converting a ball pein to a cobblers hammer

[dans79]

Last night I started converting a $10.49 big box ball pein hammer into a cobblers hammer. The first step was to strip all the Varnish and Japanning off the handle and head. The handle wasn't to bat but the varnish on the head was probably 1/64" to 1/32" thick, I had to break out the wire wheels to get it off.  The face was almost dead flat to start with, so it only took a few passes with a file and coarse sanding disks to give the face a slight dome, and to round over the edge.

With sandpaper and scotch-brite pads up to 600 grit, I refined the shape of the face, and removed any tooling marks from earlier steps. To finish off the face, I progressed through black, read and then white rouge on a stitched cotton buffing wheel. Its not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.  

Tonight I'm going to see if the head will take a decent cold blue, and I will probably finish of the handle with boiled linseed oil and wax. 



 

Edited March 3, 2022 by dans79

[JayEhl]

Looked like a fun project. I have two cobblers hammers I found from an estate sale.  These have larger diameter surfaces though.  But not as pretty as yours.

 

[dans79]

52 minutes ago, JayEhl said:

Looked like a fun project. I have two cobblers hammers I found from an estate sale.  These have larger diameter surfaces though.  But not as pretty as yours.

 

I tried to find one locally, but I'm in a tool wasteland/dessert. no one around here seems to fix/make anything.  

I looked at purchasing a new Osborne #65, or #66, but they were lighter, at 14 oz, and the face wasn't really any larger. The ball pein's head is ~1-1/4", the #65 is 1-1/4" and the #66 is 1-5/16". The big issues for me with the Osbornes was the fit and finish of the face, and the cost. I didn't think it was worth it to pay 3 to 5 times more, and still have to work on the face to make it suitable for use.   


 

[chuck123wapati]

very nice hammer indeed I have a cobblers hammer but it has a zigzag type pattern on the face, doesn't mar the leather though. I always wondered why.

[Hairic]

I was actually considering converting a few of my old body hammers from college into some cobbler style hammers actually, they are pretty banged up and need allot of work but I may give it a shot one of these days.  Yours looks good!

[dans79]

The cold blue didn't come out well (I expected thats would be the case before I started), and since I didn't want to trash a perfectly good handle just so I could rust blue the head, I begrudgingly , broke out some flat black industrial spray paint! The pictures didn't come out the great, as I was playing dodge the toddler at the same time!