Made my first ball peen hammer

[mickri]

Beautiful work. I made a ballpeen hammer in metal shop in 9th grade. Still have it and use it often.

 

[Janderso]

Beautiful work!
The high quality handle makes a big difference.
The off shore stuff has soft wood with unknown steel. The head is loose after the first blow.
Making your own out of quality materials sets yours aside from most others.
Your finish work is very good.

 

[Mach_Zero]

Thank you all for the compliments! I'm so happy that you all think it's quality work! I've made many tools and projects but this is the first time I put so much work into the details and finishing. Really makes me feel good to know you guys think it looks good too.

What size round bar stock did you use? Diameter? Length?

That looks like an awesome project for me to practice.

I actually had to turn down some 1.25" since that's all I had in 4140. The final diameter ended up at 0.800" (somewhat arbitrarily) and the length is 2.125".

It's a pretty fun project and you could finish it fairly quickly. Hardest parts of the project were the radii but with your larger lathe it shouldn't be a problem.

Beautiful work!
The high quality handle makes a big difference.
The off shore stuff has soft wood with unknown steel. The head is loose after the first blow.
Making your own out of quality materials sets yours aside from most others.
Your finish work is very good.

Thank you! I can tell this wood is extremely solid. I have no idea what species it is, but I'm glad I had some of it laying around. This hammer will definitely get some good use in my little shop.

 

[brino]

Beautiful hammer!

You included the word "first" in the thread title........ when can we expect to see photos of its big brother?

Thanks for sharing this.
Brian

 

[Mach_Zero]

Beautiful hammer!

You included the word "first" in the thread title........ when can we expect to see photos of its big brother?

Thanks for sharing this.
Brian

Haha well this was actually a trial to nail down the procedure and make sure I can accomplish what I wanted with my mini lathe.

What prompted me initially to do this is because I gifted my dad a "hammer" for Father's day. I gave him a big bar of steel and wood and told him we're going to machine it together. He's never had a chance to use machining equipment despite having a large interest in it. He's coming over this weekend and we're going to work on it.

So we'll likely make his soon and then we'll see about a big brother. (But I may end up making an even smaller one before that!)

 

[francist]

can tell this wood is extremely solid. I have no idea what species it is,

I actually looks from here like it might be cherry which is quite dense, nicely uniform in texture, and is very common for things like dining tables, etc. it’s about the right colour with a slight fleck showing on the cheeks. Plus it also has a defined propensity for burning on the end grain from sanding which many have discovered.

Nice job on the hammer, it looks really good and will age in nicely.

-frank

 

[aliva]

Very nice , too nice to use. Hang it up in the shop for inspiration

 

[Mach_Zero]

Very nice , too nice to use. Hang it up in the shop for inspiration

Well then I guess I gotta make another one to use!

 

[Tipton1965]

Excellent job!!

 

[FOMOGO]

Looks great. Maybe a nice finishing touch would be wood burning, or engraving Maxwell's on the handle. Mike