Old timer at the guild meeting told me my hammer face was too polished, changed everything about my drifts

I was flattening drift punches left and right, like 3 in a month. Guy walked over, picked up a drift I was working, just said "you're burnishing the steel, not moving it." Turns out I was sanding my hammer faces smooth thinking it gave cleaner hits. He made me rough one up with 60 grit and a crosshatch pattern. Now my drifts last 6 months easy. Anyone else get told they were overfinishing their tools?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunah1214d ago

Totally agree, I did the exact same thing with my chisels for way too long. Spent hours polishing them up to a mirror finish thinking it would make cleaner cuts but they just bounced off the steel. Once I took some 80 grit to them and left a little tooth the bite was way better and they actually started holding an edge.

lunah1214d ago

Oh man, the "bounced off the steel" part hit home. I spent like a year thinking polished tool faces meant less friction and cleaner work, but all I got was tools that slid around and made me push harder than I needed. The tooth really does change everything. Once I scuffed up my hammer faces and chisels with 60 grit in a crisscross pattern, it grabbed way better and I could actually feel the metal moving instead of just burnishing it. My punches stopped mushrooming out after a week too. It feels wrong to not make them shiny, but rough tools work way harder in my experience.

logan_mitchell14d ago

Wait, you took 60 grit to your hammer faces? Like the main striking part? That's wild, man. I always thought you'd wear out the face too fast or mess up the hardness or something. But I guess if it stops the mushrooming and gives you that bite, it makes sense. I've only ever done the crosshatch on my anvil and chisel edges, never the hammer itself. Now I'm seriously rethinking my whole setup, especially for punches.