It's hard to imagine a house without a hammer. This tool is an indispensable item. It will hammer a nail, help crack nuts, and sometimes you can’t do without it in plumbing work.
However, there are times when it is broken or only one head remains. And it is simply necessary to perform work that involves a hammer.
Therefore, you need to figure out how to make a hammer with your own hands.
Using a Hammer
The history of the origin of the hammer goes back centuries. It was still used primitive people. They found him the best various applications. Used in construction, mining, hunting.
By changing the hammer, you can trace how humanity developed. Mostly the change affected only the material from which it was created. But the design itself remained unchanged
There are a huge number of types of hammers that are used in various fields human life activity. So, it is used in medicine, construction, cooking, and plumbing. In these areas you cannot do without a hammer. However, each sphere has its own specific type of hammer.
The most popular and in demand is a regular hammer, which is used in everyday life. Its popularity is explained by the fact that it is multifunctional and versatile.
Its main goal is to increase the power of a human strike. In addition to being needed for driving nails, it is also an indispensable assistant for other construction tools. For such as punches, chisels, chisels.
The following work is performed with a hammer
- nails are driven in;
- crush tiles or concrete;
- make holes;
- straightens or bends metal objects.
Hammer design
The photo of the hammer shows that it consists of two parts
- lever
- striker
The handle can be made of the following materials
- tree
- plastic
- metal.
In the production of the striker they use
- steel;
- copper;
- lead;
- tree;
- rubber.
Its shape and size depend on the area in which it is used. And the cost of the hammer is greatly influenced by the shape of the striker.
The square one is much cheaper than round form. Since its striking part has much clearer accuracy, as well as greater impact power. The speed of any hammer can only be adjusted by a person.
How to make a hammer
The tool begins to be made from the handle. Since the firing pin itself is usually there. Making it at home is problematic. Therefore, you should not throw away your old hammer heads.
The handle is easiest to make from wood. The following tree species are suitable for this: 3t
- birch;
- maple;
- Rowan;
Note!
To make it you need a block of wood. The size depends on how long the hammer is needed. The handle itself is turned from the block. Afterwards, be sure to sand it so that there is no discomfort during the work and the skin on your hands is not damaged.
The prepared wood must be thoroughly dried and then varnished. The drying room is selected carefully. Since it must comply with the basic rules:
- good ventilation;
- lack of a lot of sunlight;
- constant positive temperature.
It is important that wood should not be dried using artificial lighting. Since it can be deformed and its size can change greatly.
The next stage is the most difficult, connecting the handle to the striker. The narrowed end of the handle must be inserted into the head of the hammer with some effort.
There are often cases when the tip does not fit correctly. When making the handle, it turned out to be a little larger. It's not scary, you can process it with a rasp until the right size, and then sand it to make the surface smooth.
Note!
The firing pin is mounted perpendicular to the base of the handle. In this case, the structure must be kept in an upright position.
The head is inserted using gradual blows against a hard surface until the handle fits tightly into the head. That's it, the hammer is ready to use.
Making a hammer yourself is not difficult, the main thing is desire. Of course, you can buy a new hammer in the store, but this does not fully guarantee that the connection between the head and the handle will not break again. Therefore, it is advisable to make a hammer with your own hands.
Photo of a hammer with your own hands
Note!
To ensure that the hammer does not fly off the handle during operation, but sits on it securely and firmly, it is enough to just place it correctly on the handle once.
Lever
First, about the dimensions: the hammer handle should be oval in cross-section, from 250 to 350 mm long, smoothly tapering to the end on which the hammer head is mounted.
The best wood for making handles is birch, beech, oak, ash, maple, hornbeam or rowan. It is completely unacceptable to make hammer handles from species with easily splintered wood: pine, spruce, aspen or alder.
Hammers with metal and plastic handles are now available for sale. They completely avoid the problem of fitting the head onto the handle, but for some reason I prefer hammers with wooden handles. They are warmer to the touch, feel more secure and comfortable in the hand.
Most often, hammer handles are made from birch wood. If you plan the handle yourself from a thick birch branch, it must be dried in a warm, shady and well-ventilated place.
Do not try to dry wood using artificial heat sources: electric fireplaces, air heaters, radiators. With such drying, the wood inevitably cracks and loses its strength.
If the wooden handle for a hammer is not sufficiently dried, over time it will dry out and decrease in volume, and the head will dangle on it, constantly threatening to fly off the handle of the tool.
Fitting the hammer head onto the handle
Insert the thin end of the handle into the hole in the hammer head. The ideal would be to fit the head on the handle with a certain force or, as the masters say, “with interference.”
If the handle is too thick, sand its thin end first with a rasp and then with sandpaper. As a result, the end of the handle should be a gentle cone. Having attached the hammer head to the handle, make sure that it is strictly perpendicular to the center line of the handle.
Holding the handle vertically, with the head of the hammer up, strike it with the back wide end against a hard surface from top to bottom. With each blow, the head of the tool will slowly but surely fit onto the expanding handle, becoming stronger and stronger on it.
The immobility of the head during subsequent impacts will indicate that it has “sat” firmly enough on the handle.
Wedging the hammer handle
Prepare a place for a wooden wedge. To prevent the wedge from moving to the side and damaging the handle, use a narrow chisel to make a notch about 5 mm deep at an angle of 30 0 to the longitudinal axis of the hammer.
A wooden wedge is a blade about 3 mm thick, about 15 mm wide and 30 to 50 mm long. The wedge should taper smoothly towards the front, but its end should be blunt.
After the wooden wedge is driven into the handle approximately 15-20 mm, use a hacksaw with small tooth saw off the upper part of the handle protruding from the head of the hammer so that it protrudes...
To ensure that it does not fly off the handle during operation, but sits on it securely and firmly, it is enough to just place it correctly on the handle once.
Lever
First, about the dimensions: the hammer handle should be oval in cross-section, from 250 to 350 mm long, smoothly tapering to the end on which the hammer head is mounted.
The best wood for making handles is birch, beech, oak, ash, maple, hornbeam or rowan. It is completely unacceptable to make hammer handles from species with easily splintered wood: pine, spruce, aspen or alder.
Hammers with metal and plastic handles are now available for sale. They completely avoid the problem of fitting the head onto the handle, but for some reason I prefer hammers with wooden handles. They are warmer to the touch, feel more secure and comfortable in the hand.
Most often, hammer handles are made from birch wood. If you plan the handle yourself from a thick birch branch, it must be dried in a warm, shady and well-ventilated place.
Do not try to dry wood using artificial heat sources: electric fireplaces, air heaters, radiators. With such drying, the wood inevitably cracks and loses its strength.
If the wooden handle for a hammer is not sufficiently dried, over time it will dry out and decrease in volume, and the head will dangle on it, constantly threatening to fly off the handle of the tool.
Fitting the hammer head onto the handle
Insert the thin end of the handle into the hole in the hammer head. The ideal would be to fit the head on the handle with a certain force or, as the masters say, “with interference.”
If the handle is too thick, sand its thin end first with a rasp and then with sandpaper. As a result, the end of the handle should be a gentle cone. Having attached the hammer head to the handle, make sure that it is strictly perpendicular to the center line of the handle.
Holding the handle vertically, with the head of the hammer up, strike it with the back wide end against a hard surface from top to bottom. With each blow, the head of the tool will slowly but surely fit onto the expanding handle, becoming stronger and stronger on it.
The immobility of the head during subsequent impacts will indicate that it has “sat” firmly enough on the handle.
Wedging the hammer handle
Prepare a place for a wooden wedge. To prevent the wedge from moving to the side and damaging the handle, use a narrow chisel to make a notch about 5 mm deep at an angle of 30 0 to the longitudinal axis of the hammer.
A wooden wedge is a blade about 3 mm thick, about 15 mm wide and 30 to 50 mm long. The wedge should taper smoothly towards the front, but its end should be blunt.
After the wooden wedge is driven into the handle approximately 15-20 mm, use a fine-tooth hacksaw to saw off the upper part of the handle protruding from the hammer head so that it protrudes beyond the head by 2-3 mm.
Cut the second wedge from a strip of metal, the same shape and size as the wooden one, but much shorter, no more than 20 mm long.
Hammer it into the handle at the same angle of 30 0 to the longitudinal axis of the hammer, but on the other side of the center line.
After the metal wedge is completely driven “flush” into the handle of the hammer, the work on arranging the hammer can be considered complete.
Good luck to you! May everything work out for you!
Sometimes it happens that the usual appearance of instruments quickly becomes boring and is in no way original, since it does not stand out from the others in any way, which, as usual, looks dull and does not cause any delight. That is why the idea of creating a carved hammer handle was undertaken, and I will tell you how the author made it in this article. Before moving on to the process of making a carved handle, you need to decide on the choice of tool, namely in this case hammer, as it is very popular in the workplace of every do-it-yourselfer.
In order to make a carved pen with your own hands, we will need:
* The hammer itself has a wooden handle, ordinary, standard, in this case 600 grams.
* Wood cutters.
* Stationery knife.
* Drill with grinding attachments.
* Varnish for wooden products.
* Pencil.
Once you are sure that all the details are there, you can begin the creative process.
Step one.
Armed with a pencil, draw the pattern that you want to see on your handle, in this case it is a diamond-shaped pattern that looks quite original and tasteful.
After all the markings are ready, you can start cutting out the template, the so-called removal of the first layer, we do this using stationery knife, precisely cutting along the lines of a piece of wood. When working with sharp tools, be careful and also do not forget about safety measures; for this, it is better to protect your hands with gloves.
In the process of cutting out patterns, for more precise processing of the ends, it is better to cut them with more force so as not to leave burrs.
Step two. Next, we use cutters designed for carving in wood, with the help of them you will get a deeper place in the patterns, which will give them greater clarity and will look more impressive than a shallow groove. Chinese-made cutters cannot boast of high reliability and resistance to stress, therefore, during the cutting process, their blades broke several times, so be on alert, and also work with them carefully, since during processing there is a risk of driving the blade into your hand, which is not pleasant outcome of events. After
final work
the cutters turned out something similar to diamonds.
Step three. The patterns are refined using a drill and a grinding attachment; after this processing process, the handle takes on a more beautiful aesthetic appearance, as well as smooth corners. When work with the drill is completed, make the surface smooth using
sandpaper
, which needs to clean all sides of the handle.
Step four.
For greater convenience, the decision was made to make a hole in the handle to place the hammer on a shelf or hang it on a nail next to other tools. We do this using a drill installed in a screwdriver, then we grind this hole and enlarge it with a drill.
Step five. The final stage is to coat the surface of our carved hammer with a preliminary decorative layer, then varnish it in several layers. Absolutely not everyone
modern man will be able to place the hammer on the handle. It would seem simple, but when performing such work, most home craftsmen encounter some problems. This is due to the fact that in order to maintain tools in good condition, it is necessary to regularly deal with them and understand the principle of their structure. Today on construction market There are hammers whose handles are made of metal or synthetic materials and, accordingly, there is no need to plant it. However, along with
modern tools
It is often practiced to use traditional hammers with a wooden handle. Why is it necessary to attach the handle?, and for hammers this is extremely important parameter. The handle should be light in weight, and his head should be weighty.
This is necessary to increase the impact force. Using homemade wooden holders, a person has the opportunity to adjust the tool depending on his anthropometric characteristics, taking into account the thickness of the handle, its length and other dimensions. For normal operation tools must be kept in perfect order. This is especially necessary if you have to use tools quite often. To drive several nails a couple of times a year, you can use a bad hammer with a dry handle. However, if the hammer is the most necessary tool
to work, it must be maintained in excellent condition. If the instrument is not in proper condition, then you risk not only injuring yourself, but also causing harm to others if its striking part comes off.
It is important to note that on loose tools this happens quite often, not only due to wear of the material, but also due to improper seating of the striking part on the holder. In addition, the wood used as a handle is of particular importance.
What wood material is used for the hammer handle?
First of all, it is necessary to exclude the type of wood that easily splits and cracks. These include spruce, pine, aspen, alder, etc. At the same time, it is recommended to use hornbeam, maple, rowan, dogwood, ash, oak, beech or birch as a handle for metalworking steel hammers. Before turning wood
the material must be pre-dried, since the hammer must be placed exclusively on dry wood.
This is due to the fact that during the drying process, any material decreases in size, water evaporates and its volume decreases. If you use an insufficiently dried handle when seating the hammer, then over time it will dry out, constantly wobble and fall off.
Video “How to make a hammer that doesn’t fall off”
Choosing a Hammer Handle Shape According to GOST, 3 forms are used to make a hammer holder. However, the master can create other ergonomically convenient shapes of handles at his discretion. This is often practiced when self-production
When making holders, it is important to take into account the fact that the size of the workpiece must be longer than what is needed in the end. The maximum margin is about 5 cm. Mainly, the handle should taper towards the end that faces the striking part of the instrument.
The process of attaching a handle to a hammer
Often the hammer head opening size at the top and bottom entry is slightly wider than in the middle. Thus, the dimensions of the blank for the handle in the thin end part must correspond to the dimensions of the holes in the middle of the striking part of the tool. It is imperative to check that the hole for the handle of the striker is well made with the tool. You can see how this was done in the photo.
It shows the head of an old hammer, which requires preliminary processing. Without this work, it will be impossible to install the handle. Paying attention to the picture, we can see that the casting of the striker was done rather poorly, there are large deposits of metal and unevenness, each entrance to the holes on both sides differs by 6-8 mm from the middle of the striker.
To correct all defects and irregularities, it is necessary to process the internal and outside hammer head using a file. Then you need to insert the thin end of the handle into the bottom hole of the hammer to adjust all the dimensions correctly. The tip of the handle should be flush with the opposite side of the firing pin. If the handle is thicker than the corresponding holes, then it must be sanded In the way that the element was inserted into the hole of the hammer with a certain interference.
Due to the fact that at the end of the handle we achieve a flat cone, then with more deep dive the head of the hammer will be pulled tighter. It is worth noting that during this process it is important to take into account that the firing pin on the handle is not distorted, but is installed at a right angle.
To hammer the handle into the hole of the striker, it is necessary to hit it with the back side in a vertical position on an anvil, workbench tabletop, etc.
Due to its weight, the striking part of the hammer will slowly press against the expanding cone of the handle under the influence of its weight. At the same time, it is strictly not recommended to hammer or hard objects into the back of the handle, as this will lead to its splitting. This method can only be used when mounting a non-metallic striking part (wooden or plastic), for example, for a mallet.
After the head of the hammer is firmly seated and movement of the handle in the striking part is no longer observed, it is necessary to saw off the protruding part using hacksaw blade, having first retreated half a centimeter above the impact heads. This is why it is necessary to use a longer workpiece.
Wedging the hammer handle
Often, purchased hammers have incorrectly driven wedges. Mostly metal plate hammered in the center of the longitudinal axes at the end of the handle. Because of this, over a short period of time, the handle becomes loose and loose in the firing pin hole. To avoid this, it is necessary to make a notch on the back of the handle, the depth of which will be about 0.5 cm. To do this, you can use a narrow chisel. The notch must be made so that it is located not along, but across the entire length of the end. If done incorrectly, the handle may split during the process of driving the wedge. It is important that the wedges fit tightly into the handle, slowly pushing the wood layer apart.
For wedges, it is recommended to remove the same type of wood from which the handle itself is made. The dimensions of the Wedge are about 2-3 mm in thickness and width and about 1.5 cm, it all depends on the size of the hammer. In this case, the wedge should not be long length, maximum about 4-5 cm, otherwise it will simply break during the process of driving it into the handle. The front part of the wedge must be sharpened at an obtuse angle. Before driving the wedge, it must be lubricated. It is recommended to use as a lubricant silicone sealant
. Thanks to this substance, it will not only be easily immersed in the wood, but will also be securely fixed in the handle. In the way that After the client has been hammered, the protruding end of the handle must be sawed off again
If you use dry wood for the handle, it will be enough to drive one wedge, but if the material is softer, then it is recommended to drive a second, but this time metal wedge. Its width and thickness should be the same as that of wood, but the length should not exceed 2 cm.
The wedges are driven completely flush with the back of the handle. After all the basic work has been completed, it is necessary to finally process the handle using large and fine types of sandpaper. After this, the handle of the instrument is impregnated with drying oil and varnished. There is no need to use paint for coating.
The method described above for attaching a handle to a hammer is quite reliable. There is nothing complicated here. Having made the attachment according to all the rules, you will forget about hammering nails into the handle and screwing in self-tapping screws, which is often practiced by many craftsmen to avoid dangling the handle during work.
Video “How to properly attach a hammer”
