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 sandpap