cooper_luke_10 Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Would car axle be suitable for hammer material. If i can gets some solid axle from a wrecker I want to give it ago. I'm assuming that car axle is 4140 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blksmth Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Can't think of any reason that it would not work. Even if it isn't 4140 it is probably something similar. You could always cut off a piece and heat treat it quenching in oil to see if you like the hardness it develops. If not hard enough you could then try quenching it in water. If it gets too hard you can temper it back a little to the hardness you want. Try with the unforged piece first. Tempering might depend on the kind of hammer you make and if it has any thin sections such as a thin peen. Some folks always temper the eye area, but I don't on steels like 1045 and 4140 and I've never had them break but I guess they could. 1045 might not get hard enough for you even if quenched in water. 4140 is designed to harden deeper and still remain tough. My main hammer was made from a big truck axel. It has developed a little chip in the corner of the face that takes the most beating, but has been my favorite hammer for 10+ years. The handle has a crack in it, the face has the chip, and I keep using it as it is even though I probably have better hammers on my hammer rack. I could also fix this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tech413 Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Axles are a good idea, I couldn't see why it wouldn't work well. I will have to get an old axle from work soon and try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aspery Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I have used truck half-axles with good results. I am presuming that they have an amount of Nickel in them to help resist torsional rotation. I have made both hammers and top tools out of them. I use oil to harden them with. Thus far I have been very happy with the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I made this one from a piece of broken Ford Pickup axle with Metalmangler's help. His pickup unfortunately. Works well, I like it. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petere76 Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Cooper, Made a set hammer out of a GMC dump drive shaft; worked great. Heat, slit and drift as you would any hammer. Forge to the shape desired, file and dress. Aneal overnight. Again heat to critical (non-mag) and quench. Draw face to straw color and fully quench. Finish (polish) with flap disc. Grind ey opening edges and heft as you would a hammer or other set tooling. I went with a bent 3/8 round stock handle but any conventional hammer handle (wood) will work just fine. I'll try and get a pic up tomorrow. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longhunter Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Frosty how big is your hammer 2# -3# Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptree Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Worked in an axle forge shop. The big truck axles and pickup axles we made were from the industry standard materials. 4140 has not been use in about 20+ years according to the engineers there. If the UNFORGED portion of the axle is 1.375 or smaller, the material is 1045H. If bigger the material is 1541H. Both are sensitive to grain growth, so do not hold above critical longer than neccesary to heat treat, and do not hold above critical without forge work or quench cracking will be a problem. The guys I supplied the cutoffs to loved them for hammers. Quench in OIL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aspery Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Worked in an axle forge shop. The big truck axles and pickup axles we made were from the industry standard materials. 4140 has not been use in about 20+ years according to the engineers there. If the UNFORGED portion of the axle is 1.375 or smaller, the material is 1045H. If bigger the material is 1541H. Both are sensitive to grain growth, so do not hold above critical longer than neccesary to heat treat, and do not hold above critical without forge work or quench cracking will be a problem. The guys I supplied the cutoffs to loved them for hammers. Quench in OIL! That's good to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I have been getting 4140 drops from a suspension shop for the last few years. It comes in 5/8"-2" round in 1/8" increments in between. It is annealed, so it can be cut with a saw. Any suspension shop should have the same. I get mine for free because I made some hammers for the owners. They generate tons of scrap every week. Here are some of the tools I have made with it. These are all forged with a striker and hand hammer with the exception of the 3 Tom Clark hammers in my anvil stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptree Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 All of the production axle makers follow the OEM spec'c and for truck axles, all are per the spec's noted above. In the old days they used 4140, but then the batch heat treated and now they do induction scanned heat treat for these axles. 4140 won't get the hardness spec'ed with a scanned induction method. The materials I noted will easily reach the hardness spec and then can be straightened just post heat treat cold and then go into temper. In fact the temper is spec'ed to be required within 45 minutes of quench. This material is designed for high speed heat treat in automatic systems. Works there but one needs to consider the issues when home heat treating. When I last checked in 2005 all the truck makers spec'ed as above for big trucks and both Ford and Chevy as well as dodge did as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Frosty how big is your hammer 2# -3# I didn't weight it but figure it's probably between 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 lbs. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Falcon 72 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I have been getting 4140 drops from a suspension shop for the last few years. WHat does the suspension shop use it for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 They are making tie rods, sway bars, steering linkages, and I'm not sure what else. I also get drops of 5160 because they also do some leaf spring work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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