Brass Hammer

I've wanted a brass hammer for quite a while, but I also wanted to make it myself from scratch. A brass hammer is used to prevent damage to whatever you are striking, as the brass is softer than steel. In this case, I wanted it to adjust some of my Spokeshaves that require tapping the back of the blade to adjust them.

I needed to build the furnace to melt the brass and learn how to sand cast. I started building the furnace a couple of years ago, along with the gas burners to power it. Anyway, since I've got some time off work I decided now is the time actually to make the hammer.

1. Brass Scrap
2. Wood
3. Brass Tube
4. Wood Glue
5. Epoxy Glue
6. Fine Sand
7. Kitty Litter (Bentonite Clay)
8. Tape
9. Sand Paper
10. Saw
11. Drill
12. Grinder
13. Buffing Wheels
14. Round File
15. Flat File
16. Wood Rasp
17. Spokeshave or plane
18. Furnace

For the casting media, I used a mixture of fine landscaping sand and bentonite clay kitty litter.

The first step is to grind up the kitty litter until you can run it through a sift. I used an old sledgehammer head in a metal container to pound and grind the kitty litter. If you have an old blender, you could use that.

I mixed the sand and bentonite clay together at a ratio of 9:1, i.e., for every 900g of sand, I added 100g of clay and gave it a good mix.

Slowly sprinkle water into the mix until it's damp enough to stick together. I did a sand castle test, if the sand makes a good sand castle and doesn't collapse, it should be fine.

I used my homebuilt wood lathe to turn a form of the hammerhead I'd like to cast and then drilled a hole for a dowel where the brass would run in the poor.

I also cut out a square-shaped form for a different style of hammer as a simple backup option.

I made two different moulds, the first was a two part mould for the hammerhead I turned on the lathe. Unfortunately, the mould didn't work out and broke apart when I removed the form. I'm pretty sure I used the wrong release agent or it was too damp. I've still uploaded the images so you can learn from my failure.

The second (successful) mould was the simple square hammerhead and a round cylinder. I just slowly packed down the sand around the form and then carefully removed the forms. This worked well and I was left with two cavities to pour the molten brass.

I fired up my furnace and melted down some brass billets I had made earlier. Once the brass was molten I very carefully poured it into the moulds. The left over brass was poured into some old muffin trays to make billets for next time.

Once the brass had cooled enough, I extracted the castings from sand and put them in water to fully cool.

The first thing I did was to saw off the excess from the castings and give them a quick clean with a wire wheel on the grinder.

I then used the grinder to smooth out the sand-casting marks and ensure the edges were flat.

Now measure the centre of the brass and centre punch this. I drilled all the way through and then came back with a large centre drill and used this to create an angle on each side.

Having an angle on each side of the hammerhead is important as it helps lock the handle in place later on. Do not just have a straight hole.

I then used a large round file to shape the hole into an oval, this may seem daunting but the brass is a lot softer than iron and can be filed easily.

Lastly I used a Dremel grinding stone to make sure the final shape was correct and polish up the surface.

You can now bring the hammerhead to a mirror finish. I did this with a series of progressively finer sanding wheels and then buffing wheels and polishing compound on my grinder.

This is a reasonably fast and easy process, though the polishing compound does make your hands dirty.

I used a small piece of walnut lumber I had on hand. This might not be the best for a handle, but it's difficult to get American Hickery in New Zealand! The walnut will look nice and still be reasonably strong.

I used the sawbench to quickly dimension the wood to the correct size. If you place a small piece of masking tape over the hole in the hammerhead and run a pencil over it you will get a template for the hole.

Be sure to check the grain orientation of the wood; you should make sure the grain runs from the front of the hammer to the back, not crossways. This will provide maximum strength.

I then sawed out most of the wood and used a wood rasp to take it down to the final shape and size, once I could test fit the hammerhead on I wrapped it in tape to protect it. I like to use a spokeshave to shape the rest of the handle, it's fast and easy to use. Finally, you can finish the handle with a rasp and sandpaper.

I cut a small wedge out of a piece of hardwood I had and gave it a quick sand. Now cut a slot into the top of the handle, be careful not to cut to far!

To fit the handle you can just push it into place and then tap the bottom of the handle with a hammer or mallet, this will drive it into the head firmly.

Now apply a small amount of wood glue onto the wedge and carefully drive it into the slot with a mallet. You can now wipe away any excess glue with a damp cloth. Lastly, trim the handle and wedge down to a few millimetres outside the top of the hammerhead. I then use a sharp knife to cut a small bevel onto the top of the handle and remove any rough edges from trimming it.

You don't need to do this step, but I do this for all my hammers and mallets and find it looks great. I start by wrapping the bottom of the handle in tape to prevent tear-out from the drill as well as keep it clean from the glue.

Now carefully mark and drill a 6mm hole through the handle. I use a small plumber's pipe cutter to cut a piece of 6mm brass tube to be slightly longer than the widget of the handle. After this give the brass tube a quick buff with sandpaper and clean it with some acetone.

Mix up some epoxy glue and apply it to the hole and brass tube. Use a small hammer to tap the tube into the hole and wipe off any spilt glue. A good trick for cleaning up epoxy glue is a small amount of acetone on a cloth, most fingernail polish removers are acetone-based.

Once the glue has set use a file to smooth down the brass tube on both sides until it is flush with the wood. Remove the tape and give everything a final sand.

To finish the hammer, apply a coat of linseed oil. Allow it to soak in for 15 minutes and then wipe off any oil that didn't soak in.