Polish Cobbler's Hammer?

[MikeRock]

I searched 'shrinking hammer' and sure enough, there it is.  It has a face close to Chuck's and it backed by a rubber piece, I'd guess to eliminate any mis-oriented blows.

As another aside, when I had my paper route we'd get the bundles at a local garage.  Jess, the body guy in back, used a 'slapping file' to shrink metal.  This was 1956'ish.  He'd go after one of those big, thick, fenders with noisy vengance and then fill with plumber's lead bars.  I remember him Frenching some headlight surrounds. 

[fredk]

Your Jess probably used special lead/tin body fillers, aka Body Solder. I still have about 10 bars of that stuff. The lead/tin was 'sweated' onto the car metal and 'paddled' into basic shape then 'surformed' down smooth. A friend showed me the lead/tin fillers he took off a 1930s Rolls Royce. Put on when car was built. Over 50kg came off it

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, fredk said:

Your Jess probably used special lead/tin body fillers, aka Body Solder. I still have about 10 bars of that stuff. The lead/tin was 'sweated' onto the car metal and 'paddled' into basic shape then 'surformed' down smooth. A friend showed me the lead/tin fillers he took off a 1930s Rolls Royce. Put on when car was built. Over 50kg came off it

that is an art in itself!

[chuck123wapati]

5 hours ago, fredk said:

chuck, I think that hammer of yours is a sheet metal workers, 'metal shrinking' hammer

The lines in the face cause the sheet metal to pucker and gather together, to shrink sheet metal

High quality versions of these actually have a face which revolves slightly on each strike. The use of these is a long lost sheet metal worker's art

i know of those too. but mine is a crispen number 2 cobblers hammer and you made me do it, find more info. 

lol i found this info on this tool its to funny  its for driving shoe nails!!!! dont know why it doesn't mar the leather but it doesn't 

https://books.google.com/books?id=opojidId2IEC&pg=RA1-PA3&lpg=RA1-PA3&dq=crispen+number+two+hammer&source=bl&ots=qhzm_4BnjR&sig=ACfU3U0y6TJ9kNXqFxERdDtOSZ7Lsbkegw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiinpq84dj3AhUgCTQIHSKxAsMQ6AF6BAgeEAM#v=onepage&q=crispen number two hammer&f=false

Edited May 12, 2022 by chuck123wapati

[MikeRock]

Chuck,

Thanks for that.  Scroll up a bit and see the four leather type.  Cool!

[Samalan]

18 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

been using this cobblers hammer for years with no marks whatso ever. Guess I'm stupid or somthin because i cant get it to mark the leather unless i beat the hell out of it or catch an edge.

I have that same hammer but it's like new the face nail grabbing marks are much deeper than yours but the same design didn't know what it was called thanks for that Chuck.

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Northmount
removed repeated photo and text

[fredk]

deja vu - again

Edited May 12, 2022 by fredk

[chuck123wapati]

9 hours ago, MikeRock said:

Chuck,

Thanks for that.  Scroll up a bit and see the four leather type.  Cool!

very cool old book every thing you ever wanted to know about fixing shoes lol.

[MikeRock]

'Cool, OLD........."   Hey, be nice, I was a junior in high school when that was printed:))))

[Hardrada]

 

I use Metal Glo for my polishing.

[chuck123wapati]

18 hours ago, MikeRock said:

'Cool, OLD........."   Hey, be nice, I was a junior in high school when that was printed:))))

your a cool old man !!!LOL i was about six then.

[chuck123wapati]

17 hours ago, Hardrada said:

 

I use Metal Glo for my polishing.

i polish knives to that for about 250 bucks a pop. I'm just not ocd enough to polish a hammer lol.

[dans79]

On 5/10/2022 at 2:46 PM, MtlBiker said:

Thanks Fred.  It is indeed rough, but I'm going to first try what @chuck123wapati suggested.  Hit some leather and see what it looks like.  Have to wait until the end of the day and I go home though.

I'm very reluctant to send the hammer back.... do you remember a month or two ago when I posted about an Osborne edge creaser I'd received?  That was so sharp it was cutting the leather instead of just creasing it.  I eventually received a replacement from my dealer for it (Osborne replaced it for them) and the replacement was virtually just as bad.  I've since moved to the knockoffs that are available for dirt cheap through Amazon and they are much MUCH better that the two from Osborne.  I don't want to send the hammer back because I'd surely be labelled as a chronic complainer by the dealer.  (That might not be wrong, as I think if you're paying for something it should be usable for the task it's designed for.)

This is why I haven't purchased anything from Osborne. They charge top tier prices, but what they sell has bottom tier fit and finish.  

I modified a ball pein to use as a cobblers hammer, maybe the info will help you make the Osborne usable.

 

[dans79]

7 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

i polish knives to that for about 250 bucks a pop. I'm just not ocd enough to polish a hammer lol.

It's a lot easier and faster to do on a hammer, as you don't have to worry about screwing up the edge like you do on a knife or chisel!

[chuck123wapati]

3 minutes ago, dans79 said:

It's a lot easier and faster to do on a hammer, as you don't have to worry about screwing up the edge like you do on a knife or chisel!

it would be an easy job with the tools i have i have belts to 1000 grit and polishing wheels after that. But so far I haven't found the need for a mirror polished hammer or the want to. lol.

[MtlBiker]

14 minutes ago, dans79 said:

This is why I haven't purchased anything from Osborne. They charge top tier prices, but what they sell has bottom tier fit and finish.  

I modified a ball pein to use as a cobblers hammer, maybe the info will help you make the Osborne usable.

 

That's terrific!  I wish I'd seen that before spending money on yet another Osborne product that is inferior quality.

I've already polished out the little scratches and smoothed the sharp transition, and then with a buffing attachment on my dremel, and some polishing paste, I ALMOST got a mirror finish.  It's certainly very usable now, but when I have time I'm going to continue and try to get the mirror finish.

Just now, chuck123wapati said:

it would be an easy job with the tools i have i have belts to 1000 grit and polishing wheels after that. But so far I haven't found the need for a mirror polished hammer or the want to. lol.

I know it's not needed, but for some crazy reason it's something I feel is very cool.  And I'll continue making my Osborne better... it's almost at the mirror finish stage already.

 

[dikman]

I've been toying with the idea of finding a (cheap) hammer and re-forging it to a wide/flat cobbler's hammer. I'm not sure how successful it would be, but it's an idea.

[MtlBiker]

25 minutes ago, dikman said:

I've been toying with the idea of finding a (cheap) hammer and re-forging it to a wide/flat cobbler's hammer. I'm not sure how successful it would be, but it's an idea.

Why would you go through the trouble of re-forging a cheap hammer?  Did you see what @dans79 said above?  He took a $10.49 hammer and made it into a work of art, without re-forging.  I think his result is really gorgeous.  Can you get a "cheap" hammer for less cost than that one?

 

[fredk]

26 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:

. . .   Can you get a "cheap" hammer for less cost than that one?

yes, I've bought, actually 16 of them for a project,  at £0.95 each. = $1.17 approx. Another shop has them at £1 each, = $1.23 approx

Yes they are decent hammers, light weight, about 10 oz

[dans79]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

I've been toying with the idea of finding a (cheap) hammer and re-forging it to a wide/flat cobbler's hammer. I'm not sure how successful it would be, but it's an idea.

Personally I wouldn't risk it, unless you can get your hands on a hammer that you know is 30 to 40+ years old.  If you have the tools for forging, you would probably be better off starting with a piece of bar stock of a known grade of steel. God knows what random cheap steel they use to make hammers now. 


 

[jrdunn]

6 hours ago, dans79 said:

This is why I haven't purchased anything from Osborne. They charge top tier prices, but what they sell has bottom tier fit and finish.  

I modified a ball pein to use as a cobblers hammer, maybe the info will help you make the Osborne usable.

This has been my experience with them recently as well.

[dikman]

12 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

Why would you go through the trouble of re-forging a cheap hammer?  Did you see what @dans79 said above?  He took a $10.49 hammer and made it into a work of art, without re-forging.  I think his result is really gorgeous.  Can you get a "cheap" hammer for less cost than that one?

 

As to the question "Why would I bother?", two answers - 1. because I can  and 2. to get a bigger flat area, ball pein/claw hammers have smaller heads, as you know.

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

As to the question "Why would I bother?", two answers - 1. because I can  and 2. to get a bigger flat area, ball pein/claw hammers have smaller heads, as you know.

plus playing with the dragons breath is always super fun!!!

[chuck123wapati]

14 hours ago, fredk said:

yes, I've bought, actually 16 of them for a project,  at £0.95 each. = $1.17 approx. Another shop has them at £1 each, = $1.23 approx

Yes they are decent hammers, light weight, about 10 oz

i can get hammer heads by the buckets at garage sales seems like. To re-handle a head costs more than the cheapo china junk so people just don't do it anymore. plus there is an old guy, like me lol, that has an ongoing yard sale so the old timers get him to clean out their garages and man he has some cool stuff sometimes.

[dans79]

2 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

i can get hammer heads by the buckets at garage sales seems like. To re-handle a head costs more than the cheapo china junk so people just don't do it anymore.

It can be worth it, but it needs to be like a 40+ year old hammer, preferably even older if you can find it. My brother has one of my grandfathers hammers from the 1920' or 30's, that is a real jem. Hard enough that it won't

mar, but soft enough that it won't chip.