Park's Project Thread, heads and handles

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Mar 15, 2016
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UPDATE: rather than posting all over the place in different threads, I'm just gonna copy COTS' format and turn this into a project thread that I can update when I have new stuff or projects to share. Thanks to cityofthesouth for the inspiration, and all the knowledgable people sharing in this subforum. Comments always welcome and encouraged, I do a lot of stuff wrong, even more I do the dumb way so feel free to let me know.


I got the bug after going through the sledge hammer thread... I need an engineer's hammer / cross peen, and the stuff at the hardware stores is pretty much trash. I'd have to actually remove the handle to do the work making it a usable tool to my liking, so it was less work to find a really beat up head and start from there. My restoration standards are a bit different than what I usually see on here. I like to grind things back to straight and even, probably more straight and even than they were factory, it's just what I like to do to create the tools I want to own and use, since it's hard to buy tools in that condition anywhere. I rarely use a wire brush or vinegar soak.
So, I started with an unmarked (or so rusted the marks are gone) hammer head from the bay. 2.99 plus shipping, bidding on something no one else wants to mess with is satisfying, and after shipping I'm still at ten bucks cheaper than the junk from the box stores.

Mushrooming is pretty bad, there is some very uneven wear on the striking face, and some chips on both ends.
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I started on the belt grinder at 60 grit flattening and evening, then going into the bevels.

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I went from 60 grit up to 150. With some help from the spindle sander I got into the end of those bevels and evened them out. After chamfering the rest of the edges, I did a rough garnet blast all over, followed by three coats of gun blue with 0000 steel wool in between and barricade penetrating oil.
For polishing hammer faces to "good enough" I have a cheat method. Clamp my five inch random orbital upside-down in a vise and go from 220 to 320. When the grit stops cutting with the 320, it starts polishing. It's not a mirror finish, but it's perfect for a hammer IMO and takes 2 minutes with no buffing.

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Added a ghetto stamp

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Sketched out a profile on a scrap piece of 5/4 sugar maple. I'll use the full thickness for the shoulders and the swell.

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I use the cutoff to mark my opposite cut, works better than trying to eye it.

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Cut out both profiles on the bandsaw.

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Rough profiled on the belt sander's 3" wheel with 60 grit. Kerf drilled and sawn.

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Wedged with birch

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Oiled and finished

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Big booty

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Comments welcome
 
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I sense that yet another once-ordinary man has caught-on to the ''grand old implement' refurbishment bug. You did a nice job on this. Those oldies can and will give you much more confidence and sense of purpose than ever will an impulse buy Walmart special.
 
Thanks guys.

I sense that yet another once-ordinary man has caught-on to the ''grand old implement' refurbishment bug. You did a nice job on this. Those oldies can and will give you much more confidence and sense of purpose than ever will an impulse buy Walmart special.

I'm young but I've always been refurbishing, never could afford the good stuff and wal mart quality tools just make you angry and waste your time. :p you'd think it wouldn't be hard to find something as simple as a good hammer...
 
Thanks guys.



I'm young but I've always been refurbishing, never could afford the good stuff and wal mart quality tools just make you angry and waste your time. :p you'd think it wouldn't be hard to find something as simple as a good hammer...

Definitely not as easy to find a good hammer as you'd think, but Vaughn will never do you wrong.
That's the route I go if I can't find something vintage, but the lack of patina is and higher price for the same quality is a big loss.

That's an awesome handle , even nicer than the one you did on that HF driller.
 
Nice job! That hammer should thank you for bringing it back so nicely!

best

mqqn
 
Nice journey with the pics....now if I see a "trashed" head in a 2nd hand shop somewhere I'll be able to see it's potential.With so many different makers and styles and designs over the last 100 years or so no one would ever know that it didn't come from the factory like that...indeed nicer than factory as they probably were more concerned with it's purpose than eye appeal.
 
Definitely not as easy to find a good hammer as you'd think, but Vaughn will never do you wrong.
That's the route I go if I can't find something vintage, but the lack of patina is and higher price for the same quality is a big loss.

That's an awesome handle , even nicer than the one you did on that HF driller.

Good point, I have noticed Vaughan offering some good stuff, I used to get their saws if I needed a hand saw in a pinch, but I have seen their stuff less and less around me. Contracts with different stores, I guess.

Thanks
 
Nice journey with the pics....now if I see a "trashed" head in a 2nd hand shop somewhere I'll be able to see it's potential.With so many different makers and styles and designs over the last 100 years or so no one would ever know that it didn't come from the factory like that...indeed nicer than factory as they probably were more concerned with it's purpose than eye appeal.

:thumbup: Just watch out for cracks!
 
I have a Plumb hatchet that I rehafted a couple years ago, but never really had it quite satisfactory. I decided to give it as a gift to a friend of mine who's coming to town next week, so I cut off the old cherry handle, completely reworked the head, and made a new aggressive octagonal handle from sugar maple. Once again the head was taken to 150 for the surfaces that were straightened or adjusted, then chamfered to 150, sandblasted, gun blued, sharpened.

The old cherry handle done with hand tools only. I like cherry for a hatchet, but GOD cherry sure is ugly with an oil finish :D

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Really killer stamp on this hatchet, please excuse the crap iPad photography.

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Yeah, I went overboard with curves and swell. I was inspired by some European carving axes I've seen recently, so why not?

eEcFweI.jpg


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The shape of this haft is actually sort of complex to describe - the sides swell out where the kink is and the plane of the sides actually do an 's' twist which ends up leaning forward toward the swell.

60rT4No.jpg


Maybe you can see it here.

FweLuX3.jpg


Poll and chamfering detail. Wedge is Black Walnut.

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GKP0KTf.jpg
 
I have a Plumb hatchet that I rehafted a couple years ago, but never really had it quite satisfactory. I decided to give it as a gift to a friend of mine who's coming to town next week, so I cut off the old cherry handle, completely reworked the head, and made a new aggressive octagonal handle from sugar maple. Once again the head was taken to 150 for the surfaces that were straightened or adjusted, then chamfered to 150, sandblasted, gun blued, sharpened.

The old cherry handle done with hand tools only. I like cherry for a hatchet, but GOD cherry sure is ugly with an oil finish :D

ODjc850.jpg


Really killer stamp on this hatchet, please excuse the crap iPad photography.

bTXCDVS.jpg


Yeah, I went overboard with curves and swell. I was inspired by some European carving axes I've seen recently, so why not?

eEcFweI.jpg


zT3nDEB.jpg


The shape of this haft is actually sort of complex to describe - the sides swell out where the kink is and the plane of the sides actually do an 's' twist which ends up leaning forward toward the swell.

60rT4No.jpg


Maybe you can see it here.

FweLuX3.jpg


Poll and chamfering detail. Wedge is Black Walnut.

wTVHFYh.jpg


GKP0KTf.jpg

You've got one lucky friend, and I already envy this person 😁
That is one of the nicest looking hatchets I've ever seen, you've managed to turn a run of the mill plumb scout hatchet Into the stuff of legends.
I get the feeling that this head may have had some mushrooming to the poll ? And if so I'd say you definitely made it right, if you can't preserve all of the patina your work is the next best thing.
 
You've got one lucky friend, and I already envy this person 😁
That is one of the nicest looking hatchets I've ever seen, you've managed to turn a run of the mill plumb scout hatchet Into the stuff of legends.
I get the feeling that this head may have had some mushrooming to the poll ? And if so I'd say you definitely made it right, if you can't preserve all of the patina your work is the next best thing.

Thanks, that is a hell of a compliment and much appreciated. There was a bit of mushrooming, but even before chamfering the poll I ground back the uneven forging (not that I mind forging marks, but it seemed like the right thing to do here for some reason).
 
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