The Hammer

[stiffler]

Here's the Head design Eric chose, printed to scale on paper:



I folded the paper along the basic outline of the design:



I traced the outline to lay out my cuts:



I reconfigured my horizontal/vertical bandsaw to max capacity:



I set the block up in the vise, and used additional clamps to secure the block well, then started the cut:



First cut finished:



Second cut:



Second cut finished:



Third cut:



Third cut finished:



Here it is cleaned up and deburred. I achieved good accuracy and squareness:



A little perspective. Still to come are the embossing of Eric's design on the head, and the making of the handle.

[Matt]

Very cool, I have never seen pics of the manufacturing process for something like this. I appreciate the photos you have been posting. It is cool to see the work in progress stuff for the Northstar.

[stiffler]

I'm glad you like them. I really enjoy doing blogs like this. They help me organize my thoughts and generate new ideas. Plus, hopefully, they'll help to whip up some enthusiasm for the North Star.

On to the Hammer!

I started by cutting the picture up to make a stencil. The brow/nosebone/eye and teeth had to be joined into one piece for simplicity:



Transferred the stencils to a piece of stainless steel plate:



Set up the plasma cutter:



Rough cuts:





After a bit of clean up with my hand angle grinder, we have the design duplicated, with a few modifications, in stainless steel:

[Jake]

Are you going to attach the cuttings to the metal head, or are you going to grind them into it, and shape the head? Sorry, I wonder because I used to make knives via stock removal (did one or two through forging, but mostly stock removal).

Makes me want to win the tourney! I want that hammer!!

[stiffler]

I'm going to weld the stainless steel cutouts to the head. To make some contrast, I was thinking of using heat to darken the head first.

Today's a nice rainy day, perfect for making a supply run for the handle material. 1.5" diameter thick walled steel tube should do the trick.

[Matt]

I'm glad you like them. I really enjoy doing blogs like this. They help me organize my thoughts and generate new ideas. Plus, hopefully, they'll help to whip up some enthusiasm for the North Star.

If you haven't already there should definitely be a section on the Northstar website for these blogs!

[JohnStentz]

I've got to clean up the coding a bit, but I threw up a rough draft of the blog.

[stiffler]

I had to make a run to my materials supplier for the handle tube and some solid round to make the points and collars. Here we are at the supplier in the rain! This is a small portion of what they have:



Here's the basic concept drawing by Eric that I'm using for rough dimensions:



To stay in keeping with the proportions of the drawing, I opted for 1-5/8" diameter tubing with a wall thickness of around .150", cut to 36" long. Here it is cut to length and cleaned up a bit:



1.670" diameter:



To affix the handle to the head, I'll be TIG welding. Before welding, however, I need to be able to locate the precise placement and angle for the handle. The best way to do that is to bore a hole in the head for the tube to insert into. This will keep the handle firmly placed during welding and eliminate the chance for error.
So I need a 1.670" diameter hole about 1" deep in the underside of the head.
I start by drilling a small hole, then stepping up to 1/2", then stepping up to 1.125":





Then to bring the hole out to 1.670", I need to use my boring head. It's kind of like an adjustable drill bit with just one cutting surface. The most I can take off at once is .100 inches, so it takes a few passes to get it to 1.670".





The handle now slides snugly into the head:



Cutting the collar pieces:



Boring the collars on the lathe:



Turning the points on the lathe:



Cutting the points off the base stock:



Ready for the final stage: Welding! Here's the fitup:





Now I just need to pick up some alloy 309 TIG filler rod to finish. MORE TO COME!

[stiffler]

Had to run by the welding supplier for 309 stainless TIG rod, since I'm welding stainless to mild steel and 309 prevents cracking when welding dissimilar metals:



After a consult with Eric, I decided to taper the back of head before welding it to the handle:




There is no easy way to grab the head block now that it's been cut with so many angles, so I have to tackweld a clamping plate to the block. After cutting, I'll break off the plate:



I have to clamp it down pretty extensively to make sure it won't shift during the cut (that would be bad):



Then it's just a matter of waiting for the machine to cut through the block, then switching the tacked plate to the other side:






WHEW! Cuts done. Each of those cuts took 20 minutes or more. I have to use light tool pressure to keep the cuts nice and straight.



Now the back of the Hammer is a serious can-opener. No armor saves!



Starting on the handle butt, tacking the cone to the collar:



Some fairly decent TIG welding:



Getting the placement of the top point laid out:



Tacked then welded on!




Handle test-fit:





Looks good, almost time to weld the head on, just need to do the finish grinding on the head first. Here it is, head welded. All that's left is welding on the cool wolf-head design.

[Evan]

Awesome man.

[stiffler]

Hey guys! Been real busy with terrain projects for the North Star tourney, but I managed to make some more progress on the hammer.

First, the stainless design will have to be bent to fit the curves of the head.


I drew a line for reference:


The put it in the vise to "precision form" with my hammer:



After some tweaking, it fits nice and flat:


Then I set up the TIG machine and tack the design elements in place:


Next up, finish welding the design and leather handle wrapping.

[stiffler]

I finally picked up the leather for wrapping the handle. Found a nice gray-blue suede that fits in with our design schemes. Tandy Leather here in Minnesota is a great resource.

Also finished TIG welding the wolf design elements:

[JohnStentz]

One new picture, thats all I'm getting!? What a jip

[stiffler]

My friend Paul has worked with guns and suggested using gun blueing compound to make the hammer head background darker to make the wolf head symbol stand out more. I'd been looking for the right way to achieve this effect, and the blueing sounded like just the ticket. So we gave it a shot!

The Haz-Mat:


First the surface has to be cleaned with strong solvents:


Then the blueing acid gets rubbed in with cotton balls:



After treatment:



The acid gave the background steel a nice patina, while leaving the stainless foreground untouched.

On to the handle wrapping!

I Made a couple of wood blocks to hold the hammer between centers:


Now the hammer can be spun on th elong axis to make wrapping the handle easier.


I used a heavy piece of scrap stainless as a straight edge:


Cutting 1" strips of leather:


Test wrap:


All set for the next stage:



Last step is coming, finishing the handle wrapping.

[stiffler]

After testing a few ideas, it was clear that wrapping the handle would be easier if the leather was continuous, so I pulled out the Singer and stitched the leather strips end to end.

Getting the right stitch settings:


All one piece, about 20 feet(6m) long:


Now a test wrap to see how it fits:

With Jeremy's help, we pulled the strip out to full length and applied a bead of liquid nails to the back of the leather:



I secured the end of the leather with superglue and started to wrap, spreading the construction adhesive underneath with my finger as I rotated the handle. It rotates nice and freely in the jig I made.


I sealed the ends with a liberal dose of superglue:





How's this hit ya?