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Sledgehammer Forged with Hardened Faces and a Long Handle
Jarek Tuszyński (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Forge

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Forge

14. October 2026NO
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Sledgehammer Forged with Hardened Faces and a Long Handle

A sledgehammer is a heavy flat-faced head on a long handle, swung with both hands: the striker's hammer that moves heavy iron at the anvil, and the maul for stakes and stone. Its head is usually 1 to 9 kg. Forge a block of tool steel, punch and drift the eye, harden both faces, and hang it on a long ash handle. The picture: a long-handled spike maul once used to drive railroad spikes, C&O Railway Heritage Center.
Advanced
A day

Instructions

1

Cut the block

Cut a length of thick tool-steel bar on the hardy for the head weight you want (see the notebook).

Materials for this step:

Octagonal Tool Steel BarOctagonal Tool Steel Bar1 piece
CharcoalCharcoal1 as required

Tools needed:

Blacksmith ForgeBlacksmith Forge
Hot Cut HardyHot Cut Hardy
AnvilAnvil
Balance ScaleBalance Scale
Welding GlovesWelding Gloves
Safety GlassesSafety Glasses
2

Punch and drift the eye

At a bright yellow heat punch an eye through the middle, from both sides, and drive the drift through to open it to an oval a little narrower in the middle.

Tools needed:

Hot PunchHot Punch
DriftDrift
Cross Peen HammerCross Peen Hammer
AnvilAnvil
Blacksmith TongsBlacksmith Tongs
Welding GlovesWelding Gloves
Safety GlassesSafety Glasses
3

Dress the faces

Forge the head square, chamfer the edges of both faces so they will not chip, and file the faces flat and slightly crowned.

Tools needed:

Cross Peen HammerCross Peen Hammer
AnvilAnvil
Metal FileMetal File
Welding GlovesWelding Gloves
Safety GlassesSafety Glasses
4

Harden the faces

Heat each face to cherry red and quench it alone in water, keeping the eye soft; polish and temper the faces to brown.

Materials for this step:

WaterWater10 liters

Tools needed:

Blacksmith ForgeBlacksmith Forge
Quench BucketQuench Bucket
Blacksmith TongsBlacksmith Tongs
Welding GlovesWelding Gloves
Safety GlassesSafety Glasses
5

Hang it

Saw and shave a straight-grained ash handle about 80–90 cm long (our length) to fit the eye tightly from below, drive the head on, split and wedge the top, and oil the handle.

Materials for this step:

Hardwood StripHardwood Strip2 pieces
Linseed OilLinseed Oil0.05 liter

Tools needed:

Hand SawHand Saw
DrawknifeDrawknife
6

Bar for the head

Loading Jupyter Notebook...

Materials

5

Tools Required

14

This blueprint makes

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Sledgehammer

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