Tools and hardfacing

["George Graham" <georgergraham@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

I've got a question or 2 for you steel guy's while we are on the subject of
hardfacing and tempering steel hammers.
Up until a few years ago, I worked extensively with a bull set and splitter
to split granite slabs and small quarry blocks. The big blocks were split by
drilling and then using feathers and wedges. I used 10 lb tools , sledge and
splitter, for all the heavy work.  the tools were quite old, but held up
very well, except for having to periodically resharpen the splitter.
The sledge was not your average hardware store tool, and I guess it came
 from Trow and Holden, 20 or more years ago. It never cracked or spread , so
I wonder if the face was " hard faced ". I never noticed a layer of
different steel , but it held up under years of use.
The splitter's appeared to be the same steel throughout, but the cutting
edge needed to be touched up every few months, but it never broke or split .
But the face that is struck by the sledge showed the effects of the sledge .
It spread and started cracking apart at the edges just like a over used hand
point. I learned the hard way what happens when you don't grind the split
ends off the sides of the splitter. Clearly the splitter steel was different
 from the sledge. What kind of tempering was involved with the splitter?
One thing I was always aware of  was how important it was for the weight of
the splitter and the sledge to be the same.  If I was holding a splitter
that was lighter than the sledge my swinger was using, I had to really hang
on , or it would go dancing across a polished slab , leaving lots of nice
stun marks. This was Not a good thing! I really appreciate the years of
experience that has gone into the design . Although these tools look real
simple, they are not.
Finally, The best results from the sledge always came from one fellow who
would raise the hammer up as high as possible, and then let it fall onto the
splitter. Gravity did all the work. It seemed that the energy all went into
the stone. We usually could break a 8" slab of barre granite, 3 to 4 feet
wide in a couple of minutes.
I'm very interested in what steel experts can teach me about these tools.
Thanks,
George Graham
http://www.grahamsculpturestudio.com

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