# Lead Thumpers



## Bogstandard (Oct 29, 2007)

WARNING - BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER, PART OF THIS POST IS ABOUT USING MOLTEN OR HOT METAL. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ALL THE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS AND CORRECT PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT THAT THIS ENTAILS, AND YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO FOLLOW ALL THE CORRECT PROCEDURES WHEN HANDLING MOLTEN OR HOT METALS, DO NOT TRY ANY OF THE HOT METAL PROCEDURES MENTIONED IN THIS POST. THE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS IN THIS POST MIGHT NOT BE CORRECT, IT IS UP TO YOURSELF TO FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THE CORRECT ONES
NO-ONE ON THIS SITE CAN BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OF YOUR ACTIONS IF YOU HURT YOURSELF.

THIS WARNING WAS ADDED BY ADMINISTRATION OF THIS SITE.

Yesterday I was replying to one of my posts and Mel (Lugnut) shamed me into doing this post.
He asked what I had been hitting with my lead hammer, and I realised that they were well past their sell by date.

Oh! The shame of it.







I cast my own lead hammers, the reason being is because they are getting more difficult and expensive to buy, and the ones you can get are usually too heavy for what I want.
So this shows how I make my approx. 1lb hammers.

I made this mould many years ago, and has cast dozens of these little hammer heads.
















If I was making a new mould I would do it as shown in this sketch.







As you can see from the sketch, I have force fitted an aluminium plug up the shaft, this stops the molten lead from running out thru the handle.
If you didn't want to recess the bottom plug in the mould, you could just screw a plate onto the bottom
This next shot shows the end melted off (and reused) and shows the holes and bits of threaded rod put thru a couple of them, I have never had a head come loose, and this is due to these little measures. When it is mounted into the mould, don't push it all the way in until it reaches the opposite side, leave about 1/4" gap.






All new persuaders, one on the lathe and one for the miller.







The one on the right shows signs of cooling as it was poured, so on the other I warmed up the mould just a little bit more.
When using lead hammers for 'bedding' things down I don't hold it by the handle but by the head. If used properly you can 'thump' a finished face and it will not do any damage at all. The reason they get into such a bad state is that I use them for releasing the tapers on my miller. I'm not worried though, because an hour later I can have two brand new ones.

John


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## DICKEYBIRD (Oct 29, 2007)

Thanks for the hammer info John; I've been wanting to cast a couple lead hammers myself.  Someone pinched the nice Jag wheel knock-off hammer (you know, off-side undo and all that rot) that I pinched back in the 70's.

By the look of them hammers, you must have snug fitting collets!  MT3?  A little bump releases my R-8's.

If you don't mind telling, what do you melt your lead in and what do you use for a heat source?


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## lugnut (Oct 29, 2007)

Thanks for showing us your hammers and as Dickeybird said " Now the rest of the story" :roll: 
Mel


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## Bogstandard (Oct 29, 2007)

My machine uses MT3 tapers, renowned for stiction, my next one will have R8. You can see the damage it causes, imagine the damage to my miller if I used a normal hammer. These can be classed as recycleable because almost all the metal stays with the hammer, so it is just a matter of adding a couple of oz's to replace the missing bit.
Remember I am only melting just over 2lb of lead, so no large crucibles involved, I just use a small tin I have used for many years, that has a bent up gripping flange and a pouring lip at 90 deg.
My heat source is a large propane burner running from a 7kg bottle. My wife controls this for me and takes the torch off me as I prepare to pour.
The more time you spend bringing the metal to pouring temperature the more time there is for accidents to happen.
Even with this small amount of metal, full safety precautions must be observed. 
Mistakes while playing around with molten metal is like drinking neat battery acid, both burn rather wickedly.
All the work is done outside at ground level, using my mobile brazing hearth to contain any slight overspill.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, if you are not fully conversant with the safety precautions, it shouldn't be attempted. Even a small drop of water in the wrong place or an unstable crucible can have dire consequences.

John


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## gt2ride (Oct 29, 2007)

Here is my lead hammer.  It has a wood handle which I like.


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## Tin Falcon (Oct 30, 2007)

John: Nice write up, something else for my to do list make a couple lead hammers.
Tin


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## Bogstandard (Oct 31, 2007)

GT,
That one would most probably last me about ten seconds when trying to shift the tapers on my miller. That is why I went for (in my case stainless) steel for the shafting, and they can be used over and over again.
But yours will be great for normal 'persuading'.

John


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## mklotz (Oct 31, 2007)

For the folks who are put off by the thought of melting and pouring lead or the folks who work with smaller machines and don't need a BFLH (Big darn Lead Hammer)...

Go to the local (ocean) fishing supply and check out the lead sinkers sold there.  I found an 8 oz sinker that had a square body with a domed end (can't remember name but "cod weight" comes to mind - correct me).  I took it home and bored it out crosswise with a 3/8" spade bit (woodworking bit), inserted a 3/8" steel shaft and then drilled through both 1/8" for a cotter key to lock everything together.  Add a file handle and, voila, a perfect little low-profile persuader.


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## pelallito (Nov 10, 2011)

John,
I realize you posted this a while ago, but the images have disappeared. Any chance that you still have the drawing of your molds and can post them again? 
Thanks,
Fred


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## Blogwitch (Nov 10, 2011)

Fred,

Very sorry, those were some of the shots that I lost when my early photobucket account decided to lose all my pictures, I got a lot back and into the posts, but unfortunately a lot were lost forever.

I have only very recently cast some more hammers, both large and small. I have a large mould (about 1.5 lb) and a friend has a half ib one, we borrow each others when we want to cast some up.







I don't know why I put such long handles on them, because they are used by holding the head itself and just gently tapping the part into position.

Next time I can get in my shop, I will take a picture of my mould for you.


John


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## pelallito (Nov 10, 2011)

John,
Those hammers look great!
Sorry to hear about your problem with PB!
Thanks for going to the trouble of photographing your mold.



fred


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## rleete (Nov 10, 2011)

Bogs, do you fasten the head to the pipe in any way, or is it just cast around the end?

Does this ever come loose?


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## DICKEYBIRD (Nov 12, 2011)

I made a mold & some hammers using John's method and put a length of threaded rod & nuts through the handle inside the head. They've never come loose.

Thanks again John for the original post!


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## Blogwitch (Nov 12, 2011)

I actually use a slightly different method now of keeping the heads in place.

Instead of threaded rod, I just drill two sets of cross holes in the tube that sits inside the head, and instead of aluminium slugs down inside the tube to stop the lead running out, I now use a piece of stainless rod pushed up inside the handle until it reaches the head area. What that does, it acts as a chill, as the molten lead hits the cold rod, it solidifies straight away and forms it's own plug, the rod just falls out when the whole lot is dropped into a bucket of cold water.

I am hoping to get into my shop tomorrow for half an hour, so I will take a few pics and make up a sketch for the mould.


John


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## steamer (Nov 12, 2011)

I remember the guys on the floor sending the youngin's to heat treat with the very "expensive" special hammers 
to have them "heat treated" and that they are to make sure nothing bad happens or it was their necks!
 ;D

The look of horror as the babbit hammer melted from the torch was priceless...

Nice looking bucket of hammers Bogs!

Dave


PS  Don't worry....we let them in on it...all good fun.


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## Blogwitch (Nov 12, 2011)

Dave,

They are not all for my own use, 'bucket of hammers' are for visitors to take away with them if they don't have a pair at home.

I only use two of each in my shop, and they usually last a couple of years at least.

There are a couple of us on here that make them and pass them around. You always end up making too many.


John


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## pelallito (Nov 12, 2011)

Dave,
That is as good as taking somebodies nice new toy( whatever it is) into a back room for a minor adjustment, then slamming two pipes together very hard. It could also be a ball peen hammer and an anvil, whatever is at hand.
I have seen strong men almost fall over in shock.
Then the new toy was brought out and handed back to them.
Believe me, it was inspected as if under a microscope, by the relieved owner.
Fred


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## steamer (Nov 12, 2011)

Oh I didn't invent or instigate this behavior.....nor was I able to alter it...though I did watch 

On the 13 ACRE machine shop floor....it was a right of passage for the newbs....I was considered a slightly lower life form from a newbie

Engineer! :big:

As described I and my ilke were one step above whale (#E* or some colorful variation of that song.

I was in my early 20's  What did I know.....it was probably true!

I seem to remember being asked to go get the aluminum magnet....I didn't fall for it.

I'll tell you though....that bunch of guys could and would make anything....Our relationship quickly grew when they figuired out they could trust me. It we needed something done over night.....all I needed to do was ask....DONE!

Joe K in sheetmetal , Vinnie in grinding.....what ever....I knew who to talk to....amazing.

it's amazing how a quarter century flys by isn't it?

Glad I spent those years there. It was a great experience

Dave


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## bob ward (Nov 13, 2011)

I made up a batch of lead hammers a while ago, 2 kg head, 2.5kg all up including the handle. I had some lead left over from a long ago project and rather than sell to the scrappy, I thought I would 'value add' (I believe that is the current economic buzz term) and turn the lead into hammers to sell on ebay. 

I went to a fair bit of trouble, I machined up a steel mould, I pressed the gal pipe handle to an ergonomic oval shape, I welded a piece of 10mm round to the business end of the handle and encapsulated that in the 100mm x 50mm head, I even milled both ends of the head flat and shiny.

Alas I fear I should have done a little more market research before I embarked on this venture, because they are all still here.
If any of the Australian members want a cheap lead hammer, PM me  :-[


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## maverick (Nov 13, 2011)

One of my apprenticeship jobs was to collect the beat up lead hammers and recast the heads. 
 Steamer- We were told not to let engineers use the equipment as it took too long to clean off the blood.
 There were a few that passed muster and were allowed the run of the shop.


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## steamer (Nov 13, 2011)

maverick  said:
			
		

> One of my apprenticeship jobs was to collect the beat up lead hammers and recast the heads.
> Steamer- We were told not to let engineers use the equipment as it took too long to clean off the blood.
> There were a few that passed muster and were allowed the run of the shop.



 ;D


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## Blogwitch (Nov 13, 2011)

It's taken me a bit longer than I said, but here are a few piccies of my setup.

The mould can be made in lots of different ways, a couple of flattish blocks held together with g-cramp and a basic plug in the end of the hole would do it.

Anyway here are the pics

As you can see, mine is a three piece mould, four if you count the jubilee clip. It should be self explanatory if you look closely. 








In this shot, you can see the two 1/4" cross holes, they allow lead to swarm inside and thru the actual tube and so hold the solid head in position.
Also in the shot I have shown the stainless chill rod that is pushed up inside the handle to stop the lead running down inside. You need to warm up the mould to stop the lead chilling on the mould surface and giving you a horrible surface finish, I warm it up by playing a blowtorch around the inside with the handle in place, so the rod isn't put in until that is done and the lead is just ready to pour.







How things go together, showing the position of the handle and chill rod before the lead pour. 







And how it comes apart after the hammer has solidified.







Just a few notes.

After the lead is poured, it will start to contract inside the mould. I play a burner onto the open face of the lead while it sets lower down in the mould, this will stop it having a sunken centre on the hammer face. Add a bit more molten lead and remelt the face if it sinks too far.

A few sizes of my hammers.

Head size = 2.25" long X 1.25" diameter.
Total handle length is 8" and has a diameter of 0.75"

During use, you lose very little of the lead, it just gets badly distorted. So all you have to do is remelt the head off and add a tiny bit more lead to the mix and then recast it.

If looked after, the mould should last a lifetime. This one has had a couple of dozen cast in it already, and it is almost like new.


John


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## steamer (Nov 13, 2011)

Thanks for that Bogs!

Dave


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## pelallito (Nov 13, 2011)

Thank you Bogs, I will make one soon. :bow:
Maverick, I really enjoyed that post!!!
Dave, I remember sending or being sent for muffler bearings, or on a different occasion, a bucket of sparks from the welding shop.
A friend that worked for an airline, was sent for a left handed wrench. Since he was a knowledgeable mechanic that had gone back to school to be an engineer( some people might say a step back- just kidding), He found a quiet corner and studied for several hours, then he went back to the shop and told them he could not find what they wanted anywhere.
They covered his absence.
Regards and thanks,
Fred


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## the artfull-codger (Jan 11, 2012)

good idea Bogs, I'll hve to make on for myself, thanks for the info !!


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## mcostello (Jan 12, 2012)

Shop I was at, a chap had a set of Micrometers that were junk. He would walk up to a newbie and offer to sell them to him. While handing them over , they would get dropped. Then the apprentice would be told how clumsy he was and how valuable those mics were. Made a few peoples face go grey when they thought they would have to pay for them. Were told later.


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## steamboatmodel (Jan 16, 2012)

Just a note to anyone starting out, Only use your "Lead Thumpers" at home. Most places due to Health and Safety forbid them is workplaces. I have retired mine for most uses and now use a small dead blow hammer with plastic/rubber faces.
Regards,
Gerald.


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