Making a Solid Copper Sledge Hammer - HAMMER TIME!

In this video, I make a solid copper sledge hammer in my home foundry. I made pattern using fusion 360 and the 3d printed the patterns in a plastic called PLA. Then I made a sand mold with a sand called petrobond. I machined the casting on my milling machine and then mounted the sledge hammer head to a hickory handle.

Casting equipment

3d printing FDM

3d printing Resin

Belt Grinder

Belt Grinder Accessories

Welding

Metal finishing tools

General

Some of my favorite tools of the year

Camera Equipment

All of the links above are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

[robinson-foundry]

If you're interested in any of the tools or equipment I use and you want to help support the channel then don't forget to check out some of the affiliate links in the video description. Thank you for the support!

[justaguywithoutapfp]

Not gonna lie, you missed an opportunity to embed a penny on each side of the hammer face- one for heads and the other for tails.

[iCantLogOut]

Never thought I'd be watching a video about a hammer and thinking to myself, "wow, that's gorgeous". Great work!!

[Jacobyte]

Brings back memories... 52 years ago I was accepted as a pre-apprentice at an engineering college in Scotland where we were taught to make Patterns for making metal parts in sand molds then learned how to melt metal in a forge then pour into the molds.
I enjoyed the experience but couldn't see myself sweating my arse off and the Teacher/Instructor said there was big changes coming on how this was all being done and that a lot of the work would be done overseas or atleast in another country.
The other problem was I wasn't earning anything while at this college not even the bus fares for a 15 year old and with only my mother able to give me a few ££ (my father had recently died) and the waged for apprentices in these trades at the time was very low and so I quit and chose another line of work that I really enjoyed.
5 years later I ended up Emigrating to Canada... I found your video jolting my memory and I thoroughly enjoyed your video for the memories.

[Samlol_drrich]

I’m a 58 year old dentist who had to learn to invest and cast gold dental crowns, onlays and inlays while in dental school. I have knowledge of just how difficult this is- and you made it look easy. Just wow. Great work from a true expert. Subbed. Thanks for great content.

[derekcolvin]

I will admit that is one of the most gorgeous things I've seen in a long time.
Thank you for taking the time and effort to do this because a true Craftsman like yourself needs to be seen and appreciated.
My grandfather was a master Carpenter and my grandmother would often tell me he had one particular Hammer that he always used, that he had gotten when he was a teenager and I wished I had that hammer hanging on my wall, not only to honor him, but to honor all Carpenters

[jacktupp]

Fresh polished copper has such a beautiful look.

[zedvoxel]

From one foundry nerd to another: stick a small piece of cardboard (about the size of the base of your crucible) on the fire brick before putting your crucible in the foundry. It keeps the crucible from sticking to it!

[byronlentz]

Some 50 years ago I worked in a foundry, Oklahoma Stell Castings. The plant was built at the beginning of WW2 to make castings for the war. After the end of the war it was repurposed to make butterfly valve castings. I worked in the Maintenace department. They used scrap steel to make their castings. The furnace fired with electric arc rods. Made a tremendous amount of noise. The casting patterns were hand made out of wood. Then sand molds. The castings were dumped into a tumbler, a large steel container and turned oner and over. It was quite the sight for a young man like myself. Later in life I became a aircraft mechanic. When I saw the repair in one side of your hammerhead it reminded of structure repairs we made. We called them freeze plugs. Machined plugs a litter larger than the hole to be repaired. Then dipped in liquid nitrogen and while still cold put into place. Surprising how well that repaired a damaged hole in aluminum.
I really enjoy your videos.

[adamtreen-noaafederal]

That hammer head is gorgeous. Copper is so magical. It evokes something ancient and satisfying.

[michaelwright]

To graduate as a Machinist in the Army we made ball peen hammers with a copper head and aluminum handle with a screw in head and bottom for a little storage and a knurled handle! You did a great job on this hammer and brought back lots of good times in AIT!!

[adventuresofskadi]

If I may offer a suggestion....I'm a blacksmith and one of the things I make is hammers. I think you will find (granted this one won't be used but for the future) that you will have an issue with the head slipping off under heavy use. Ideally you want the eye to be hour glass shaped. The narrowest part should be in the middle. That way when you wedge the handle it has a bit of room to spread open and lock in place.
Hard to explain without a drawing but it's easy to find info.
Looks pretty rad though dude 😊

[iseektruth]

I’m a scissors sharpener and I use copper hammers to set, out of alignment scissors blades. The copper is soft enough to make adjustments on stainless steel without damage. Nice job!!

[nickbreitwieser]

When making a hammer you generally want the hole where you attach the handle to have a slight hourglass shape. The bottom half of the hour glass fits up to the taper you put on the top part of the handle that is being fit up, and the top part of the hourglass allows the wood to expand when the wedge is driven in, locking the hammer head onto the handle. The same goes for hatchets, axes, etc.

[robertnordeen]

That sure brings back memories 40 ish years ago with a friend. His dad broke a sanding disk. So we made one out of aluminum out of pop cans and aluminum motor mounts. The fine sand we got from a corn field run off. We built a gas and electric smelter. We had a aluminum picture plate of a model T which was copper electro plated. Thats an awesome looking sledge hammer!!

[bebeautifulbbabe]

Oh I loved watching this video! My late husband made beautiful sculptural pieces using reclaimed copper. His work was nature based consisting of trees, leafed trees, willow trees, trees attached to pieces of wood, trees blowing in the wind and one could actually see that tree in a windstorm. Some he lacquered, some he treated with flames, some were just left in their natural copper state to allow patina to develop the coloring. He made wall pieces, bracelets, earrings, broches of leaves and of animals. They look great on a lapel or on a hat. Your video was wonderful and I so enjoyed watching your work.

[koriw]

I'm a nobody. I don't know jack about machining or metalworking aside from what I learned in high school over 40 years ago, but I admit that this is a beautiful piece of work and you should be quite proud of your skills; especially if this was truly "more difficult than (you) thought it would be, " because you made it all look so easy.

[mutantryeff]

My son did some copper TIG welding for me. I don't remember the trick he used to deal with massive heat loss from the copper, but he did an amazing job. I don't even know what happened to that work after it was used a couple times - it was part of a pot still. The drill and plug was clean.

[johnwoody]

I just loved the camera work on this youtube video. Great end result. I'm 77 and my dear old dad had a ball pean hammer from when he was young and I loved seeing a hammer just like the one I still have and use from my dad's old tool box, . This project brought back some memories of my dad and me working together many years ago, he died nearly 40 years ago in 1984, I still think of him when stuff like this comes along. Thanks for that memory.
John.

[techware]

Fixing that ditch on the side of the hammer head so seamlessly was the satisfaction for me.
That finishing touch of the tiny bronze and wooden wedge was epic 👌