[TheForge] Hammer heat treating/stainless coloration

[Jerry Frost]

There's another failure mode besides the difficulty 
(for me) of getting a good weld across that much area. 
There's the matter of a thin layer (relatively) of hard 
relatively brittle steel overlaying a softer core.

If the HC face is properly tempered it should take the 
flexing well enough but I don't know how work hardening 
will effect it over time. It isn't much of a factor 
when driving a nail as the nail is more resilient than 
either the face or core of the hammer head and either 
goes in or bends. Forging is different in that 
occasional misses are to be expected in those cases the 
face may crack over the softer core. I don't know this 
from experience with hammers but have seen it enough 
times in drill tooling where high carbon is overlaid on 
milder steel cores.

For a graphic example. Lay a pane sized piece of common 
window glass on a clean linoleum floor and step on it, 
heck dance on it and it'll be fine. Then lay it on a 
piece of foam rubber and press on the center with 
something that won't bleed and watch it shatter.

On the other hand I really like the idea of a pattern 
welded hammer head. Maybe rather than something like a 
forging hammer with it's fairly large weld areas 
sinking or raising hammers for repousse. With their 
long necks either side of the eye they'd be pretty 
dramatic and it'd be easy to weld say, 1040 for the 
faces.

Hmmmm. It brings to mind the faces Elmer Roush chases 
in his hammer heads. Possibilities possibilites. <grin>

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "Grant Marcoux" <gblacksmith at alamedanet.net>


> Bruce:  Shear forces are not limited to 45 degree 
> angles.  Forge welded
> hammer faces were once common, the technique was once 
> called jump welding,
> and involved forging a set of shallow recesses into 
> the iron hammer body at
> the joint.  This weld really had to be done right in 
> order for the weld to
> hold in long use.  Metal bearing fluxes were often 
> used. The tempering was
> fairly straightforward..expose the rear of the hammer 
> to heat until the
> previously brightened hard face of the hammer reached 
> your preferred color.
> I have usually preferred full dark blue.
>
> Axes and hatchets are a cinch in comparison, you have 
> a bird's mouth weld,
> either in the tool steel bit (overcoat construction) 
> or the more common
> clefted construction.  I have done these welds using, 
> most commonly, W-1
> tool steel bits forged from drill rod.  Full dark 
> blue temper so you can
> sharpen with a file.   Grant
>

>On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
>
>
>
> Frosty,
>
> Okay, I'm not metallurgist or mech.E., but my
> understanding of shear failure is that it is at a
> 45-degree angle to the shear forces.  W/ Re: hammer
> face, this would mean that a (HARD) half-faced blow
> might pop off a corner of the face, leaving a bevel.
> Okay, it wouldn't be a perfect bevel, but roughly so.
>
> Now, if the hammer face was tool steel, faggot-welded
> to a mild steel center (which would look like a 
> stubby
> hammer before the faces were added), then this
> 45-degee shear plane would not correspond at all to
> the forge weld, but would cross it.
>
> Accordingly, I don't see how the presence of a forge
> weld would add a failure mode (unless, perhaps, it
> were a REALLY poor forge welk, like mine... :^)
>
> For an analogy, consider a cast iron anvil.  Yes, you
> sometimes see a failure between the steel face and 
> the
> cast iron body, but really not very often.
>
> I wonder, though, because I've read about axes made
> with tool steel bits, but I don't recall reading 
> about
> hammers with tool steel faces.
>
> Mind you, I certainly don't fault you for using solid
> tool steel.  Once the tempering technique is learned,
> it's probably a lot easier.  Why look for trouble?
> Just tossing ideas around.
>
> Or how 'bout a "pattern welded" hammer head.  Layer
> metals ranging from 1010 at the eye to whatever tool
> steel is needed at the face.  Start with, 1" cubes,
> and upset them down (and broader) during the welding
> process till they're about 1.3" wide and 1/2" thick.
> Next, twist them (gawdonlyknowshow) to prove the
> welds.
>
> Hey, I gotta get all these sword-fixated smiths onto
> something more peaceful-like!
>
> Bruce
> NJ
>
>
>