Sledge hammer and cupping tool

After the heavy forging Chase Saxton and I did, I realized I needed a second heavy sledge-hammer in my shop. I have a 10 pound sledge right now, that is a pretty decent one, but that's it. I stopped by the old antique store in town (where I got my last sledge head,) and picked up a 16-pound funny shaped sledge. It was all they had, but I figured with a little work, it would do.

I sawed off the original faces to decrease the weight as well as to get rid of some chips and pitting. Then I set to work to shorten the hammer-head by "upsetting" the material. I made one of the hammer faces round and one face flat.  By the time I cut, forged, and ground it into a usable piece of hardware, I had a 13.25-pound hammer head, that weighed 14.25-pounds with the handle.


Here is the original hammer head!

Here is a sped-up video of making the hammer-eye drift for this project, and then the work involved in upsetting such a large hammer head!

 

 

 

Here I am forging a "cupping tool" in the new striking anvil with the new sledge hammer.

 

 

 

And yesterday I made my first "top-swage." Here are some pictures!

Off to work for today!