Well, to split hairs (a task for which a ball peen hammer is utterly unsuited), “What do you use X for?” can be interpreted either as “What do you, creatively, use X for?” or as an informal way of saying “What is the intended purpose of X?”. If this was IMHO, then the first reading might be preferred, but in GQ, I think you have to choose the second reading.
And now to get back to the OP, I seem to recall using a ballpeen hammer to get a decorative finish on metal back when I was taking metal shop lo these many years ago. Depending on the size of the ball, you can various kinds of stippled or antiquing effects. Although as I recall, it mostly made my metalworking look like it got caught in a hailstorm.
Well, one thing that I think everyone can agree on:
The location of the Original Poster = Gobbler’s Knob.
This would be a marvelous name for a rock band.
Back in my auto class days…we used it to make our own gaskets. The roundness fit into the holes very well.
Back in my auto class days…we used it to make our own gaskets. The roundness fit into the holes very well.
Do you have another shtick?
Here’s a good thing to use ball-headed hammers for (I’m not sure what peen means in the first place, I’m not looking it up, and I don’t believe any of you, so there) - gently tapping bent metal back into place. If you have a bronze-looking floor lamp and it gets dented, you can disassemble it and tap the dent back out using a small ball-headed hammer. I’m sure it’s good for all sorts of thin metal shaping - the point is to not push it out further than you want it to go, and that would stretch the metal even more and leave you with a greater dimple on the other side. It’s impossible to get it back to the way it was, without a rolling action or something (oo idea to finish that project and make it as good and round a cyulinder as before HA
My welding instructor talks of “peening” a weld, but I haven’t gotten that far into welding as yet. So welders use them also.
Any journeyman welders out there?
I’m a newbie! 2 weeks lurking then bit the bullet on this thread. I carry a 12 OZ in my tool pouch. Use it for most of the legal reasons already posted. Have to agree with REEDER that the hemispherical end is great for making gaskets; especially those made from “garlock” or other paper derivitaves. Picture a pipe flange 2" I.D. bigger O.D. with 4 bolt holes. Lay the material on the face of the flange, tape the face of the hammer around the outside to cut the OD, then the hemispherical end around the inside and the bolt holes. Wah Lah! (can’t speak or spell in French–yet)
Welcome to the SDMB, MajorTom! (And it’s “voila”)
Welcome Major Tom, FYI before your 100th post your supposed to mail the mods a stool sample,its mandatory…
I love that joke
Can I use a ball-peen to break a chunk off my stool to send in? If I don’t have a stool can I send in a bit of my office chair?
Peening is also a method used to densify metals. Shot peening is a common process technique used in the cold working of sheet metal. It involves spraying a regulated stream of very small, harder metallic balls against a given sheet of metal to be worked. Whilst ball-peen hammers are most often used to create non-planar metal shapes, they can also be used to decoratively indent metal surfaces as well. I once owned a beautiful hand peened silver cigarette case that was a sight to behold. Its surface texture is more commonly referred to as the classic “hammertone finish,” but peening is the key element. Peening also allows the concealment of a multitude of metalworking sins.
Below is an excerpt dealing with shot peening. Mind you that manual peening was the only method of achieving this effect prior to the “gun” methods now in use.
“Shot peening is a process in which small spherical media called shot, bombard the surface of a metal. This shot striking the surface cold works the material and induces residual stresses, both of which can significantly improve the fatigue behavior of the component. The size, mass and velocity of the shot are important parameter in the process, however, the current nondestructive methods for measuring the process effectiveness and relating it to the fatigue properties are insufficient, making it very difficult to control the process. Furthermore, better understanding of the micromechanics of the deformation mechanisms and the generation of residual stresses are needed to develop predictive models that can provide the fundamental basis for the process control. Improvement to the process will lead to better fatigue performance and provide a better shot peened product. Improved technology for nondestructive measurements of material properties and residual stress are paramount to quantifying the process and improving the product.”
Wow, tough poop
Doctor, HEAL thy self!
Doh!
So many jokes, but this is GQ…
peen- to draw, bend or flatten as if hammering with a peen.
In other words, to give it a good deforming whack.
For one more example, I was taught that one of the better ways to permanently secure a nut onto a bolt was to use a center punch to peen the nut close to the threads. This would push the threads against the bolt, locking it in place. Needless to say, this was in the pre-Loctite era.