LastRonin Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I was thinking of trying to find a quarter pein with a Left quarter on one end and a Right quarter on the other. But I need it at a reasonable (if not bargain) price, lol. My financial budget for what is currently only a hobby (read as addiction) is not able to support spending a lot. I've looked for examples of this online and in the forums here, but have had no success. Any suggestions? I've even contemplated trying to forge my own... I have several pieces of 2" round axle material in 4-8" lengths. I know I don't have the resources/help to fully forge it, would have to take shortcuts like grinding the ends to shape and drilling the majority of the handle hole, only heating and forging the elongating and tapering of it. Am I insane for even thinking this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will. K. Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 You could grind up a cheap hammer from harbor freight or similar. http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/29218-store-bought-hammer-mods/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Private Entrance Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I second that. I haven't ground any diagonals out of HF hammers, but have had good luck with grinding straight peins. Start with an engineer's hammer - they come in sizes from 2-4#, from what I've seen, and run between $5-10 or so, depending on if there is a sale on or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 D'oh! I should have thought of Harbor Freight... got several of them around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Are you left handed or right handed? Diagonal Peen Hammer by James Joyce Talking about a blacksmith's hammer is about like talking of his dog, truck or wife. So, no matter what that style of hammer is called, Quarter peen, slash peen, Twisted face, Diagonal peen, Drawing hammer, or another name, let us be clear here, I am talking about MY hammer. Take what you like and leave the rest. This is the view I see when I go to a blacksmith's demonstration when he is using a standard cross peen hammer to fuller. He pulls his off hand in toward the center of his body, aligns the working hammer hand and goes at it. This is the view from the eye of the blacksmith doing the fullering. As you can see, as the standard cross peen strikes the work the blacksmith is essentially blind. His handle covers the view of where exactly the peen is striking. Several years ago a blacksmith named, I think, Jeffery Foote (?) thought this an intolerable intrusion on his otherwise fine workmanship. Jeffery told me he took a Swedish cross peen, heated it up, twisted the peen 45 degrees. He opened the world of blacksmithing to a new dimension of accuracy. And introduced the diagonal cross peen hammer to artist blacksmithing When a right handed smith uses a left diagonal pein hammer, smiths view of his fullering strike location is impeded with the diagonal cross peen hammer. When the right handed smith used a right diagonal pein, the smiths view of his fullering strike location is no longer impeded with the right diagonal cross peen hammer. When the left handed smith used a left diagonal pein, the smith's view of his fullering strike location is no longer impeded with the left diagonal cross peen hammer. But when the left handed model of the diagonal cross peen is used by a right handed smith, it becomes a diagonal straight peen, again allowing an unimpeded view of work (his arm is now to the side) and producing greater accuracy and smoother work. I hope this helps explain why many of us blacksmiths (like Rob Gunther and Bill Epps, to name just 2 you probably know) have switched over to diagonal peen hammers for better control of our work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 http://www.iforgeiron.com/uploads/gallery/album_24/gallery_344_24_63128.jpg http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/19955-choppers-hammer/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/18076-double-diagonal-peen-hammer/ I call what LastRonin is asking about "double diagonal" hammers. Easy to make by grinding the ends of a double faced or engineer's hammer. Reheat treat after done grinding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Seem like less work to forge than grind that's a whole lot of steel to remove and turn into dust. But what do I know I am just a professional full time blacksmith with 20 years of experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 it's been my experience that it is faster and easier to grind using 60 grit flap disks to get the exact shape I want than it is to forge the peins without a big power hammer. Everyone else's mileage may vary. The hammers I get from Menards are way soft to begin with and easy to shape before a proper heat treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 @Glenn: The reason I am saying a L on one end and a R on the other is that held with one end down it would be a diagonal cross pein, just flip it over and it magically transforms into a diagonal straight pein. :D Btw, I am right handed. @Timothy Miller: Sir, I am sure you know quite a lot more than I do. And I respect that. In explaination, I was thinking grinding instead of forging because I only have a small self-made coal forge, a couple cheap hand nammers, a decent (imho) anvil and a few other hand tools. No one to strike for me, or for me to strike for either. But mainly because I have NOT been a professional blacksmith for twenty years but instead been a professional full-time electronics technician for over twenty years. So I have not yet acquired the huge array of knowledge nor the selection of tools such as that hard hitting powerhammer in your profile picture. (Insert picture of the green monster 'jealousy' here. haha) . Now if I could use a soldering iron to do the job... I'd be sittin' pretty. But serious question here... do you think that with the limitations I mentioned it would be easier for me to forge than grind? If so, then I will try. I appreciate all the comments and links (thanks rt). I, like so many others have posted... have learned so much from this forum and am proud to be included as a member with so many talented and learned craftsmen (no that is not backside kissing, just honestly how I feel). Oh, and I'm happy to say that I get my first chance to meet face-to-face with other blacksmiths tomorrow. (Want a laugh? Picture a 6'2", 245#. balding, overweight 42 yr old man excited like a kid the day before his first day in kindergarten. My wife just grins and shakes her head.) Please note that I mean no disrespect with my attempts at humor. I fully respect the people here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 @Glenn: The reason I am saying a L on one end and a R on the other is that held with one end down it would be a diagonal cross pein, just flip it over and it magically transforms into a diagonal straight pein. You can take a diagonal peen and turn it every which way but loose, and it is still a diagonal peen hammer. If you turn it loose, the hammer will still be a diagonal peen, (grin) No magic involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Hehehe, but yeah, having the two peins twisted opposite directions would save me from having to switch hands between fullering lengthwise or crosswise. Instead of switching hands, just flip the other end of the hammer head down and voila. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 THAT is why blacksmiths make their own hammers !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Don't count myself a blacksmith yet... still haven't learned enough to qualify, imho. Just a neophyte. Hoping to attain that one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 @ rt: Those are sweet looking hammers. I went ahead and peeked at some of the other hammer pics you had in your gallery, that quad pein is cool. Is it actually functional? I mean, I know it will work as a hammer, but do the peins on each side get in the way? I have a hammer I think just might be a candidate for this project. I'll see what I can accomplish and post a pic or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 I got my double-quarter pein finished. It took me about twenty minutes of grinding with my 4 1/2" grinder and ten more polishing as best I could with my dremel. I also dressed the faces of my new-to-me 4# hammer. I took them with me to my first ever forge meeting... I love them! They move the metal so easily compared to what I was using before, which was the 3# Estwing I ground down into my double-quarter-pein. Here are pics. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37014-rtqtrpeinend/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37012-ltqtrpeinend/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37013-myhammers/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 I found that style of hammer the best for drawing out and spreading before I acquired a power hammer. The one I used for hot forging I bought at a used tool place. I was told it was a saw setters hammer. Used for truing up the saw blade on a big band mill. It weighs 1800gm (4lbs). I discovered the advantage of the twisted cross pein when I was using my teachers home made raising hammer when silversmithing. I noticed the hammer was much nicer to use on one of its faces and realised it was because of the twist. I then made all of my cross pein silversmithing hammers with a twist deliberately. And it also made me aware of the potential when I spotted the saw setting hammer in the junk shop. One good thing that has happened thanks to your thread, I have given my hammers a wire brush and wax in order to take the photo. They have been in the drawer unused and going rusty since I stopped the silver work in the late Seventies! So on behalf of my hammers, thank you! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky 48 Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Not a blacksmith but I do play with it and make knives for fun. I wanted a diagonal peen hammer for a while now and decided to make one from a 4# engineers hammer that I was given. I used an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to rough out the head following the indents on the side of the head. Then I ground the sides that I had cut off to form the diagonal. After that I did the same thing on the other side to form the reverse diagonal. Now the hammer has a left and a right diagonal peen. I used the angle grinder because I have one and because it worked. I was able to keep the temperature of the head cool enough to touch by quenching it when it got warm. I believe that kept the original hardness in the hammer faces (at least it seems that way). Total time from start to finish was about four hours give or take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Saw a fellow do this with a hydraulic press: heating time + 5 minutes press time and the press left a beautiful curved face from the squish out. He did have to heat treat and polish it up though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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