Materials For a Hammer

[Rick Berk]

I have made a lot of handles from white ash, If you want any you better be getting it now, virtually every ash tree on my property is dead from emerald ash borers ( thanks china). I just cut down 12 trees 18-26 inch dia. Am planning on having a wood mizer stop by and cut into 8/4 early spring and storing it for future generation. If your grandpa did not teach you I will, once you make your handle, dip in kerosene and let drip dry, about once every 2-3 years wipe it with kerosene and it will never loosen in the head and keep the fibers limber for a lifetime. Indiana will not have any Ash within 2 years and none of the preventive treatments do any good nor can you afford to treat the entire woods.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I have made a lot of handles from white ash, If you want any you better be getting it now, virtually every ash tree on my property is dead from emerald ash borers ( thanks china). I just cut down 12 trees 18-26 inch dia. Am planning on having a wood mizer stop by and cut into 8/4 early spring and storing it for future generation. If your grandpa did not teach you I will, once you make your handle, dip in kerosene and let drip dry, about once every 2-3 years wipe it with kerosene and it will never loosen in the head and keep the fibers limber for a lifetime. Indiana will not have any Ash within 2 years and none of the preventive treatments do any good nor can you afford to treat the entire woods.

Same thing happened with the ash tree's here in Michigan. I milled up what I could get when I could get it. I have a nice stack of 2" lumber that is going to be my new wood working bench.

 

[Downunder Bob]

I have made a lot of handles from white ash, If you want any you better be getting it now, virtually every ash tree on my property is dead from emerald ash borers ( thanks china). I just cut down 12 trees 18-26 inch dia. Am planning on having a wood mizer stop by and cut into 8/4 early spring and storing it for future generation. If your grandpa did not teach you I will, once you make your handle, dip in kerosene and let drip dry, about once every 2-3 years wipe it with kerosene and it will never loosen in the head and keep the fibers limber for a lifetime. Indiana will not have any Ash within 2 years and none of the preventive treatments do any good nor can you afford to treat the entire woods.

Don't blame China. The fault lies squarely with the poor quarantine control in the US.

 

[willthedancer]

S7 is a shock resistant tool steel. It is unlikely to chip or shatter in use when properly hardened and tempered. It makes nice tools.

Lead or Babbitt hammers or face inserts are great too.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[Bi11Hudson]

Hammers are as much a matter of taste as automobiles. I have a pickup, so you see how I feel about the subject...
The application of the hammer is the determining factor. For nails, you would want a hard steel properly shaped with a good wood handle. Ash, if you can get it. Cuts down vibration. I personally have a dozen different. Some for framing, others for finish work. Around the machine tools, lead is my first choice. The handle can be whatever. I use EMT conduit. A mold is nice, I have cast them in a homemade mold. For my model work, I like brass. For light work on machinery, brass, copper, or a good ball pean hammer.
All told, I have built up a collection of more than 30 hammers over the years. The heaviest around 25 pounds of millwrights hammer. Shaped like a hand sledge with a short handle, 18" maybe. When I hit something with that one, something gives. Whether it's what I want moved or not, something moves.
A secondary concern here is the shape of the head. A carpenter will use one shaped with a slight crown and tempered claws for pulling nails. Different claws for different purposes. A farmer will use a heavy chunk of flat faced anything to drive a staple to work fence. A joiner will use a shaped piece of hardwood to handle wooden parts. An automobile mechanic will use a ball pean hammer. Unless he is changing truck tires. That thing looks more like a dull adz. An electrician's hammer sorta looks like a carpenter's hammer, but strange looking to lay them side by side.
Much of the choice is the hardness of what you're hitting. If you had a piece of aluminium in the milling machine, you certainly wouldn't to hit it with hardened steel to shift it even 0.005". You would want something softer, like brass or lead or plastic. Like most of the world, it's all relative. You have to learn, often what works best for you. Me, I have a piece of wood dowel to drive a #3MT out of my lathe chuck. That's all it's for... For sheetmetal or other automotive body work, there are a dozen shapes. And a bricklayer will have almost as many.

 

[chips&more]

Lead & Delrin

 

[woodchucker]

Aluminum is not a very nice handle material. I used to ride mountain bikes. Aluminum is a very hard ride, while chrome molly ,titanium, or carbon fiber flex enough to take the hurt out.
So that makes me think that aluminum might hurt to hit with (shocks). I would think there are better materials. Fiberglass, steel , cromo.

Just my opinion.