19
Found a trick to stop forge scale from ruining my hammer face
I was getting so frustrated last month because the peen on my cross peen hammer kept getting pitted from forge scale sticking to it. I tried quenching the hammer head after every few strikes but that just made it crack. Then an old timer at a meetup in Columbus told me to wipe the hammer face with a bit of beeswax every so often. Tried it for a week and it cuts down the scale sticking by like 80 percent. Anyone else got a weird hack for keeping hammers clean?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
kelly_rivera17d agoMost Upvoted
Wouldn't the wax just burn off and make a sticky mess instead?
3
craig.parker19d ago
Man, beeswax is a solid tip! I had a buddy out in Dayton who was fighting the same battle with his rounding hammer and he tried everything from dipping it in motor oil to keeping a wet rag next to his anvil. The oil made everything reek and the rag just steamed up his whole shop. He finally settled on using a little chunk of paraffin wax but he said it left a weird residue that made the hammer slip sometimes. I should text him about the beeswax idea, sounds like it would work way better and not leave that greasy film. Especially since he does a lot of finishing work where you need that face to bite just right, you know?
2