From Bicycle to Hammer

Time to recycle your bicycle! From a bikepedal I made this raising hammer to try and make some raised plate armour.

Tools:

Hammer

Anvil

Forge

Cutoff hardy tool

Tongs

Hacksaw

Materials:

Bike crank

Hammer handle / stick / steel tube

So if your scrap bike has been standing in the rain for a few years you might encounter the same problem as me, rust. Although the photos may not show it, the nut was stuck on the bolt so badly the corners of the nut just stripped off. The solution I used was to simply cut off as most of the plastic as I could and burn off the remainder.

After this toxic barbeque (seriously dont burn plastic unless you have to) the real smithing can begin! First off I heated the end with the bolt to redhot and, using my cuttoff hardy tool, I chopped off the bolt and its eye.

Next I started making the hammerhead. Heat up the end that used to hold te pedal, move it over to your anvil using some tongs and mushroom the end until it has the size you want. This is quite a chunk of steel so it will probably take a few reheats, take your time.

Now that your hammer has a head, it needs to be aligned with the handle. Most bike cranks will have an angle, so just heat it near the other end. When everything gets nice and hot use you anvil and hammer to straigthen out the hammer head.

I used a piece of scrap pipe I had lying around to check the angle, just hammer one end to make it square(ish) and jammed it in the eye of the hammerhead.

It might take a few heatings to straighten out everything, just keep in mind the straigther you get it the better centered your swings will be later on!

If you really need this step explained you might want to stay away from fire altogether...... just remember that any marks left on your hammer head will be stamped into your working piece on each hit.

Alright, so I took the pictures so why not add them to show you what not to do!

First off, I took a branch that had been dead way too long(big mistake), cut it to size, then I used a pen to transfer the eye of the hammerhead onto the end of my (highly refined) stick.

Next, using a hacksaw, I took off some of the unwanted bits and then delicately jammed it in to the hammerhead by brute force.

The last step would have been to hammer in a (home made) nail to secure the head to the handle, alas, the "handle" split. This is where the (big mistake) comes in, the old wood just shattered. Now onto the fix!

What I ended up doing was to just take a piece of pipe taken from the same scrap bike, slid it into the hammerhead an drove it down with a few good hits with a 3 pound hammer.

And its done! It might not be the prettiest hammer but I love it all the same! Time to start hitting some glowing metal again.