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Hammer head material


Chris C

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I'm a dang-fooled newbie.  Joined a local regional blacksmiths club and pulled my first hot steel out of a forge last week.  (is that newbie enough?) :P  I "scored" a jackhammer bit today.  Left my card with the fellow who gave it to me and he promised to call me when he has more.  Says he throws them away all the time.  Rings like a dinner bell when dropped, so it's good and hard.  I've been doing my research and there's a good possibility it's 1045...............but I'm such a newbie I could only attest to the fact it's not cheese! :lol: (my stab at humor!)  I have no idea how to test it.  I understand experienced smiths can sometimes "read" steel fairly closely by putting in to a spark test.  I have no idea how to do that.  From what I've read, this chunk of steel would be good for a lot of things in the shop, i.e. chisels, punches, maker's mark, etc.  But I'm also hoping it would make a good hammer head, as I'm interested in that sort of thing.  Any comments or suggestions would be welcomed.  I'm a newbie........a sponge just soaking up all the knowledge all I can.

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Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!!

I have used three or four different kinds of jackhammer bit and found that some of them are better for hammers and some are better for punches and chisels. Without seeing what you have, I can't compare that with what I've used. Beyond that, what ThomasPowers says is quite correct.

 

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Super!  I'll keep gathering the free material as it's offered.  I can get some of the experienced xxx xxxx blacksmiths to help me learn how to turn it into tools.  They are a great bunch of guys.  The owner of the shop has more forges, anvils, power hammers, surface grinders, 2x72 belt grinders and multiple racks of hammers and tongs available for all to use at will.  Great guy.  I appreciate his generosity, but sure wish he'd charge us something to use all his "toys".  :lol:

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Pay him back by paying it forward. 

Here are some tools I made from a single jackhammer bit: a light doghead hammer, a hot-cut hardy (making use of the collar that was already there), a light rounding hammer, and a handled round punch.

6C95E764-68F8-44EE-821C-F5B7CD70C9A3.jpeg

And here’s an oval punch (top) I made to punch the eyes in hammer heads. 

A99C33A0-6852-4034-94AB-BCD480B613AE.jpeg

The tools in the top photo are probably ~1045-ish; I suspect the one in the bottom is more like an S-7; it's harder to forge, and doesn't heat-treat the same.

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Thanks for the encouraging post.  I'm excited about this material.  Newbie question:  The hammers you made are obviously not much larger than the original jackhammer bit.  If I wanted to make something like a two pound cross peen hammer out of the material I have, would it be possible to forge weld multiple pieces together and make the larger hammer?

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Welcome aboard Chris, glad to have you. 

Sure, you could weld several pieces together or upset a length or . . . find an axle at a wrecking yard, etc. Once you get into the swing of treating steel like modeling clay the world is wide open to you.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Short answer: Yes, you can, but it's a pain. No special equipment needed, just a lot of heavy hitting. You'll also be losing material to scaling and carbon content (and thus hardenability) to decarburization. Better to start with something that's closer to the intended size, like a truck axle. 

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Gosh, I wasn't aware of that.  So is the scaling carbon sluffing off?

Thanks for that advice, JHCC.  So would it be better to save the bits for things like chisels, punches, Hardy tools, etc?

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Okay.  Guess I'm not going to find much use for them even if I find a bucket full of them then, huh!  :lol:  Was hoping for a free source of good material.  I'll just take'em to the Thursday  night group and give them to the "leader of the pack" so everyone else can make things out of them.

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OH, keep a couple! They're really good stock, if you have one of the spade or chisel bits they make fine hardies with less forging than making one from a straight or from the shaft. Just don't collect a bunch, I still haven't taken a nip from the second bit I brought home. I got them from The Home Depot rental desk. One guy wanted $5. ea. another guy tried to make me take 6 in a bucket to get them out from behind the counter. The bucket was a good deal and I've given most of the rest away.

Good stuff just don't get carried away collecting it though having a few on hand for trading stock never hurts. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Mine came from.........and will be coming from Home Depot's rental desk also.  The guy said he'd call me when he had a bunch..........but I'll check with him occasionally.  The one I've got is the pointed one...................like you'd just carved a stick to poke in the ground.  But I can sure see why the chisels would be better for turning into Hardy tools.  Like I said, I'll give'em away or, as you suggested, use them for trade stock.  They don't take up a lot of space and I see no reason in throwing away good steel.

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Chris, If I was you I'd take them to the next meeting and ask the more experienced Smiths to help you make a punch or chisel or slitter or drift or scribe or...........  I'm sure there's something you could do with them.  You've found yourself in a good situation to learn a lot fairly quickly. Many folks just starting out would love to have an opportunity like yours, myself included. Good luck and have fun.

Pnut (Mike)

 

 

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That's pretty much the plan.  I've got to finish up my  tongs and then I'll go "sit-spit-n-whittle" with the old-timers a spell and see which of them will help me with projects I can use those bits on.

Believe me, Mike, I have to pinch myself every time I think about the opportunity given me by this group.

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Every single one of my jackhammer bits either came to me in a trade (with former IFI member Stitch, who has unfortunately had to give up smithing for health reasons) or from Home Depot rental counters. I've paid a couple of bucks once or twice, but most of them were just handed over. The S7-like material in the hammer eye punch above was from one HD that still had half a dozen bits from a jackhammer model that they no longer even carried, and they were more than happy to see them go!

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12 hours ago, Frosty said:

One of our main goals is to get the new folk pinching themselves often. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Well, the guys in this group (dare say I, my group?) have done just that.

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

Every single one of my jackhammer bits either came to me in a trade (with former IFI member Stitch, who has unfortunately had to give up smithing for health reasons) or from Home Depot rental counters. I've paid a couple of bucks once or twice, but most of them were just handed over. The S7-like material in the hammer eye punch above was from one HD that still had half a dozen bits from a jackhammer model that they no longer even carried, and they were more than happy to see them go!

If you guys here on the forum hadn't mentioned that source, I'd never have thought about it.  I'm happy to find it.  Even if I can't use all that I get from them, at least I can pass bits on to others.

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And here I though the thread on vise handle washers/grommets/o-rings was all about new folks NOT pinching themselves...

Chris, you'll see were we state that we want new folks to make "new and improved mistakes" rather than having to repeat the old ones so many of us have made before.  There comes a time where if the person you are teaching doesn't start teaching you back; you have failed as a teacher.

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JHCC,

A beautiful quotation. Thanks.

I suggest that Mrs. Roosevelt's aphorism be copied into the "saying & quotations"*  section on this site.

SLAG.

* I forget the real category term.

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3 hours ago, Chris C said:

(dare say I, my group?)

You dare claim association here? Okay, sure, we accept your application. We'll hold the vote later. :rolleyes:

When you get to the point you can help others lean what you've picked up you'll discover how much more you learn from them than they from you. Nothing makes you really think through something like trying to explain it to someone who doesn't know the references to understand what you're saying.  This is one reason craft Jargons are so important, everybody knows what a word or term means in reference to the subject so a subject can be discussed without having to explain every term. Yes?

Frosty The Lucky.

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4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

And here I though the thread on vise handle washers/grommets/o-rings was all about new folks NOT pinching themselves...

Chris, you'll see were we state that we want new folks to make "new and improved mistakes" rather than having to repeat the old ones so many of us have made before.  There comes a time where if the person you are teaching doesn't start teaching you back; you have failed as a teacher.

Well put..............and well I know, for I am a teacher at our local Vo-Tech school.

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

You dare claim association here? Okay, sure, we accept your application. We'll hold the vote later. :rolleyes:

 

Frosty The Lucky.

Well, actually, my comment was in reference to the Thursday night blacksmithing group.  But any time you folks care to tuck me under your wing and consider me "one of yours", I'll gladly accept.  Do I get a merit badge, secret decoding ring or any other such paraphernalia???

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