Armorer's Hammer From Roller Bearing

[navasky]

I recently found a roller bearing that I thought was the perfect size for a hammer for sheet metal work. A little slitting and drifting later and here it is. The head is a bit over 1 pound and I left the face fairly hard. The handle is apple which turned out to have some beautiful grain near the end, I'm hoping the knots won't weaken it too much. The head is attached with polyurethane glue. I don't use wedges anymore unless it's for aesthetic reasons and I have yet to have a glued head come loose. Thanks for looking.

[Latticino]

sweet

[Dogsoldat]

Boy that turned out nice.  Don't think that knot half way down will weaken it any but it might be a blister point.  Might be a little to nice to use,  maybe you'd better sent it out this way to hang on the wall and look pretty 

 

[Frank Turley]

Lookin' good!

[Gergely]

Very nice job.

I was planning to use some 2 lbs roller bearings to make hammers. I wasn't sure though is 52100 good material for that - have you tried it yet? Any chipping or cracking?

Thanks for sharing and best wishes:

Gergely

[7A749]

That's lovely. Almost too pretty to use

[navasky]

Thanks for the comments guys. It's not too pretty to use but so far I've been scared to throw it in the bucket with the rest of my hammers and scuff up the handle.

On 6/15/2016 at 5:46 AM, Gergely said:

I was planning to use some 2 lbs roller bearings to make hammers. I wasn't sure though is 52100 good material for that - have you tried it yet? Any chipping or cracking?

I've done some test hammering with it but haven't used it extensively yet. I think 51200 will make a fine hammer as long as you get the temper right. I used a propane torch and drew the face to straw and the rest to blue but with a heavier hammer I would try to get the face a little softer.

[Anachronist58]

Wow.

[Francis Trez Cole]

nicely done

 

[VaughnT]

Very nice work, and good photography, too.

 

What's the story with this glue you're doing?  I'd love to hear more about the prep and application.

[navasky]

On 6/19/2016 at 8:54 AM, VaughnT said:

What's the story with this glue you're doing?  I'd love to hear more about the prep and application.

I do it pretty much how Hofi does it here but I use shoe goo instead of sikaflex. After the glue has had a few days to dry I soak the end grain at the top of the handle in linseed oil.

 

[arftist]

So since the head doesn't rely upon reverse  tapers do you shape the handle hole differently?

[navasky]

On 6/22/2016 at 6:12 AM, arftist said:

So since the head doesn't rely upon reverse  tapers do you shape the handle hole differently?

No it's a standard hourglass shape. I figure that way metal wedges can be added or it can be re-handled in the usual way later on, plus once the glue dries it forms a mechanical lock as well as the adhesive one.

[arftist]

2 hours ago, navasky said:

No it's a standard hourglass shape. I figure that way metal wedges can be added or it can be re-handled in the usual way later on, plus once the glue dries it forms a mechanical lock as well as the adhesive one.

Good.

Thanks

[JHCC]

On 6/21/2016 at 1:22 PM, navasky said:

I do it pretty much how Hofi does it here but I use shoe goo instead of sikaflex. After the glue has had a few days to dry I soak the end grain at the top of the handle in linseed oil.

 

navasky, you say "shoe goo" (which is a styrene-butadiene copolymer), but above you said "polyurethane glue" (i.e., Gorilla Glue). Que pasa? 

(The Shoe Goo thing sounds interesting, not only because I'm making a similar hammer, but also because I need to get some to fix my boot soles.)

[navasky]

On 6/23/2016 at 0:15 PM, JHCC said:

navasky, you say "shoe goo" (which is a styrene-butadiene copolymer), but above you said "polyurethane glue" (i.e., Gorilla Glue). Que pasa? 

Oops you caught me, it is indeed styrene butadiene copolymer.

[JHCC]

Easily confused, I know.