January 01, 2006

Care and feeding of a hammer

This weekend, I was over to my dad's house, to pick up a small anvil. When I was about 10 years old, I remembered it as a fairly large anvil, requiring two hands to lug it around, now I discover that it was maybe 18 lb! The anvil was made from a short piece of railroad track with a small block of metal above that, a flattened piece of road-grader blade for a top, and a crudely shaped horn. I have read that the recommended hammer-to-anvil ratio is 30:1, so this anvil should be used with an 8 oz hammer. While we were walking through the shop, I saw a ball-pein hammer head laying on the shop's dusty concrete floor. I asked if I could borrow it, and he gave it to me. It was smaller than my 32 oz hammer, so it might be more suitable to my very small anvil.

If you remember from my first post, I only have one suitable hammer - a 32 oz ball-pein. My latest discovery is a 16 oz ball-pein with a few pock marks on one side, but in very usable condition. I wiped some Remington fine-parts oil on it, and slowly worked the oil into every crevice. I could tell by looking at my rag that I was making progress, and after wiping it down, It almost shone! It wasn't "like new" but it looked a lot better. The hardest place to clean was inside the oval hammer hole, but when I get a good handle, I want it to fit snug, so I kept at it.

One book that I read, "The Complete Blacksmith," recommends making your own handles, but I don't have any hardwood stock laying around, and I don't have a lathe. I'll just go by Atwoods sometime next week.

I guess my message to my reader is - wipe down your tools. If you have a shovel, wipe off the dirt, then put any kind of oil on it, and wipe the metal part with a rag. Don't oil the wooden parts though!

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