Cleaning up Old Tools

[Littlef]

We were discussing cleaning up old tools the other day.  I just added an old Cobbler’s hammer to the kit.

Here’s what I did to this hammer – (and the other previous ball peen and tack hammer.)   The heads were loose and rusted, so I pulled them off and soaked them in evaporust for a day.

Then I took a metal file, and filed off all the gouges and pits from the working faces.  I then sanded off all the tooling marks with 80- grit paper, and then worked through 120, 330, and 400 grits.  I used my dremel and gave it a final polish it to a mirror, which is overkill.

 

The handle had paint and grime, so I wiped on some paint remover, and washed off the paint splatter. 

The handle was split, so I pried the crack open to get some wood glue in there, and clamped it closed for a day.  Then I sanded the rough gouges, and splintered parts with 150 and 330 grit paper (I was out of 220.)   I put a couple coats of pure tung oil finish on the handle.

 

The head has a steel wedge glued in place, so I just left it.  I sawed a new channel next to the steel wedge, and I drove in a new wood wedge to secure the head in place. Two corners of the head/handle joint still had a little gap, so I cut two small square wedges and drove them in place.  The head is rock solid now.

 

 

[DieselTech]

Nice work! Always nice to see old tools brought back to life. Looks great. 

[Littlef]

24 minutes ago, DieselTech said:

Nice work! Always nice to see old tools brought back to life. Looks great. 

Thanks.  I certainly enjoy using these tools with some history and character.  

[MarshalWill]

Beautiful. It's always good to see old tools made good again. I use my grandfather's cobbler's hammer and it was a pitted mess when I got it. I had to take off a lot of metal to clean it up. You can still see one pit at the top that was really deep and i didn't want to take off enough to get rid of that one.

[Littlef]

8 hours ago, MarshalWill said:

Beautiful. It's always good to see old tools made good again. I use my grandfather's cobbler's hammer and it was a pitted mess when I got it. I had to take off a lot of metal to clean it up. You can still see one pit at the top that was really deep and i didn't want to take off enough to get rid of that one.

I agree.  My hammers have a few pits also that I decided it wasn’t worth taking off that much material.  - it’s really neat that was your grandfathers, and it’s still In use.  Definitely an heirloom tool.  

[dikman]

Nice work (both of you), one can only wonder what that hammer was originally used for! The gouges on the face are BAD!!

[Littlef]

3 hours ago, dikman said:

Nice work (both of you), one can only wonder what that hammer was originally used for! The gouges on the face are BAD!!

Thank you sir.  Yea, I have a feeling there were some kids/grandkids involved, playing in the garage  and about beat that  hammer to death.  Someone was definitely pounding steel with it.  They split the handle half the length of the shaft.   But it’s back in business.

[Mulesaw]

Looks really good.

I like the shape of the handle on the cobblers hammer. Such nice curves :-)
The Tung oil finish looks great, and I like that you haven't sanded the handles down to "new" wood. There is just the right patina on the handles now.  

[Littlef]

7 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

Looks really good.

I like the shape of the handle on the cobblers hammer. Such nice curves :-)
The Tung oil finish looks great, and I like that you haven't sanded the handles down to "new" wood. There is just the right patina on the handles now.  

Thank you sir.  I agree, the psalm swell on that handle is what attracted me to it (and a low price for an old beat up hammer.)  When I refinish wood, I try to leave as much original character as I can.  I'm really happy with them.

[Littlef]

4 hours ago, Littlef said:

Thank you sir.  I agree, the palm swell on that handle is what attracted me to it (and a low price for an old beat up hammer.)  When I refinish wood, I try to leave as much original character as I can.  I'm really happy with them.

 

[MarshalWill]

We knew what you meant. I must admit, though, I had fun visualizing it being used in a church service.

It's good to leave as much original character as possible in old wood. It takes on a beautiful luster.

[Mulesaw]

I read it as palm the first time, it wasn't until now that I noticed the s :-) 

Another thing is that I find it really practical to have a polished ball been hammer. I was taught to rivet using the ball end of the hammer, and on copper rivets you can make such a beautiful head if the ball is polished. Mostly I don't use a domed head maker (or whatever the name of it is), the rivets just look better with all these small facets that are smooth and shiny.

So I disagree on the overkill :-) 

Brgds Jonas

[Littlef]

18 minutes ago, Mulesaw said:

I read it as palm the first time, it wasn't until now that I noticed the s :-) 

Another thing is that I find it really practical to have a polished ball been hammer. I was taught to rivet using the ball end of the hammer, and on copper rivets you can make such a beautiful head if the ball is polished. Mostly I don't use a domed head maker (or whatever the name of it is), the rivets just look better with all these small facets that are smooth and shiny.

So I disagree on the overkill :-) 

Brgds Jonas

lol, I was just correcting a typo, I didn't realize it would just make a whole new entry.  Oh well.  I've always polished ball peens.  If you don't, you just transfer the dings to whatever you're working on.  Same applies to leather work.  It definitely makes for cleaner work. 

[MarshalWill]

I also like polished ball peen hammers. For copper rivets, however, I use the other end of a 2 oz one. It's the way I was taught to rivet as a kid and it does the trick well.