from ball peen to tomakawk

[jawilder]

I know there are some great bladesmiths here. I have seen several who hammer a ball peen hammer into a tomahawk.

I have just started forging recently and still very much a beginner but I do have some spare ball peen hammer heads I would like to try to 'transform' but am not sure where to start.

My question is, in hammering the blade, should I draw the hammer section out long ways and then flatten it, or just flatten the head as is?

Or truthfully, should I just play around with a few dozen rail road spikes before I ruin my hammer heads.

I'm working on the spikes and they are hard to work... which brings me to my next question. If steel is hardened (like RR spikes), should they be annealed before trying to forge and reshape or is the forging heat good enough?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

If you are forging the steel at the right temperature, it should not be hard. The temps should be somewhere between 1600F and 2100F. The color is dependant on the ambient light, but the color should be from red-orange to orange-yellow.
Stacy

 

[Stuart Willis]

To answer your question on the blade. You should alternate between drawing and flattening.

 

[jawilder]

To answer your question on the blade. You should alternate between drawing and flattening.

Thanks Stuart, I knew you would be the man to answer that question.

 

[B.V.]

How do you find out what type of steel the hammer is made of? Any photos out there of transitioned hammers????

Brad

 

[Sam Salvati]

The trick to making these is, hit them hot until they look like what you want. Well hehe, that's true for just about anything except women, dogs, and kids .