Plane hammer bargain

[Rob Luter]

I’ve been looking for a small brass hammer to make fine lateral adjustments to plane irons. There are some nice ones out there but they are all pretty spendy. I ran across the gem below at Harbor Freight. Steel body with matte chrome finish. One Nylon face and one brass face, both replaceable. Nice handle. 3oz head weight.

Six bucks. :eek:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52431421307_c4f99bf853_b.jpg

[Tom M King]

Thanks for that! I'm getting one for each molding plane toolbox.

[Jim Koepke]

Looks like a great deal Rob. I'm fortunate another member gave me a brass head. All that was needed of me was to make a handle.

488129

Works great on woodies and spokeshaves.

jtk

[Rob Luter]

Looks like a great deal Rob. I'm fortunate another member gave me a brass head. All that was needed of me was to make a handle.

488129

Works great on woodies and spokeshaves.

jtk

Nice! I was looking for something like that, and preferably vintage. I found one in an antique mall yesterday. It was a brass jewelers hammer with what I guessed was a 4oz head. Great patina. Lots of mojo. $28 bucks. Nope. I think I did better with the version from Horrible Fright.

[Jim Koepke]

It always seems to come down to waiting for something to come along or finding something that will do the job.

Having a lathe to make handles has made waiting easier for me. I had thought of trying to find a hunk of brass to work into a head when this one was offered to me.

As much fun as making mallets and this hammer has been it often has me thinking about looking for a nice hunk of brass to make another hammer.

There is an iron head that has been drilled for my attempt at making a genno hammer. The handle has been made but the tenon hasn't been cut. The handle needs a bit of work as it doesn't have "the feel" for my hand at present. It is kind of sitting on the side due to other projects.

jtk

[Rob Luter]

Just a follow up……..

I was able to get in a little shop time today and did some sharpening and plane tuning. This little gem works great. It’s so easy to get the lateral adjustment just right.

[Ed Hilton]

Looks like a good value.

Anybody else see the irony of a HF hammer and a starrett rule in the same picture?

[Jim Koepke]

Looks like a good value.

Anybody else see the irony of a HF hammer and a starrett rule in the same picture?

What works, works, what doesn't, doesn't.

jtk

[Rob Luter]

Looks like a good value.

Anybody else see the irony of a HF hammer and a Starrett rule in the same picture?

It's not lost on me. The rule came from a time I was an Engineer at a company that built special machinery and automation. They were the standard in the tool room. Always accurate and always consistent. I like that the graduations are engraved into the rule. The cutting edge of my Tite-Mark gauge drops right in the groove and I can get a hyper accurate setup.

[Tony Wilkins]

It's not lost on me. The rule came from a time I was an Engineer at a company that built special machinery and automation. They were the standard in the tool room. Always accurate and always consistent. I like that the graduations are engraved into the rule. The cutting edge of my Tite-Mark gauge drops right in teh groove and I can get a hyper accurate setup.

Definitely helps to get things more accurate than I need to be for the junk I build!

[Jim Koepke]

It's not lost on me. The rule came from a time I was an Engineer at a company that built special machinery and automation. They were the standard in the tool room. Always accurate and always consistent. I like that the graduations are engraved into the rule. The cutting edge of my Tite-Mark gauge drops right in the groove and I can get a hyper accurate setup.


Definitely helps to get things more accurate than I need to be for the junk I build!

This is something that will make it easy to repeatedly set a Tite-Mark gauge to the same setting.

Thanks Rob, that is a great tip.

jtk

[Thomas Crawford]

Jumping on this topic - I've never worked with brass, how easy is it to restore a vintage hammer? For instance on ebay there are some old WWII military machinists hammers, the faces are usually pretty beat up. Is it worth trying to restore a smooth face on them or are they just shot? Its about equal price to a new one like the Grace brand.

[Jim Koepke]

Jumping on this topic - I've never worked with brass, how easy is it to restore a vintage hammer? For instance on ebay there are some old WWII military machinists hammers, the faces are usually pretty beat up. Is it worth trying to restore a smooth face on them or are they just shot? Its about equal price to a new one like the Grace brand.

If the prices are "about equal" why buy an afternoon's worth of work?

Using a file on brass can take care of the mushrooming. Then you have to clean the file. Not a hard job, just tedious.

jtk