MrRick, Fantastic work, this is a beautiful tool. I like the brass compression ring touch, really classy. Some day I will have to duplicate this for my use. I was wondering, did you consider making one of the heads out of wood? For the rap on the body to loosen the wedge. Thanks for posting.
Thanks Oldtool! Yeah... that compression ring adds a nice touch. If you remember I did this with an awl that I made. Yes...I did make a wooden end out of torrefied maple. But I don't have a 3/8" die to cut the threads on it. I'm certainly not buying one at this point but I can make a working 3/8" die out of a hex nut. I'll may do this and finish it up. It would be better to make this out of ebony. But what the heck I'll make do with what I have. But there's another thing I was thinking about doing and that's installing a "striking button". I'd make it out of brass. I wouldn't need a wooden hammer end. I could just loosen the wedge by hitting the striking button (see Red arrow) which is usually located in top just in front of the wedge like this:
Beautiful hammer. My only cringe came when you brass plates the steel ends. Your memory is probably good so it won't be a problem. I'd forget they were steel and be pissed at myself when I used it as a brass hammer and dinged something up. 😀
Thanks Swirt.... I had a heck of a time trying to actually find and buy 3/8-16 brass hex bolts. However, I used steel because this hammer is for tapping the top end of the blade. In thinking about it, I felt steel would be better. Brass ends would get dinged up striking the blade's end. I also made threaded wooden ends that can be swapped out for one or both of the brass plated steel ones.
A quick pass with a magnet should be able to confirm something is brass plated steel versus solid brass (unless it was brass plated stainless steel, but who does that?)
Even SS will attract a magnet (a bit weaker except for 304 & 316 alloy which are non-magnetic)
O like the idea of brass plumbing caps (natural gas?) that screw onto a brass/steel (NPT MxMxF) "T", but I don't know how the weight balance would be. One could swap out with iron caps when needed, but then again who would take the time to do that? I'd just make a pair of hammers, one in each material.
Hey all... when you brass plate steel with the technique I did you can tell. The Plating is thin and you can see it's not solid brass. Anyways.... it works for me.
How did you do your plating and how well does your plating hold up? I was a bad kid and plated Dad's pliers with copper (copper sulphate). Chemically it worked well but no real grip. Electrolysis?
SplinterGroup.... heat and rub brass brush on it while hot. Surprisingly it works well and you can vary how much you build up to your liking. Look at first photo. Zoom in.
