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  #11  
Old 12-03-2011, 12:57 AM
hp246 hp246 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by invision View Post
Clint Eastwood beats gang of thugs senseless with hickory stick in Pale Rider then exclaims "Nothing like a good piece of hickory." So it must be good for metal shaping too
I have a lot of hickory near me. The only problem with the stuff is it tear up chainsaw blades.
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  #12  
Old 12-12-2011, 05:58 PM
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I made 5 or 6 slappers from Teak
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  #13  
Old 09-25-2017, 01:54 AM
War Horse War Horse is offline
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Thumbs up Interesting Link

I found this link very interesting, thank you
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  #14  
Old 09-25-2017, 05:53 PM
Cpeterson Cpeterson is offline
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Your best woods for mallets and wood slappers (roughing and edge work ) is hard maple very dense and tight grain, resists fracture. Plastic versus wood question that comes up in recent years is best answered they have there valve in that wood can be reshaped the UHMW cannot. Weights there a whole range of weight options but study work in ergonomics had point to 3.4lbs the idea weight that the avg person can throw for up to a eight hour day with the least discomfort. Features like surface and or raising bag heights influence the discomfort level also. Steel slappers factor into a few categories generally weight and contact surface area. Hardwood slappers and most likely the most misunderstood tool in that prior too the days that the avg guy could own a wheeling machine the slapper allowed you to stretch a large surface on a bag with accuracy and virtually blemish free. All your edge work over a dolly or form the hardwood slapper blade allows a displacement of force over a larger area and you again have virtually a blemish free surface. Same wood slapper design have been used in short run stamping and hydro forms to pre-stretch a surface in critical areas prior to die closure very common in aerospace
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  #15  
Old 09-26-2017, 12:14 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Wood slappers can be curved or straight, and can make radius bends over T stakes or tubing without leaving marks. With leather covering the striking faces of wooden slappers they don't get beat up. These slappers also smooth metal when used over bench anvils/dollies.The wood slappers can stretch aluminum edges over hard anvils, and they can also stretch bowl shapes when used with a bag.

Rubber slappers have been used in aviation to raise shapes in flat sheets by clamping the sheet over a hard form, and each blow raises a spot correspondingly.

Lead slappers have also been used in aviation to shrink flanges in 2024T3 for making nose ribs. I show this technique in a DVD, "Edge Those Panels."

Steel slappers started out as horse hoof files bent into a long "Z" shape, sold in buckets for a dime or two bits after they got dull. Frank Cufaude told me this, as he started doing autobody metalwork in 1919, after he came out of WW1. I worked with Frank for 5 years at HAC. He was 78 at the time.

Called "slap files" or "slappers" they caught on by the late 1920's, and were sold by hand tool companies. The file surface left marks in the paint that the men could see in the dim lights of the body shops back then - dirt floors and unpainted dark wood walls with single bulbs hanging from the rafters - standard shop decor through the 1940's. The textured surface held the metal a little bit, too and so "limited the stretch" of each blow. Yes, any slapper will shrink, whether rough or polished. The slappers level the metal faster than by using a hammer and dolly - usually the best craftsmen used them, according to the old men I trained with. Since then I have watched many other craftsmen and it is still true, from what I observe.

Other slappers were made of forged steel (Martin's pancake flipper, for instance), but I like spring steel because of the rebound/bounce - making it less work to use. I designed my spring steel slapper in 1974, and we still make and sell that popular pattern.

Round tubing makes a good slapper for doing reverse contours. We also make and sell a hardened spring steel slapper contoured to a half-round on the striking face for this purpose.
Solid round steel makes a good slapper for stretching panel edges around the inside of an oval nose opening, like on the 1930-40-50's road racing cars.

Spoons were not queried in this thread, but I will toss them in here. Pexto and Fairmont both made good spoons. The spoons did several tasks: holding them on the metal while striking them with the hammer moves large areas without leaving hammer marks... the spoon is lighter than a slapper so it can be the last tool used to level tiny imperfections at the end of a really fine job, maybe going to polish.... spoons are used for prying/levering skins off of frameworks to lift low spots... they are used as "drivers" to drive panel edges and "artwork" into place using a hammer, thus adjusting contours.

With the help of senior metalman Gene Halvorson, at HAC, we came up with a new spring steel spoon profile in 1974, and my company still forges and sells that pattern now. For some aluminum guys and others who do copper and brass, it is their finishing tool of choice. Well-balanced in the hand and a joy to use, it makes a classic ring as it smooths the metal. Tom Hannah really likes this tool.

Plastic anything tool-wise is a newer thing, and depending on the various characteristics you need: lubricity of the plastic - UHMW, brittleness - delrin, elasticity - urethane compositions, toughness - HDPE....etc etc various plastics offer substitutes as tools for metalworking.

Woods I have used for metalworking are alder, ash, maples, various oaks, iron wood, bodark, walnut, cherry, madrone, hick'ry, and lignum vitae. Each wood has assets and detriments, depending on the usage asked of it. Go local and give woods a try. Can't hurt anything and you get direct "knowledge" instead of theory in return for your efforts.

key:
HAC = Harrah's Auto Collection, World's largest at the time, with 2500 cars, and the finest auto library, at the time.
Tom Hannah = prodigy SoCal metalman who went right into building dragster bodies, early 1960's.
UHMW= ultra-high molecular weight plastic
HDPE= high density polyethlene
bodark= osage orange
lignum vitae = one tough, hard, heavy & *#*%*@!!

hope this helps ...
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Last edited by crystallographic; 09-26-2017 at 12:24 AM. Reason: btfsplk
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