An old timer at a junk yard told me to use a piece of rebar as a drift for a hammer eye... he was absolutely right

I was at this scrap yard outside of Nashville a few months ago looking for some steel stock. This guy who worked there, probably 70 years old, saw me looking at some old tools and asked what I was making. I told him I was trying to forge a hammer but didn't have a proper drift punch. He just pointed at a pile of rebar and said 'heat that up and hammer it into shape, it'll work fine.' I figured he was just blowing smoke but I tried it anyway. That rebar held up through three hammer heads and didn't even bend. Has anyone else used random junk from the yard for blacksmithing tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbara42918d ago

Grabbed a rusty old leaf spring from the same kind of yard myself, turned it into a decent chisel with just a grinder and some heat.

mark_fisher4818d ago

Buddy of mine tried the same thing with a leaf spring from a '70s pickup. He rushed the heat treat and the chisel snapped clean in half on the first real hit he took at it. Said he learned the hard way that letting it cool slow is just as important as the grinding part lol.