbers sets into projects, driving punches and chisels, pounding on stuck objects and guillotine tools, etc. They are not particularly good as forging hammers. If you get a coil spring hot enough, it can be unwound off of a pipe with tongs or vise grips, and short lengths can even be straightened hot without marring by using a board or stump for an anvil and a large wooden mallet. Kinda smokey, tho. If you are asking can you straighten coil spring cold, that is a fools errand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Brass hammers are great for: stamping letters & numbers sets into projects, driving punches and chisels, pounding on stuck objects and guillotine tools, etc. They are not particularly good as forging hammers. If you get a coil spring hot enough, it can be unwound off of a pipe with tongs or vise grips, and short lengths can even be straightened hot without marring by using a board or stump for an anvil and a large wooden mallet. Kinda smokey, tho. If you are asking can you straighten coil spring cold, that is a fools errand. No.... Sorry if I was unclear.... I guess I assumed (bad word) that everyone would know I meant hot working.... Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Brass and copper hammers are used often for bending forgings when wanting to leave as few hammer marks as possible. But trying to straighten springs even hot requires a harder faced hammer. As said above pulling a spring on a piece of pipe slid over a rod in the vise will work for smaller dia springs. Larger springs can be partially opened with forks and final straightening done by clamping in the vise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 The spring material in question is about 9/16 in diameter (auto suspension spring) and I don't see it being **uncoiled** no matter hot it gets... I do see beating it into submission using heat, heavy tools and a anvil though... Intended use for spring material is for making punches and chisels and some slitting tools and other application needing hard steel.... Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Greetings Dale, I';ll give you a trick from an old f.... . Heat your spring... Put it on a large enough pipe so that it wraps arround.... Clamp or vise grip on end....put it a pipe vise.... Use 3ft 3/4 ID pipe as a lever to pry the spring straight.... Carefull the pipe will get hot.... It's like threading the spring into the pipe... you can get about 15 inches staight without too much trouble... than a wood hammer and a stump.... Good Luck, JIm Forgot to say your torch works best for heat.... DAAAAA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knots Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Greetings Dale, I';ll give you a trick from an old f.... . Heat your spring... Put it on a large enough pipe so that it wraps arround.... Clamp or vise grip on end....put it a pipe vise.... Use 3ft 3/4 ID pipe as a lever to pry the spring straight.... Carefull the pipe will get hot.... It's like threading the spring into the pipe... you can get about 15 inches staight without too much trouble... than a wood hammer and a stump.... Good Luck, JIm Forgot to say your torch works best for heat.... DAAAAA I like that. When I want to straighten something, that is difficult, after unwinding, I will frequently use my vise. With the stock at a red heat, insert the work piece from the side, and squeeze turn squeeze. If you make a set of, say, 12 - 14 GA., slip on jaw faces to protect the work piece from the jaw cross hatching you can get then pretty straight without a lot of damage to the surface finish. For the bigger stuff it is nice to have a screw or fly press. Then there is always the trick of laying the piece to be straightened over the step between the anvil face and table where light taps are often effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Never assume. There is an internet-spawned method of backyard swordmaking SLO making that suggests hammer straightening leaf spring cold, and then grinding to shape. Frightens the (semi-supervisory) adults less because no fire is involved. Frightens me more because I know what additional stresses are being added to the metal. (Hey Guys!! Authentic Shards of Narsil© flying thru the air!) I learned to OA cut coils off the strut by heating one side a section at a time until it deforms and releases most of the stress, then cutting thru one coil ***carefully***. Keep the plane of the torch out of line with the kickback. You can then decide to cut the shaft with a grinder and remove the coils, or just cut the coils into rings and remove them. It will still buck some when the first cut is made, but not as badly as if you just cut one coil, or (shudder) cut thru the shaft. (That could be catastrophic, there is a lot of stored energy in a compressed spring.) I do not heat the hydraulic cylinder or cut the chrome plated shaft with the torch. Cutting the rubber boots off the shaft first eliminates most of the fire and stink, but I always keep a bucket of water and a fire extinguisher on hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 If all your doing is making punches and chisels, then cut with a torch or cut off wheel, heat in forge and press straight in vise. Kind of a no brainier :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshua.M Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 i cheat, heat in forge to orange, cut with bolt cutters and straighten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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