Here are some details of making my Hand Plane Tap Hammer that you may find of interest. If you haven't seenPart I click here.
“Spoon Peening” a Brass Compression Ring
I wanted to dress up the intersection of the shaft to handle and decided to use a brass compression ring (see Red Arrow). The problem was that the compression ring inside diameter was 0.378”. This was okay where the ring actually butt against the handle but on the top side it had a little 0.023” gap. This meant I had a slight draft on the handle. I didn’t want to try to sand the shaft diameter because the problem would worse. So I decided to “peen” the top edge of the compression ring.
When I was a kid we used to make rings out of coins by drilling holes and then peening around the edge with a spoon. I decided to try this on the top edge.
Unlike making a ring, the peening would be only towards the center in order to close the diameter to what I needed.
After peening carefully, the top edge was now 0.355” diameter and the bottom edge was at 0.378” inside diameter. A complete success!
Tapping the PEX Brass Tee (The Head)
Next, I wanted to make replaceable head ends. I decided to make these out of 3/8”-16 hex bolts. First I tapped the inside of the Tee at both ends as shown:
Making the hammer head ends
I used two 3/8”-16 x ¾”L hex bolts. I chucked them into my drill and removed most of the flats on my bench grinder. It would have been better to do this with my hand grinder. Hand grinder discs are cheap next to wearing a bench grinder stone down and having to redress the flatness.
Then I finished up with a small file in my drill press. I touched up with some 600 and 1200 grit wet/dry sandpaper.
On the tops of the bolts I smoothly filed off the raised nomenclature.
It’s starting to really look good now !
Brass Plating the Hammer Ends
Next I brass plated the steel hammer ends and reassembled.
Next I spent some time polishing up the brass tee with some Autosol. I love this stuff!
Finally, I shellacked the torrefied maple shaft and handle. Then a once over with some wood butter.
Here’s the final beauty!!
Thanks for Looking!
Feel free to comment, ask questions and "Thumbs Up " if you like it!
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.
