Sledgehammer modification

[JHCC]

This photo shows a cross pein sledge hammer (not sure of the weight -- about 8#?) that came with the house. As you can see, the face is pretty badly chipped. There are also some cracks in the face; I don't know how deep they go.

I've decided to cut this down to make a BIG hand sledge, since at the moment, the cross pein is the only useable part. It's somewhat weight-forward at the moment, and I'm hoping I can get away with grinding off the cracked section without totally screwing up the balance. (Worst case scenario, I guess I'll end up with a doghead cross pein.) I'll be posting pictures of my progress.

Step one: slice off 1/2" from the face. This took a while, as I was going slowly and stopping frequently to cool the steel. I don't see any cracks on the new face, but we'll see if anything shows up as I polish it.

(Not sure why the photo is upside down.)

I'm thinking of shortening the pein to something more like a Hofi flat pein or something wide and round like on a Brent Bailey cross pein. Suggestions welcome.

[ThomasPowers]

my favorite using peen looks like someone welded a 1" diameter rod across the back end of the hammer; it was forged that way and I just measured it to be sure of the size.  Only time I want a narrow peen is when I am texturing.

[JHCC]

Handle cut to length.

[Kevin Olson]

Can't wait to see how it turns out. 

[ausfire]

Good thinking. It will be a lot more usable than what you started with.

[JHCC]

Side note: per the conversation elsewhere about hammer cost vs. hammer quality, it's worth noting that I paid over $200,000 for this hammer.

Of course, it came with a nice house and some land....

[FoxFire]

I love cutting the noses off of old sledges/hammers. I just trimmed down an ugly 6lb cross peen last week. It's only slightly less ugly now but it hits like a champ so yay me! I think most all my favorite hammers have around 1.5" in front of the eye and 2" behind. I think I ended up with 1.75" and 2.25" on the 6lb (now 5lb handled). Short noses and flat peens are musts for me.

[Dogsoldat]

2 hours ago, JHCC said:

Side note: per the conversation elsewhere about hammer cost vs. hammer quality, it's worth noting that I paid over $200,000 for this hammer.

Of course, it came with a nice house and some land....

That made my day!  Must be a tremendously great hammer that swings itself for that price 

 

[JHCC]

Okay, we're essentially done. I think I may need a little more grinding to tweak the face, but we're basically ready to go.

Here's the face.

And here's the pein. I kept it fairly flat for now, but I can always make it rounder later.

I shall call this hammer THE BEAST.

[Mark Ling]

you may want to radias the edges a bit more, might leave some marks. or just have really good hammer control.

                                                                                                         Littleblacksmith

 

[JHCC]

7 minutes ago, littleblacksmith said:

you may want to radias the edges a bit more, might leave some marks. or just have really good hammer control.

                                                                                                         Littleblacksmith

 

The edges are actually more round than it looks in the photo, but I think I'll touch them up a bit more anyway.

[Mark Ling]

I really like the look of the fat peen. pretty much always when I buy a new hammer, I have to radius the edge.

9 hours ago, JHCC said:

I shall call this hammer THE BEAST.

that's a good name!

                                                                                                    Littleblacksmith

[JHCC]

Okay, here are a couple more shots, post touch-up.

And here is The Beast with my old 2# Craftsman cross pein and my modified 3# True Temper rounding hammer.

I think the next step is to address the shape of the handle, which isn't great for one-hand use. Because this is cut down from a two-hand sledge, it swells where it should taper and tapers where it should swell.

[JHCC]

Here are the handles of all three hammers, to demonstrate what I mean.

[JHCC]

And here's the handle after being slimmed down a bit. Only a hint of the hourglass shape of the other two, but with the big swelling just below the head removed.

[VaughnT]

Nice save on the hammer.  Sometimes a heavy hitter is just the thing you need.

I love sledge handles for their beefiness and usually use them for all my hammers.  I've found that a thick handle gives me great control and i don't have to grip nearly as hard.  If the hammer's over 2 pounds, it gets a sledge handle just as soon as I can make it happen.  Very comfortable things!

[JHCC]

1 hour ago, VaughnT said:

Nice save on the hammer.  Sometimes a heavy hitter is just the thing you need.

I love sledge handles for their beefiness and usually use them for all my hammers.  I've found that a thick handle gives me great control and i don't have to grip nearly as hard.  If the hammer's over 2 pounds, it gets a sledge handle just as soon as I can make it happen.  Very comfortable things!

Thanks, VaughnT. One nice thing from this project is that the offcut piece is big enough to rehandle at least one hammer, maybe two.

[JHCC]

Well, after a few crazy months, I was s finally able to fire up the forge and give The Beast a try.

Let's just say that my desire for a power hammer has been -- at least for a while -- assuaged. Man, that thing can hit!

On 4/1/2016 at 1:48 PM, ThomasPowers said:

my favorite using peen looks like someone welded a 1" diameter rod across the back end of the hammer; it was forged that way and I just measured it to be sure of the size.  Only time I want a narrow peen is when I am texturing.

Having just used a wide peen for the first time, I have to agree!