Hammer Idea.

[Apocalyptias]

So, I got to thinking about what makes a hammer good for blacksmithing.
Steel is used primarily due to it's combination of Strength and Mass, while softer metals are used for more specialized tasks. Like Brass, and Lead.
What I am thinking of making(And of course, sharing the idea with you fine fellows.) Is a hollow steel hammer shell, and filling it with Lead.
This gives you the mass of the lead, with the Strength and hardness of the steel.
So long as the steel is thick enough at the striking face, it should work fine without any problems.

Would this work?

[turbo7]

It's called a Dead Blow Hammer, I dont think it would be good as a blacksmithing hammer, a good hammer will re-bound where-as a dead blow hammer wont re-bound.

[Alan Evans]

You could try one of the steel faced dead blow hammers which are made as you describe…As I understand it the difference being they use lead shot so there is a delay and rebound is reduced. If you cut one open and melted the lead within to make it solid it might get a bit of rebound. 

Otherwise for forging it will make it very tiring to use. You really want to be putting your energy into the striking rather than the lifting of the hammer so rebound is good. Speed of blow rather than weight is more effective, one of the reasons that the using an oversize hand hammer for the workpiece is counter productive.

Alan

[Apocalyptias]

So, the lead will absorb most/some of the impact? I hadn't thought of that. I guess there's a reason hammers are still made of steel 1000 years later...
But, I'll still keep thinking about it, maybe Iron with a tool-steel face? Who knows.

[Alan Evans]

It is the slight movement of the lead shot which reduces/ prevents the rebound. Someone told me it was lead, though steel shot would have a similar deadening effect...it is the looseness rather then the material which determines the phenomena.

Alan

[turbo7]

Be interesting to find out about a solid lead core hammer, but IMO the re-bound will be way below needed/wanted for a regular smithing hammer.

Brendan

[VaughnT]

And, to be honest, if it was a good idea, you can bet that folks would have been doing it already since non-ferrous and dead-blow hammers have been around for ages.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Great, so now we need tungston and spent uranium hammers...

[ThomasPowers]

As steel provides a very proper weight for the size hammers we generally want to use; messing to increase the density seems rather off.  Now I have plans for some Ti hammers to work sheetmetal where I want a larger face but a lower weight than steel would give.  I've been forging 34 years now and my elbow doesn't want a hammer heavier than needed for the task.   Using a too heavy hammer I leave to the young folk who heal faster after their surgery to fix what they messed up doing so...

[WL smith]

If you make this hammer, how long are you going to make the hollow head and what diameter? It would be good to measure some of the larger ones (4--10) pounds.  The shot goes to the back on the swing start and lands on the face on blow contact. A sledge dead blow requires a lot of stamina to accomplish much work. Mine is a rubber head 4 lb. I used it to BUMP pins from aircraft landing gears. The 10 lb for breaking loose large nuts. They separate men from boys I often wondered which I was!

[gote]

So, the lead will absorb most/some of the impact? I hadn't thought of that. I guess there's a reason hammers are still made of steel 1000 years later...
But, I'll still keep thinking about it, maybe Iron with a tool-steel face? Who knows.

Hammers from the 19th century often were made that way. I have one but It is not very good since the pein deforms so I rarely use it

Göte

[ThomasPowers]

I own several steeled wrought iron hammers; though as historical pieces I tend to treat them gently.  Making a "jelly roll" wrought iron body was believed to be superior; but I think modern monosteel hammers are better in reality.  Now if you want to make improvements look into handles and grips!

[Frosty]

The auto hammer on the drill rig was a lead dead blow hammer similar to what you describe. The lead however was -80 "sand". Melting it into a solid mass does conduct impact energy better, specially if you were to coat the inside of the hammer with brazing rod so the lead would solder to the hammer body. While I didn't try this with the drill rig's auto hammer I have done it on a hand hammer scale. Cast in and soldered it's still going to be a dead blow hammer and not much use for general forging.

The following is my personal experience and opinion so it's for what it's worth. I REALLY  like a dead blow hammer for forge welding, it hits hard but doesn't bounce much if at all. It literally just pushes the joint surfaces together hard. I haven't tried it with a shot filed dead blow hammer and the one I made walked off with a LOT of tools when a BAD association dissolved.

Frosty The Lucky.

[arkie]

This is an interesting observation I made once, and maybe many of you have as well:

Once I was forging while wearing a very good pair of sound-deadening ear plugs.  I could hear NOTHING outside, not even the hammer blows.  The neat thing was that it was the first time I had actually experienced hammer rebound by itself.  Normally, the sound and motion all go together, so you don't really experience the physical effect of rebound until it happens without sound!  It was like hammering with a rubber hammer.  Try it sometime.

Edited September 24, 2015 by arkie

[Dogsoldat]

Great, so mow we need tungston and spent uranium hammers...

Michael Scott Rohan, Winter of the World series.  Anvil of Ice, Forge in the Forest and Hammer of the Sun.  I'll let you guess why the title of the last book is what it is.  Excellent read with the hero of the tale being a smith and all...

[Charles R. Stevens]

Thanks for the heads up

[rockstar.esq]

I think the next advancement in hammers should make them lighter when lifted, heavier when dropped, and higher in rebound.  Electrically switched density would be a heck of a thing.  Maybe DARPA's working on it...