November 7, 20169 yr Smallish (800g) straight peen. This was a jackhammer bit that's been in the scrap drum for a couple of years. Water hardened and tempered to straw. Handle is red oak wedged and cross wedged. I got tired of stopping to take photos early on. I used a guillotine fuller and two lb and four lb rounding hammers. One photo shows the straight peen with a 1500g Swedish pattern for scale. Not the prettiest hammer I've made but it was a fun afternoon of doing something different!
November 8, 20169 yr Author Thank You Fiveohmike. 1 minute ago, bigfootnampa said: Yeah that steel will take some pounding! Mystery steels scores again! Drawing it to straw left it quite hard. Free fall from 6" gets nine bounces on the anvil it was made on. I'm sure it ended up a little harder than my anvil but that's OK, I don't miss...much.
November 8, 20169 yr Very nice work. I wouldn't have thought a jackhammer bit would take a water quench, but it makes sense for companies to get away from oil-quench steels simply for ease of maintenance and replacement.
November 8, 20169 yr Author Thank You Vaughn T. Its always trial and error with reclaimed steel. I water quenched the mushroomed cut off end before I started forging and no "ping" in the bucket. The test piece hardened without fracturing. Still when it came to quenching the hammer I suited up, gloves, apron, face shield. I've had small bits of mystery steel shoot out of the tub when water quenching but no worries this time.
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