Hammering

“ As the constant hammering on the head of the flatter will also cause the head to become battered, it is good practice frequently to draw out the head and lay the flatter aside to cool. This will anneal the steel and prevent crystallization, at least for some time.
23. The square-and round-edged set hammers (B and C, Fig. 10) are employed for various purposes. The former is used for making square shoulders or depressions such as could not be produced with the hand hammer alone, or for drawing metal between two shoulders or projections. ”

“ The hammering of round sections between flat dies tends to burst the bars in the centre; great care must be used to avoid this, and the most skilful and careful hammermen will often turn out bursted bars. ”

“ In very small work, which is more apt to hammer hollow than large work, the end of the piece is left of enlarged size, as shown in the figure, the strength of the enlarged end serving to prevent the hammering hollow, which usually begins at the end of the piece; the end is in this case forged last. In the case of round work the same rule holds good, inasmuch as that a round bar may be forged smaller to some extent, either by hammer blows or by swaging, but if the forging by hammer blows be excessive, hammering hollow is liable to ensue. ”

“ Where the objects had sockets cast over clay cores, those cores had to be removed, probably by means of pointed tools, such as that already described under Fig. 220. Where they were solid they seem in most cases to have undergone a considerable amount of hammering, which both rendered the metal more compact, and to a certain extent removed the asperities resulting from the joints in the mould. With edged tools and weapons, whether socketed or not, the edges especially were drawn down by means of the hammer. ”

“ The back is to be finished with the face of the hammer, the sheets being brought well over on the boards so that a good and solid groove may be made. Each side must be treated in the same way, and have the same amount of weight and beating. The back must have a gradual hammering, and the sheets, when knocked one way, must not be knocked back again. The hammer should be swung with a circular motion, always away from the centre of the back. ”

“ After Colonel James Hamilton, Ranger of Hyde Park, temp. Charles II.
Hammer and Scourge of England. The sobriquet of Sir William Wallace, the Scottish warrior patriot.
Hammer and Tongs. A corruption of “Hammer and Tongues.” A wordy warfare is well described as a hammering of tongues; hence the saying: “They went at it hammer and tongs” (tongues) .
Hammer-cloth. It has been suggested that this is the covering for the box-seat of a coach that contained the hammer, bolts, nails, etc., useful to remedy a breakdown on a journey. ”

“ A hard-hitter: especially with the right hand, like the illustrious Hammer Lane. Also Hammerer and Hammer-man.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 33. A letter written on the occasion by Henry Harmer, the hammerer.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, 93. When a man hits very hard, chiefly with a favorite hand, his blows are said to fall like those of a sledge-hammer. Such boxers are hammering fighters, that do not defend their own vitals, cannot make sure of a blow, and are termed hammerers and hammermen.
2. (common) .—An unblushing lie. For synonyms, see Whopper. ”

“ The story was intended to teach all workers in brass and other metals, that they must be very patient, especially in annealing. Annealing oxidizes and softens the metal. While hammering cold sheet brass, the oft repeated blows harden the metal and cause brittleness. ”

“ In such cases, the workmen acquire great skill and expedition in the manufacture. A tilt hammer is often used in forging large masses of iron, and even in making utensils as small as the hoe, the axe, and the sword; but the hammer which may be employed bears a due proportion in its weight to the mass of iron to be wrought. In all cases in which a tilt hammer is used, the bellows from which the blast proceeds is moved by water or steam power. ”

“ Simply because of their want of compass, of range and fall, as well as of their want of power of blow. A few moment's rapid thought satisfied me that it was by our rigidly adhering to the old traditional form of a smith's hand hammer— of which the forge and tilt hammer, although driven by water or steam power, were merely enlarged modifications—that the difficulty had arisen; as, whenever the largest forge hammer was tilted up to its full height, its range was so small that when a piece of work of considerable size was placed on the anvil, the hammer became "gagged;" ”

“ His hammer is a tool of immense power and pliancy, but for which we must have stopped short in many of those gigantic engineering works which are among the marvels of the age we live in. It possesses so much precision and delicacy that it will chip the end of an egg resting in a glass on the anvil without breaking it, while it delivers a blow of ten tons with such a force as to be felt shaking the parish. ”

“ How to Hold a Hammer. —When you use a hammer, grasp the handle a couple of inches from the free end and hold it so that it will swing freely and easily in your hand and keep your hand and wrist above the level of the nail or whatever it is you are pounding; this takes the jar off of your arm and makes the work of using it surer and less tiresome. Never use a hammer on wood-work of any kind.
When you use a mallet as for driving chisels hold it rather close to its head, and need I tell you never to use a wooden mallet to drive nails with. ”

“ The labor saved by this hammer is immense. One man sits perched up on the frame to direct it, and another stands below to guide the iron on the anvil. The great long bar, white with heat, is pulled out of the furnace, laid on the massive piece of iron under the frame, and, with a dull, heavy sound, down conies the hammer, swiftly or slowly, according to the wishes of the director. From the forge and the foundry the "rough-hewn" iron-work passes to be planed, and its surface to be made "true." ”

“ The inter-collegiate rules which govern the throwing of the hammer require that the hammer-head shall be a metal sphere; and the handle may be of any material. Up to within three or four years the handle used to be made of hard wood, but recently athletes have shown a preference for a flexible steel handle. The combined length of the head and handle must not exceed four feet, and the combined weight must be sixteen pounds. The hammer is thrown from a circle seven feet in diameter. ”

“ If there is no such mark, take one of the suspected objects in the tongs, put it on an anvil, and with a light hammer knock it about a little to see if it breaks up; as a further test put it in the forge fire, heat it to a bright red heat, cut and open out the object to its full length, and then proceed, with your hammer, to draw out the end, as if you were going to make a long sharp nail from it. If the suspected metal is wrought iron it readily takes the spike form, but if malleable it will give under the hammer and break up. ”

“ A nod of the head or a few motions of the hand will be sufficient; his mates understand him perfectly and everything proceeds without a hitch. The hammer-driver, encouraged to use his discretion, knows exactly what kind of a blow to strike — heavy or light, light or heavy — when to stop and when to begin. The grimy mate, usually styled the donkeyman, stands by with the gauges; at each pause he fits them to the white-hot mass of iron or steel and again the hammer descends, regularly and evenly. ”

“ The Hammers.—Of the multitude of tools used by mechanics, the hammer is undoubtedly the most important one. There was a time when man had only his hands to work with, and from them he must have received his ideas for tools. Three prominent ones which are used extensively at present were most probably imitations of the human hand. From the act of grasping, man could easily have originated the vise or tongs for holding materials that he could not hold with the hand. ”

“ A curved spring held them up to the cross-bar when the weight of the hammer was removed. Between the 6-inch cross-bar and the tool-holders and the hammer faces I introduced a sheet of heavy leather belting, which deadened the force of the blow. A stone-cutter uses a wooden mallet to drive the tooth-chisels and droves, because the impact of iron on iron has a disintegrating effect upon the stone, which the stone-cutters call “stunning the stone.” ”

“ This welding of the barrels is performed at a building among the Middle Water Shops. A range of tilt hammers extend up and down the room, with forges in the centre of the room, one opposite to each hammer, for heating the iron. The tilt hammers are driven by immense water-wheels, placed beneath the building—there being an arrangement of machinery by which each hammer may be connected with its moving power, or disconnected from it, at any moment, at the pleasure of the workman. Underneath the hammer is an anvil. ”

“ The hammer used to take out nails, is called a claw-hammer, from its having a claw at one part. The claw is placed under the head of the nail, when the handle of the hammer becomes a lever, and the head the fulcrum; and, placed in this position, the hand acquires great power,—sometimes amounting to at least a hundred-weight. In using a hammer, we should always be careful to use the kind of hammer necessary for the work to be done. ”

“ In the forge, where the great bellows suspended to the ceiling make the furnace roar, and the sparks fly, the clinking of hammers is heard all day long.
[99]
Hammer. Sledge Hammer. Set Hammers. Vice. Anvil. Tongs. File.
The anvil, on which the iron is beaten into shape, the bench, fitted with a vice for holding such portions of the [100] work as require the file, the tongs, with which the red hot metal is held, the sledge hammer, and the set hammers, are the principal tools. ”

“ The jaws of the pincers are smooth at the tips, but further back they have a series of graduated notches in which tacks of different sizes can be held whilst they are driven in with the hammer. But of course a workman can only work quickly if he can hold a number of tacks of the same size in the palm of his hand, placing one under the hammer, relaxing his hold of it after the first gentle blow has fixed it, and getting the next ready while he drives it home. ”

“ The clenched fist must have suggested the need of a hammer. The first thing to be substituted for the fist was a stone held in the hand. Next a thong of fiber or leather was wound around the stone, and used as a handle. From these beginnings we have progressed until we have hammers of all sizes and shapes, from the tiny hammer of the jeweler to the ponderous sledge. Workmen have adapted various shapes of hammers to their individual needs.
Fig. 6.—Hand Hammers.
A, ball peen hammer; B, cross peen hammer; C, straight peen hammer. ”

“ The two-pound drop-hammer falls a distance of twenty-two inches in the grooves of the vertical posts which are mortised and glued into the base, as are also the oblique braces to which are attached the bobbin, or axle, and crank, on which the cord is wound that raises the hammer. This hammer is a flat piece of iron having two pieces of wood, each four by two and one-half inches in size, cemented to it. A wire hook is attached just above, and the extended arm of the hook as the weight nears the top, meets a projecting pin, and slips the weight from the cord. ”

“ The manner in which his strokes follow one another puts me in mind of the clever way in which workmen drive an iron bar into a macadamised road by raining upon it blows with sledge-hammers. Almost before the hammer of the first striker is off the head of the bar the second has struck it, this is immediately followed by the hammer of the third, then, without a pause, the first hammerer gets his second blow home, and so they continue until a halt is called. ”

“ Tools.—The mason’s tools may be grouped under five heads—hammers and mallets, saws, chisels, setting-out and setting tools, and hoisting appliances.
There are several different kinds of iron hammers used by the stone worker; the mash hammer has a short handle and heavy head for use with chisels; the iron hammer, used in carving, in shape resembles a carpenter’s mallet but is smaller; Hammers and Mallets. the waller’s hammer is used for roughly shaping stones in rubble work; the spalling hammer for roughly dressing stones in the quarry ”

“ Thus, by the more or less rapid manner in which the attendant allowed the steam to enter or escape from the cylinder, any required number or any intensity of blows could be delivered. Their succession might be modified [Pg 252] in an instant; the hammer might be arrested and suspended according to the requirements of the work. The workman might thus, as it were, think in blows. He might deal them out on to the ponderous glowing mass, and mould or knead it into the desired form as if it were a lump of clay, or pat it with gentle taps, according to his will or at the desire of the forgeman. ”

“ The hammer is made of high-grade steel, carefully tempered head and peen; the head is usually made cylindrical with slightly rounding face; the eye of the hammer is the center opening through which the handle is inserted. The peen of a hammer is the opposite end to the face, and terminates in a rounded or wedge-shaped point. ”

“ The hammer is swung clear from the hip and travels eighteen feet or more before it comes in contact with the inch-square upper end of the jumper. The whole course of the blow is calculated instinctively before the hammer rises to the swing. This work is classed as unskilled labour.
When it is considered that men often work the whole ten-hour shift with the eternal hammer in their hands it is really a wonder that more accidents do not take place, especially since the labour is often performed after a night's heavy drinking or gambling. A holder is seldom wounded; when he is struck he dies. ”