# Materials For a Hammer



## lellasone (Feb 11, 2017)

Hi All!

I'm in the process of learning how to make a hammer, and wanted to see what materials the community feels would be appropriate. I turned my prototype (image attached) out of 2025 aluminum, which is regularly thrown out by some of the labs on campus and thus free, but am worried that the aluminum may bend with regular use. I don't expect to be hammering too many nails, but I also want to be in a place if the hammer does end up being used for that purpose. 

My current thoughts are to try 6061 aluminum for the handle, with a steel hammer cheek of some sort, but any input at all would be very much appreciated.
All the best, 
Many thanks,
Jake 

(I'm still very new to this community, so if I'm posting this in the wrong place or anything else seems amiss please don't hesitate to point it out)


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## mikey (Feb 11, 2017)

Looks good to me. I've never used 2025 but it appears to be more than strong enough if they use it in aircraft props and car bodies. Most of these hammers are used for light duty applications (tapping a vise into position) so I suspect you'll be fine, and you can't beat the price.


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## wawoodman (Feb 11, 2017)

(A) One short heavy thing, (B) one long skinny thing. 

Insert part (B) into part (A).

Instant hammer!


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## willthedancer (Feb 11, 2017)

Good steel hammer heads are made of S7 tool steel, quenched and tempered.

Personally, I like ash handles.

An aluminum hammer is a nice tool to get your toolmakers vise in true. Nice job btw.

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


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## ddickey (Feb 11, 2017)

That's pretty much how I made mine except I used 6262 for the handle adn 12l14 for the head.
I plan on making another another one except all steel with a skinnier handle.


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## lellasone (Feb 15, 2017)

@mikey, Free is indeed my favorite price.

@wawoodman, I'm hearing rock on a stick 

@ WillTheDancer, I hadn't thought about that application. Sounds like I'll have to make a toolmakers vice so I can align it... 
     If you don't mind my asking, why do you prefer ash handles?
     7S for the high comprehensive strength?

@ddickey, If I might ask, why did you go with 12l14 for the head?


Thanks everyone for responding 

Jake


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## schor (Feb 15, 2017)

Make a stainless steel hammer with a set of different types of heads. Brass, copper, steel, plastic,....

Here's some ideas.


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## MozamPete (Feb 15, 2017)

I just used mild steel for my body and handle to give it some weight and then made soft faces - aluminium and brass - for  the ends.


Have been surprised how much I use it, I have already taken the ends off and re-faced them off in the lath twice to tidy it up.


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## ddickey (Feb 15, 2017)

I used 12l14 simply because it is easy to machine.


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## Tozguy (Feb 16, 2017)

Jake, if I may address one of your questions above, ash is my favourite also for hammer handles. It is a very light and strong wood that is/was used in baseball bats and hockey sticks for example. Sometimes available as wood flooring.

Ash hammer handles give the best feel and comfort to my big hands.
Problem with wood handles is with variations in humidity the head might come loose and require tightening on occasion.

If the labs ever ditch some wood airplane propellers then I would latch on to those real quick!

PS: Wood is easier to sculpt into an oval shape than metal is (at least for me it is).


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## Rick Berk (Feb 18, 2017)

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.


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## woodtickgreg (Feb 18, 2017)

Rick Berk said:


> 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.


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## Downunder Bob (Feb 19, 2017)

Rick Berk said:


> 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.


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## willthedancer (Feb 19, 2017)

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.

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## Bi11Hudson (Feb 26, 2017)

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.


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## chips&more (Feb 26, 2017)

Lead & Delrin


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## woodchucker (Feb 26, 2017)

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.


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