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  #11  
Old 11-19-2018, 09:34 PM
Gando Gando is offline
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At Kerry's suggestion, I took a Martin meat tenderizer (serrated shrinking face) with an ice pick on the other end which by the way did more harm than good on either end. I ground the hammer face smooth and polished it. Andrew Slater expertly welded a ball bearing on the pick end and it is now my favorite all purpose hammer.
SO if you can find anything like the one Kerry speaks of, I'm certain you will find good favor in it!
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  #12  
Old 11-19-2018, 10:23 PM
steve.murphy steve.murphy is offline
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You could have the hammer tested using EDX or EDS (Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) if you have access to a machine. This will tell you the composition of the steel so a heat treatment plan could be done if the material is compatible. A university or oil analysis company may have a machine. You send in a few shavings and they do the rest.

A less scientific but possible sufficient method might be a spark test, like described here: http://www.capeforge.com/Spark%20testing.html
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  #13  
Old 11-22-2018, 10:49 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Default Forged and hardened tool steel - not cast

I'm no expert on this body work hand tool stuff, but Rockwell testing has shown body dollies to be anywhere from Rc36 to Rc 45. Pexto dollies are the hardest we have tested, and Sears the softest.
Hammers go from Rc 40 to Rc 52.
Yes, the "standard" (non-Asian) auto body tools are hardened.
No, the "standard" (non-Asian) auto body tools are not cast - they are forged tool steel, and have been for over 100 years.

E'body has their favorite hammer and dolly.
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Last edited by crystallographic; 11-23-2018 at 01:44 PM.
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  #14  
Old 11-23-2018, 11:47 AM
Secant Secant is offline
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Hardening a hammer face on a tool of this size is no big deal. Remove handle, heat the head to non-magnetic, quench the face under a steady stream of water, garden hose works fine. Check with file.
Alexander Weyger's book- The Making of Tools has an excellent description of this uncomplicated process. No hand-wringing required-
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  #15  
Old 11-24-2018, 11:23 PM
Mike Rouse Mike Rouse is offline
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One of the simplest ways of adding carbon to low carbon steel is to Use an oxy acet flame. Heat the hammer head to red hot using a carborising flame (one that has an excess of acet). Use that flame to heat the metal, the longer the better. The carbon from the acet will be absorbed into the steel the longer the deeper the carbon will penetrate.
Alternately heating the steel to a melt with the carborising flame Will result in
A layer of carbon rich steel Done right the layer will be hard as a file after quenching.
Mike
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  #16  
Old 11-25-2018, 07:50 AM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
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I would think “hard as a file” would be too hard and crack for sure when hammering however I don’t claim to be a metallurgist. I’m thinking Rick’s idea of case hardening the face with Kasenit would have a better chance of lasting . ~ John Buchtenkirch
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  #17  
Old 11-25-2018, 11:13 AM
Mike Rouse Mike Rouse is offline
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John that is hard as a file right after quenching. A temper draw of somewhere in the blue would soften it a bit but plenty hard on the face
Mike
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  #18  
Old 11-25-2018, 12:11 PM
Secant Secant is offline
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As Kent has stated, this hammer is made from high carbon tool steel, and for whatever reason, was drawn to a temper that is not hard enough- trying to add carbon to tool steel used for striking is not a good idea, and invites fracture at the neutral axis.
Just doing a simple re-hardening, and zone tempering, by putting the hammer face under a stream of water will give the proper hardness to the face with the rest of the hammer less hard. Fayette Plumb devised this method of tempering hammers in early part of the last century.
Case-hardening is generally only used on medium carbon steel-
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  #19  
Old 11-25-2018, 01:24 PM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Secant View Post
As Kent has stated, this hammer is made from high carbon tool steel, and for whatever reason, was drawn to a temper that is not hard enough- trying to add carbon to tool steel used for striking is not a good idea, and invites fracture at the neutral axis.
Just doing a simple re-hardening, and zone tempering, by putting the hammer face under a stream of water will give the proper hardness to the face with the rest of the hammer less hard. Fayette Plumb devised this method of tempering hammers in early part of the last century.
Case-hardening is generally only used on medium carbon steel-

Very true and excellent advice, Secant. Thank you.
Chipped hammer faces are all you get from over-hardening. Case-hardening tool steel is a non-starter, and is yet just another wonderful theory ...
I have some old Plomb (Los Angeles) tools, the oldest pair of line wrenches being forged and polished, and stamped simply "A. Plomb."
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  #20  
Old 11-27-2018, 11:50 AM
Cpeterson Cpeterson is offline
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Few thoughts, most hammers that are carbon steel based worldwide are 1045/1055 range steel forged or not. This is a through harden steel and 40-48 rc is a typical range. There are also quite a lot of cast hammers they can be a wide range of ductile iron and gray iron and most are not of the chemistry to be hardened or in all situations flame hardened which would be more common. Low carbons generally under 30% are carburized to a specific depth with a softer core.

Craig
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