Metal Artist Forum

Hi all,

I've been playing around with shaping some forms (flower petals and leaves mostly) in sheet metal. I have a pretty large supply of 1/16" (16ga.?) sheet metal and I've been using an old ball peen hammer and the bottom of an oxy. cylinder. My results are o.k. but I think I'd like to move into a better hammer/mallet and a shot bag.

Can someone give me a run down on the types of bags and hammers/mallets available and the best and/or least expensive place to get them?  

I realize that this is pretty heavy sheet, will the typical stuff hold up to this?

I'm not above making them myself if that's the best way to go, just thought I'd ask here first.

As a point of reference, I looked at these: Eastwood mallets

Thanks!

-D

Go to Either Kane & Sons Website or Peih Tools site, both have an awsome selection of hammers for buying or gaining inspiration to make your own.

Also a swage block or enen a stump works great for forming leaves with a rounding hammer.

habor fright has a number of dollies that are under 10 bucks the large shot bag heavy leather empty is always on sale I have a couple of the dollies round and tear drop ones they fit in the vise nice. they also have a set of three round bars balled end dollies that will fit in the vise. you probally can make these for less than they want. The small shot bag is palm sized. works good on the jewelry bench. I filled the large shot bag with sand. they recommend #9 shot. you can make your own derlin or UHMW hammer heads by hand or with a lathe its faster. Fitting handles takes a little time but is worth it. The palm nailer with the screw in hammers that I listed in the other post would make it go faster if you are doing alot. Back in the day in jr. high the shop teacher made us make our own wooden forms for bowls and leaves. You don't need a full dished out form or stake just a section of the profile you want.

been there had fun and heading back to it!

although I dont own any of those eastwood mallets I've thought about picking some up before they look like great mallets and will definatly hold up to 16 gauge Ive made my own out of delrin that work great. getting a small sledge and rounding the head will also work great and dish alot faster than a plastic mallet, although the wider the head the less bumps you'll have to planish.And as shot bags are very useful they tend to leave alot of planishing to be done and if you dont have a selection af stakes I would suggest getting a stump and a 4" grinder and carving a few different sized dishes to sink into

Thanks for the info. I've been using the cylinder bottoms that you guys suggested in another thread. I've got a couple different sizes and they work great. I am thinking of getting a stump for some larger stuff however. Maybe I'll try the sledge idea, I like to get things going quickly. Maybe one of the 2 1/2" mallets from Eastwood as well to help with thinner stuff.

-D

I remember someone using a trailer hitch ball in a flypress for shaping, I also realize this might be stretching your question a bit, but wondered if a little heat and flypress tooling would be a controllable way to stretch and shape thin (18ga.stl.) sheet..my next project is going to require a good bit of thin sheet shaping and will be interested in how this deal pans out for you.


duck

To smooth this up a bit I was thinking of using an auto body spoon or dolly and a hammer and am a liitle concerned about  ripping through the copper, heat it up first of course.


duck

I have never used them but, I have read and been told that a wooden slapper covered with a layer of leather. works if you have a gentle touch What a gentle touch means i don't know but i assume that it means not to Go rilla it. They have a nice assortment of pictures and very good descriptions of the use of them And most can be faked in the shop. Don't forget the tech library they have on the site. might get some ideas I think a leather covered slapper with a sand bag under on a stand would get some of them out.

duck Wrote:To smooth this up a bit I was thinking of using an auto body spoon or dolly and a hammer and am a liitle concerned about ripping through the copper, heat it up first of course.

duck

is that a 44 regular?........ great job. Can't wait to see the vest and pants.

wow duck thats looking awesome! If I was doing it.... I would probably use a deadblow mallet or a wooden slapper with leather sounds good, with an asortment of auto dollys( a couple large T stakes would help) and you can shape some 2x4s with a band saw and belt sander and use those as stakes, works great to get that certain shape