Welcome back to Robinson Foundry I recently made this solid copper sledge hammer
and it turned out great! I like it so much that I decided to make another
one, but this time, out of brass. To start making the brass head first I needed
to create a pattern that I could use to make a sand mold. Casting a hammer head with a hole going through
the center requires the use of a core. To make one I’ll use this little core mold
that 3d printed The inner profile matches the profile of the
ever so slightly tapered hole in the hammer's head . I mixed some sand and sodium silicate together
and then packed it into the mold. The sodium silicate in the sand hardens in
the presence of Co2 which locks the sand together.
With the pattern and the core ready to go
it was time make a sand mold For this mold I used an oil bonded sand called
petrobond. This mold will be filled vertically so to
slow down the flow of metal I cut this odd looking wavy sprue. My plan was for the metal to flow down through
the wavy sprue and rise slowly up into the mold. It's best to fill molds as quickly but as
calmly as possible so I was hoping this would do the trick. For this casting I melted some scrap from
previous projects as well as some brass plumbing fittings I just started a new channel where I’ll
be posting non narrated and music free versions of my videos as well as other projects that
don't quite fit on this channel.
If you would like to check it out I’ll post
a link in the description It's always really satisfying to open a mold
and see a successful casting! This thing turned out really well so next
I had to cut off the excess metal and clean it up! The milling machine made quick work of cleaning
up most of it, and I was really relieved to see that there were no voids or air bubbles
in the casting like there was in the copper sledge hammer. Once I finished with the machining I sandblasted
the text before polishing the entire thing with a die grinder.
I thought the text could use some contrast
so I used liver of sulfur to darken the brass behind it. Then I used the stuff called never dull to
remove the dark patina from anywhere I didn't want it. I bought this hickory handle at a local hardware
store Hickory is one of the most common woods used
as a hammer or ax handle because its extremely strong while still being flexible. After cutting it to the right length I went
to work carefully fitting the hammer head onto it. This was a tedious process and it took a few
hours to complete, but there was really no way to rush it if I wanted it to look good.
Once I had the hammer fitting properly I spent
some time shaping the handle to make it feel a little more comfortable to hold. I really like the look of brass up against
dark colored wood so I decided to apply some stain to the hickory I was a little worried that this would turn
out looking cheap but I was pleasantly surprised with the result. The hole in the hammer head has a slight taper
to it which allows the wood at the top to expand when a wedge is pounded in and that
locks the hammer head in place.
Once I hammered in the wooden wedge and trimmed
off the excess handle that was sticking out, I hammered in a little steel wedge which really
insures that the hammer head will not come off. The last step was to use a little stain on
the exposed wood and this thing was done! Well, I think this thing turned out really
cool looking. I really like the color of the brass against
the dark wood, so I’m glad I stained the handle. The hammer head ended up weighing about 5
lbs and this copper hammer weighs about 6 lbs. Before I go, I wanted to give my brother a
shout out. He's been working hard to create a youtube
channel so if you think you would be interested in a video like this then go check it out! I’ll post a link in the description. I hope you enjoyed watching me make this and
If you did please let me know what you think in the comments, give it a thumbs up and subscribe
for future videos. As usual I’ll have affiliate links in the
description for things I used in this video as well as things I would recommend.
Well thanks for watching and I’ll see you
next time..