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Post by phoenix1967 on Mar 5, 2009 19:56:38 GMT -5
post any comments here for the rr spike claw hammer
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Mar 5, 2009 20:47:07 GMT -5
wow thats awesome. please keep these tutorials coming i really enjoy them
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eric
Button Buck
Posts: 43
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Post by eric on Mar 9, 2009 11:23:09 GMT -5
That's awesome Lawren. I wish we had the same kind of railroad spikes in this country. Ours are threaded and screw into the sleepers. They are not even HC steel.
Did you quench the head to harden it?
Eric
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Post by phoenix1967 on Mar 9, 2009 13:02:45 GMT -5
Eric, even the HC spikes in this country are pretty low carbon, about .03 To get it to harden well, I used a cold salt water and dishsoap brine. On the other hand, a hawk doesn't need to be as hard as a knife, because of the geometry of the edge. It likely would have been fine untreated. As most true outdoorsman will tell you, a super hard edge isn't a blessing in the field ('specially if you are doing period reenactments and are limited to a file and stone) It's extremely difficult to get an edge on a 60 RC hardness knife with a river rock! LOL
In this case, I had to get it in the mid 40's to make the hammer head harder than the nail, and the claw stiff enough not to bend when pulling nails.
Can anyone see the two Mistakes I made with it? I asked a bunch of blacksmiths, and they found one, but not the other. I thought I'd post it as is, to demonstrate easy to make mistakes. (ya dont learn anything if all ya see is perfect)
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eric
Button Buck
Posts: 43
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Post by eric on Mar 9, 2009 17:00:48 GMT -5
Can anyone see the two Mistakes I made with it? I asked a bunch of blacksmiths, and they found one, but not the other. Not sure, but did you turn the ears up instead of down when you drifted the hole? Also the claw is pretty long. Maybe cut off shorter to give better leverage when pulling nails?
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Post by phoenix1967 on Mar 9, 2009 18:14:45 GMT -5
you are close on the claw... that's the one the blacksmiths missed. I drifted the hole too close to the head. a carpenter would notice. The other is that the hole is off center a bit.
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