If I had a hammer
September 23, 2018 2:20 PM   Subscribe

How To Make a Hand-Engraved Hammer with Simple Tools Uri Tuchman & his cat show us how to do it. (SLYT)
posted by supermedusa (29 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
Pretty neat and look at the size of his shop cat!
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:51 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


A good, relaxing video.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:58 PM on September 23, 2018


Pretty hammer, but... The head is going to be way too soft for actually hitting things, and the handle looks to be made of pine, which is entirely the wrong wood. And why did he make the handle square? Has he not looked at his other hammers? Still, a nice ornament.
posted by pipeski at 3:05 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


I wish my hands were that steady, and that I had that much patience.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:20 PM on September 23, 2018


Yes the hammer is merely pretty (but so pretty!) and he does acknowlege that in the vid. The handle is rosewood, which he agrees is pretty but useless in an actual tool. But best costume acessory ever!!
posted by supermedusa at 3:52 PM on September 23, 2018


More of the shopkat, please.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:01 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Thanks for posting this.
posted by paduasoy at 4:41 PM on September 23, 2018


That was really relaxing to watch. Wouldn't it be neat if all the dudes who are really, really into forging knives and axes and swords would switch over to tools instead? Like they could share videos of sick wrench builds and talk about how this will totally apply so much torque.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:42 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


He was great, and made an awesome hammer but I just wanted him to say "have you got a rrrroom?". I know, he's German, not French but nevertheless.
posted by ashbury at 5:04 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Shop cat at 0:05: "Oh hai. Are you going to use the Really Loud Thing? If so, I'm outta here."

Shop cat at 0:20: "Oh right. With the hand tools. Looks like a primarily manual job. Proceed."

Nice hammer he ends up with.

His finger tapping machine is pretty amusing, and the process of making it is similarly relaxing to watch.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:13 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ha. This is great too:

Creepy Eye-Following Mechanized Painting
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:25 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


A+ cover at the end.
posted by curious nu at 5:27 PM on September 23, 2018


That was cool. I made one like it in machine-tool class twenty-smumble years ago, using the same basic methods. I still have it and it's a good little hammer. I do remember we hardened the face using some form of witchcraft.
posted by Horkus at 6:04 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Does his cat have an instagram? It has gorgeous long hair but also soft, plush-looking paws, a rare combination.
posted by batter_my_heart at 6:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


"Yes the hammer is merely pretty (but so pretty!) and he does acknowlege that in the vid. The handle is rosewood, which he agrees is pretty but useless in an actual tool. But best costume acessory ever!!"


The handle is cherry, not rosewood. Rosewood would probably make a great (and expensive) handle — it's a very hard wood.
posted by jonathanhughes at 6:25 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Re: Creepy Eye-Following Mechanized Painting

This is someone demonstrating a mastery of craft sufficient to create a forgery of an obscure 18th c. painter with little chance of being detected. It suggests that having a large number of Youtube subscribers is more lucrative that committing art fraud. I'm somewhat comfortable with that idea.
posted by figurant at 7:01 PM on September 23, 2018


Pretty hammer, but... The head is going to be way too soft for actually hitting things...

I've found that a good choice in cases like this, where it's not possible to heat-treat the final product to the desired hardness, is to use an elevated-temperature drawn steel such as ETD-150. It's supplied in a modestly hard form (Rockwell C30 or so), but is still very machinable due to the specialty alloying content. I think blacksmiths prefer hammers of somewhat higher hardness, but C30 is more than adequate for common utility tasks. I've made a few specialty punches and dies with this stuff, and have been pretty happy with the results, as well.
posted by Overclocked Lemon at 8:16 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


HE SINGS AT THE END

That was so cute and so unexpected

A+ post ty for sharing
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:28 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


Rosewood would probably make a great (and expensive) handle — it's a very hard wood.

Yep, well at least depending on the use case. I have brace handles and plane handles that are rosewood and complaints are few and far between between Dad and I, who have put them through the paces over the years.

Regarding the softness of the head, well, if this is just a lump hammer then it doesn't really benefit from extra hardness does it?
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:13 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


I know, he's German, not French but nevertheless.

His accent *exactly* like an Israeli friend of mine, I'm pretty sure that's where he's originally from. It's definitely not a German accent. :)
posted by oneirodynia at 9:45 PM on September 23, 2018


That was wonderful! thank you!
posted by james33 at 7:36 AM on September 24, 2018


What about work hardening? Could you case harden the faces of the hammer by just bashing on them for a while with another hammer?
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:50 AM on September 24, 2018


Is he Swiss? Madame Gazelle has that same is this a French accent? is it a German accent? thing going on. He's very charming and he's made a nice object, for all that it's unbalanced and I don't believe in the handle and he kept dropping things and chipping things and measuring by eye and somehow it's not in proportion...

It was a bit like listening to Love Songs from the Auvergne with one of the instruments substituted by nails on a chalk board, for me. I mean, that is something I would totally listen to.
posted by glasseyes at 11:19 AM on September 24, 2018


Creepy Eye-Following Mechanized Painting...

That was amazing on so many levels. Assuming I had the know-how and skill to make the mechanism involved (including cutting the gears by hand!), I would have found a cheap thrift store painting to use. But not only does he do the painting himself, he makes the frame (complete with secret compartment), and even manages to get in a little ironing while he works!
posted by TedW at 11:41 AM on September 24, 2018


What about work hardening? Could you case harden the faces of the hammer by just bashing on them for a while with another hammer?

I think that'd be a wash and/or just a thing you'd deal with as it came as I suspect any case hardening would be very much negligible once you got around to actually hitting things. Work hardening would happen, certainly, much like that of a hard used metal chisel that mushrooms and forms shards that fly off in dangerous, or at least unwelcome fashion.

Bit of a stretch but I figured I'd mention it here such that you could take or leave the bits that you want re: work hardening in a modern, small scale tool manufacturing scenario.

So, HandToolRescue is a youtube channel that does restorations/rescues of old tools. One of his pet projects is this wrench that he's selling (for a very reasonable price if you ask me) and he's trying to keep things as close to true to form as possible without being asinine about it. that includes case hardening I think.

AvE is another youtube channel that does deep dive, non-sponsored teardown/review videos of everything from industrial components to blenders. He's like a cursing, Canadian, asshole, poet, engineer. So, he did an episode where he bought one of the HandToolRescue wrenches and did a teardown. His take on case hardening in that use case is one I respect an valued. *shrug* It's nuanced so I'll let you decide to watch the video or leave it at that.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:19 PM on September 24, 2018


You could work-harden the faces of the hammer but it would probably deform significantly, messing up the shape.

The hammer head isn't that big, it wouldn't be too hard to heat it in a small propane forge and then quench it in lye. You can get up to Rockwell 40+ via lye quenching on low-carbon (mild) steel, which is I think what he's working with.

Though the more traditional route would probably be to pack it in a sealed container of charcoal and then heat it, which would carburize it (if you did it right; it's sort of a black art). Although I don't know if you'd want to do that before or after the engraving... probably before.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:50 PM on September 24, 2018


Why before? I'd assume it'd be harder (sorry) to engrave after---what else is going on?
posted by golwengaud at 1:13 PM on September 24, 2018


It would be harder to engrave, definitely. But if you carburized it afterwards, the engraving wouldn't appear nice and bright, it would darken as part of the process. So it wouldn't look as pretty with the dramatic contrast between light and dark metal, I wouldn't think.

Although on doing some searching, apparently it's a big deal when doing expensive high-end firearms, bespoke shotguns and stuff particularly, whether you engrave and then color case harden (which is a very specific type of carburization), or do the CCH and then engrave. I can't find any photos on what the different processes turn out looking like, though.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:05 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


whether you engrave and then color case harden (which is a very specific type of carburization), or do the CCH and then engrave. I can't find any photos on what the different processes turn out looking like, though.

I think Clickspring (I know, I know, another youtube reference) did some case hardening videos and his production quality, video and metalworking, are both exceptional.

I think it may have been his video on making a hand drill (for the Antikythera Mechanism series) or the barrel arbor for his clock series. Sorry I can't be more specific.
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:11 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


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