December 9, 20178 yr Author Whoops, my bad, so are you all calling this a riveting hammer or a blacksmith tool?
December 9, 20178 yr Author 4 minutes ago, steven newman said: Rivet head forming tool.....Forms the heads on rivets. Got it. Research research! I see a Woodriver hand plane in the future here for someone! Research! May be worth even emailing a blacksmith or two for confirmation. We want to give away a Hand Plane!
December 9, 20178 yr I have to go with Dan's comment...it does look like a hammer (with the rubber thingy) that my dad had at his truck stop when i was a whippersnapper. Edited December 9, 20178 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr
December 9, 20178 yr Most rivet head forming chisels I found today were 1) a LOT smaller, 2) are now made for a pneumatic type of hammer, 3) and are newer versions. One person held both the blank ( tongs) and this "top swage" while another hammered the swage down to form the head of the rivet.....Might be from a Shipyard's tool kit, for making new rivets. It could also have been used to make iron balls, using a bottom swage to form the other half....take a large, red-hot square of steel/iron, place it into the bottom swage, hold the top swage on the square, while another hammered the two swages together.... May need an OLD catalog to find it. new ones aren't quite as fancy.... Williamsburg Blacksmiths might know a little more about these....
December 9, 20178 yr 1 hour ago, John Morris said: I would recommend going through the posts to this topic, and note the member who actually called it a rivet placer first. Then work from there. Guess that would be Stick ! Steve's answer was probably a bit more descriptive, but, Stick did say it first.
December 9, 20178 yr I think it isn't beefy enough to form rivets especially as big as it looks to be and the size of the rivets it would command.
December 10, 20178 yr imagine a stud - heated hot... now a iron/steel semi-sphere w/ a hole through the center axis... heat that glowing hot... set it on the stud... cap the semi-sphere w/ the tool... pound on the tool w/ a lead hammer to seat the semi-sphere... peen or cut off the protruding stud to complete... you now have a round headed rivet holding your ornate hardware in place... Edited December 10, 20178 yr by Stick486
December 14, 20178 yr I finally remembered WHERE that old Bostwick Braun Catalog #43 was stashed......when I can dig it out of the closet, there was three full pages of Blacksmithing tools....Might just find that Ball Swage in there?
December 15, 20178 yr I agree that is does look like a tire hammer, except the concave surface looks very dinged up. Like it was hit against metal many times. Just like it should look if it was used to make rivets or domed heads. If it was a tire hammer with rubber in the concave part, it should be smooth. So, my vote goes for metal working tool.
December 15, 20178 yr I have to agree that it is a swage of some sort. However, I don't agree that it is for rivets. If it was for rivets, based on the size of the bell the hammer would be much more robust. Looking at the shape of the swage itself, it has an indent in the middle. This is not something you would see on a rivet head. I suspect that this is only half of the tool. I think there may have been an anvil that goes with the tool. Possible to form something out of light sheet metal. I have look and looked but I can find nothing that resembles, or comes close to it. Still looking though.
December 15, 20178 yr My first impression was a tool for soft metal for making sleigh bells and such...maybe because it's Christmas time...
December 18, 20178 yr Found another picture of a similar rubber mallet at a flooring site. Fourth from the left. https://www.woodfloorbusiness.com/installation/are-mallets-ok-for-engineered-wood-flooring.html Here's a similar scenario for mounting a soft face in a hammer. Edited December 18, 20178 yr by HandyDan
December 18, 20178 yr I think Dan has put his finger on it! The hole in the OP tool doesn't seem to have a thread, but maybe the rubber insert was a friction fit. John
December 18, 20178 yr 3 hours ago, HandyDan said: Found another picture of a similar rubber mallet at a flooring site. Fourth from the left. https://www.woodfloorbusiness.com/installation/are-mallets-ok-for-engineered-wood-flooring.html Here's a similar scenario for mounting a soft face in a hammer. "Heavens to Mergatroid", you just may have it! Good job, Dan.
December 18, 20178 yr I would lean more to the flooring mallet rather than the tire changing mallet. I had a tire hammer like Dan showed and it had the rubber end mounted on a steel stud like shown below. The Flooring mallets seem to have the rubber end mounted in a cone, with probably a rubber stud as part of the mallet head. I go with @HandyDan with this one. Herb https://www.ebay.com/itm/T35-Heavy-Duty-Tire-Hammer-KEN35323-Brand-New-/400916797254 https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-HAMMER-KEN-TOOL-T-11-R-TIRE-BEAD-BREAKER-HAMMER-HEAD-ONLY-/132430107132 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ken-Tool-Unusual-Tire-Hammer-T33-R-/232597379781
December 18, 20178 yr I'm thinking the subject pictured didn't hold up well and that's why we can't find much on it. The ones @Dadio showed are a better design.
December 29, 20178 yr Been trying to find that Bostwick Braun catalog from the 1940s....Catalog No.43.....that had a BUNCH of pages of Blacksmith's tools.....as I remember seeing something like that top swage. BIG catalog, about 1600 pages, was used by hardware stores to order anything from "A'' ( axes) to "Z", Based up in Toledo, OH...they were a wholesale company. They even sold a sparkplug for a clothes dryer..... I am hoping that it was IN the fire a while back, and got tossed out.....
December 29, 20178 yr Supposed to read " I am hoping that it wan't IN the fire, and then got tossed out"
December 31, 20178 yr Author Do we have a clear final answer for this subject, with references of some sort that we can turn into MWTCA?
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