HammarBear - Forging 006 (31 March 2020)

A while back, I watched a video from youtuber Alec Steele on how to convert inexpensive Harbor Freight hammers into more usable tools. So, I got to work doing just that to my own. I took my Pittsburgh 2lb, 3lb and 4lb sledge hammers, as well as the Pittsburgh 3lb Engineers hammer, and ground the heads down. On the striking face, there was a hard chamfer around the perimeter that would make very pronounced marks if your strike wasn't dead on. Also, the faces on a couple of them weren't even flat. So, I fixed all that.

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The final step was to take the handle profile down from oval and relatively uncomfortable, to this. I used the bench sander to add flats on both sides of the handle, and then, using the forge, burned all the urethane coating off, and scorched the hickory wood a bit to darken them. I feel they turned out great.

More to come.
-Phil