Like so many railroad museums, we do a lot of our work with donated tools; some of which have seen many years of service before ever coming to us only to see many more years of service after reaching us. Recently, our track department has been building a new siding with our collection of well used spike mauls, many where the striking face has hit a lot of spikes and other things making them less than ideal. Even on a good strike of the spike, they tend to slide off due to overly rounded faces.

A question was raised if we could grind the faces back to a better and more correct profile to increase productivity and save on the purchase of new mauls. Reprofiling seems relatively straight forward for someone proficient with a grinder, however, these are striking tools so there is a real concern that any grinding process could change the metallurgy of the maul such that it could become unsafe to use. Swinging a heavy hammer and impacting a steel object is dangerous enough where we don't want to add in flying metal chips and etc.

Therefore, I was wondering if anyone can offer some advice. Has this been done and done with good & safe results? And if yes, how was it done? Or should we just consider our current mauls as additions to our railroad construction exhibits and look into purchasing new ones? Replacing several mauls is a significant expense, but we will do it if it is a matter of safety.

Thanks for the help!

Regards,
Chris Hauf
Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum

A good air hammer may be the way to go, if possible. The "big" railroads don't seem to use spike mauls any more, they tend to throw off chips at high velocity from what I am told. Mostly these days you see plain old sledge hammers being used when it's done manually.
Chris Allan

Reprofiling a spike maul is doable. I would suggest avoiding the grinder, as the heat will build up (unless you take your time) and you will loose the tempering of the metal. It would be better to use a Wet Bandsaw, Hacksaw or Powered Hacksaw. Just keep in mind that it will change the balance of the hammer, making the other head heavier and more likely to be used, so checking & profiling both faces, the first time, would be recommended.

After you cut it, take a few light passes with a grinder to clean the face. When the face is smooth, look closely for signs of cracking. If it is an old hammer there is a good chance you will see a fine dark line of rust if there is a crack. For your crew's safety, I would suggest picking up a Magnaflux kit (a.k.a. crack detection kit), they can sometimes be found at Speed shops or Car Restoration Shops & Suppliers. Here is a link for the kit through MSC http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=3005455&PMT4NO=0 After it has been confirmed that there are no remaining cracks in the head chamfer or round the edge of the face back about 1/8-3/16 inch.

As part of preventative maintenance, you might want to check the faces for rounding and mushrooming (head spreading). If you can catch it early enough then a quick pass with the grinder will fix the problem. If the metal starts to change color to a bronze or straw color stop and let it cool, if it goes blue then you need to saw off a sliver of metal. (FYI: same rule goes for resharpening drill bits, chisels and other hardened tools).

Take care,

Rich Cizik
MoW Foreman
Blacksmith Shop Co-Head
Ct Eastern RR Museum
Willimantic, Ct 06226
www.cteastrrmuseum.org

I'm not sure - but I think some spike mauls may be case hardened, in which case (No Pun Intended) removing the skin will be not particularly productive in the long run.

dave

The maul should clean up with a few light passes with a grinder. When your done radius the edges.