[TheForge] Hardening and Tempering a Hammer Head

Tue Dec 10 16:48:00 2002

If you use 1045 you can quench the whole hammer head in water and no temper
is necessary.  That's the steel and system that Tom Clark and Uri Hofi of
the Ozark School of blacksmithing used until they started casting them.
They sold many of those hammers at $100 each.   Tom may now have gone back
to 1045 and Uri still uses it (I think).  In my area of the country there
have been several classes on hammer making with very successful hammers
having been made with 1045 steel and that process.  1045 gets harder than
truck axels or 4140 (I quench those entirely in water also and they still
are a little softer than I like).  Older track pins are 1055 and the method
of quenching each face quickly by turning is an often used method for that
steel.  I watched Robb Gunter use the old track pin quenching each face
alternately.  That one cracked in the quench which could mean it was
quenched too fast, the steel had a flaw, or was forged too cold or too hot.
Don't know about 4340.  4340 is similar to 4140 but gets a deeper hardening.
Doubt if it gets any harder, but not sure.

Dick
Grand Island, NE

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Sweany" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 12:03 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Hardening and Tempering a Hammer Head

>
> *4140 or 4340 or truck axles track pins.
> heat the whole thing to dull red quench the face and pein,
turn,quench,turn ,quench etc etc etc. And in the words of an old
Boilermaker*
>  * "BE DAMN QUICK ABOUT IT"
> Stop turning and quenching when water does't boil off the face. no temper.
should be about a 48 to 50 rc.
> *Info from  Rob Gunter
> ** quote from Dutch Moss
> You get a hard face with a soft body that way, less stress and less
vibration to the hand.
>
> My .o2
>  Phil <[email protected]> wrote:What are some of the methods you folks
use for hardening and tempering hammer heads? I'm talking about medium to
high carbon steel, and a cross or straight pein hammer? Do you temper the
face and pein seperately?
>
> Thanks
>
> Phil Rosche
> Summerville, SC
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