Starting out here with only a desire to learn, and some ideas I want to explore. I've done some searching and reading and watching of videos, but I'm really more of a learn-by-doing kinda guy, so I need to start somewhere. I'm thinking a basic set of hammers and dollies, a shot bag, maybe a HF shrinker / stretcher. Then waste some sheet metal seeing what I can do. Who currently sells a good "starter" set of hammers and dollies? I read a few places that Eastwood did, but I couldn't find anything on their web site now, so I'm thinking that they stopped. Or, if no set, what would you buy, if you were starting out? Anything else I should start with? There'll be plenty of time later to add to this, if I can manage to make something other than scrap from perfectly good flat metal.
There is another good thread where the guy dug out a stump and make a hammer out of a wood baseball bat....I don't have the link but keep an eye out for it as you search
I just made a little patch panel for a rust hole in the quarter panel of a 58 chevy. I used snips, a bench vise, channel lock pliers, my favorite body hammer, and an air powered 90 degree disc grinder, and a wire feed welder to stick it on. This is a typical kind of thing that I do involving entry level metal shaping. No shot bag, no tree stump, sorry. If it had a compound curve, I probably would not have done it much differently. You gotta start somewhere...maybe you should start with some rusty old car body parts, and see what you can do to fix them.
A leather womans purse filled with sand makes a decent starter shot bag. For hammers I check ebay, look for 'Fairbanks', 'Snap On', or 'Martin', with a short pick on one end. They'll clean up and last a lifetime. Lots of dollies, my favorite is called a 'pineapple' (I think) where it has a handle and curved surfaces. A really good tool is one of those cobbler sets, you know where there are 3-4 different cast iron foot sizes and a post to mount them on? Clean the foot shapes up to mirror finish and they'll give you many different radius' and soft edges for forming.. A good site to get information is 'allmetalshaping' Good luck.
As said above sounds like good info. The best thing I did was take a Gene Winfield class, 2 days of non stop information. I also need to do it to learn, but seeing it done right in front of me and being able to ask questions made it all that much better.
You will learn more from this thread than reading books or watching videos... This guy is amazing!!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/55-210-wagon-progress.788490/
btw I found this old thread on the subject, this is what I use as far as a "set" of body hammers and dollies. The hammer and toe dolly came from a parts store about 40 years ago, the other dolly from a pawn shop type place maybe 30 years ago. Notice the thread is almost ten years old, and these are still the same tools I use. I sold off the other tools in the follow up post...since I never used them...and I've built a couple cars since then. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/auto-body-tools.149015/#post-1655659
Thanks Squirrel, I'm trying to crawl before I walk here. You're way ahead of me. You're making a patch panel, I'd currently be happy to make something other than "dents", if I had to be honest about my current abilities. So, what's your favorite body hammer? Why? I haven't got a welder yet, nor would I know what to do with it if I had one. That's a something I want to learn. I'll get there, but it seemed better to start with the making of the patch before working on welding it in. Rusty car parts I have plenty of. I'm in northern Illinois where we dump enough salt on the roads in the winter to turn them from black to white.
Nice. I'd seen tuck shrinking with the T handled fork shaped tool, but this looks like it'd be easier to get consistent tucks with.
I read that one already. Calling that amazing undersells it. I read pretty much every build or metalwork thread on here. I think I've read plenty, at least until I can start putting some of it in to practice, so I can actually learn it.
The patch panel I made was about 8" long, 2 or 3" wide, kind of odd shaped. I just cut the rusty area out of a panel, and made the patch to overlap it a little on each side. Then I used the vise to hold it while I bent it by hand to approximate the curvature of the panel it has to fit. There's not much to it, really. When you get into having to make it curve in two directions at once, that's when it get interesting. If you can get ahold of some new metal, you can make a new (small) patch panel. Old metal will work too, but you have to prepare it by getting paint and rust off of it first, which is kind of a pain. there's a link in my previous post, to a thread about body tools, and my favorite hammer should show up right there in the first post when you click the link. It has plenty of crown (curve) on the face, I think is the main reason I like it best. I find that trying to learn new skills is easiest for me if I have an immediate application for the skill...then I have motivation....
Looks like Martin is a good brand. From your picture, it looks like you're using some like these? http://www.eastwood.com/fiberglass-utility-pick-hammer.html http://www.eastwood.com/general-purpose-body-dolly.html http://www.eastwood.com/heel-body-dolly.html If so, thanks, that gives me a place to start.
Sorry, yeah, I found your second post later. I know what you mean, I learn best when trying to do something I want to do, with the motivation of getting it done.
The hammer and one dolly are Proto, not sure about the other dolly. Most companies make similar looking tools. But also you might find that you like something different than I like...which of course makes it fun to go shopping, because you won't know for sure until you try several. Apprenticing at a restoration body shop would be a neat gig to make it easier
That'd be fun, but I've got 25 years in the IT business to pay the bills around here. Yeah, I know, tools are also a personal preference. I have those too, just yet any with metal working. Sometimes I like to start with something cheap, to figure out what I like, or don't like, and then I don't feel bad about it. Even cheap tools have their uses.
You can't go wrong with the popular well known body tools. I don't have one favorite but 2 or 3 hammers that cover most hammer dolly work. Avoid buying any tools based on price. Get you hands on a used fender and dent it with a ball pein hammer. Metal finish it. Hit it harder, metal finish it. Do it again harder. This exercise will teach you how to move metal. A basic mig welder would be good to have now. Cut a shaped section out of the fender and make a replacement and butt weld it in. You will also need tools to shrink metal be it a gas torch set, stud welder w/ shrink attachment or shrinking disc. Eventually you will want all three. Don't be discouraged with early results. Make some scrap.
That's pretty much my plan, make some scrap and learn a few things. I already want all three, but buying them now would be stupid of me. I'll get them when I'm ready to learn how to use them.
I'd recommend buying used. Martin, Fairmont, Proto, Plomb, Snap-On, old Craftsman, Pettingell, are good names to look for.....for someone with NO body tools at all, Ebay is a great place. Lots of people put up sets of hammers and dollies, while most savvy body guys look for one piece, so the sets go off pretty cheap. Once you get them, get an 80 grit flap disc on a 4 1/2" grinder and sand the hitting surfaces smooth. I'd even polish them with some 180 or 220 on a DA. Hammer faces, AND dollies. You can probably buy a set, a grinder, and DA for less than the price of a couple new (good quality) hammers.
I took a metal shaping class with Gene Winfield and he made several tools. One was the rounded cap for acetylene bottles with a pipe welded on for a hammer. He used this to beat the initial curve in metal before taking it to the English wheel. He also made slapping tools by bending old files. Once you start looking you will start to see uses for many odd parts to be reborn as custom tools.
Like everyone is saying start with a patch panel with a slight curve then to build confidence the nice thing about metal is you can reshape it to correct mistakes and you are always learning. I have built a lot of parts on my build thread with basic hammer and dollies. I use cheap dollies trailer balls, round pipe railroad track or anything that will make the shape I am looking for. Check out the blisters I made for turn signal mounts on my build thread good luck and don't get discouraged Hobo Jim
one good read to try to understand how metal shaping works is the bumping metal book that martin has been selling for many years , still the same methods used by the schools , and the best way to learn is to find a front fender from a 70's car like a camaro or firebird with the compound curves and try to straighten it out , a good buck ( HD 2x4 sawhorse ) will also be a good thing to have to clamp or lay your work on , but he most important tool when you start working with metal other than glasses is ear protection , find a good nice fitting set of head muffs as your going to wear them and be moving around alot with them on the cheap ones do not cut it and a big box of E.A.R. plugs ( buy the big box as you will go thru them , do not reuse them ! you can put crap in your ear canal that doesn't belong there and cause infections ) you want this as its a loud process and after time you will damage your hearing from the hammering , also a good pair of gloves will be needed for skin sake and because you can loose your feelings in your fingers ( bodymans hand) from the beating shock . and the most important tool is patients , takes lots of time and looking over to make patches and such specially compound curve ones , no such thing as going fast and making it nice .only when you get the hang of it your speed will increase . for hammers I buy Martins ( wood ones are nice except the handles ocasionally break if they dry out ) , being your in NE Ill try autobodytoolmart.com they are in Elgin , you used to be able to pick up orders at the warehouse see if they still allow this . also craigslist has lots of tool sales , you missed one recently they guy was basically selling 50 on the dollar and it had leading tools in it too , and spend the time and gas to look at them so you know what condition they are in . and also what brand . many people pawnign off HF style stuff for martin by painting them . you can tell right away how the finish is on the dollys , martins are fine grained/smooth polished , HF/china are heavy grinds, and the cheap ones are not bad if you want to make a hammer or dolly with a special shape you can do this and not mess with your good ones .
Not trying to sound too crude, but a guy can do a lot of metal shaping with a ball pein hammer, a trailer hitch ball, and a flat piece of iron! Polish the surfaces smooth and have at it. Metal shaping is all about learning to move metal, you don't need fancy tools to learn how to move metal. I also believe you need to have a use for the patch panels you are intending to make, or you will loose interest before you learn how to do it. It takes practice, and you have to ruin lot of metal before you learn the process. You will need a way to cut the damaged part out of the fender (or whatever) and a way to attach the new patch to it, other wise, you will be making pretty patches that you have no way of knowing if they actually fit and match up to the original metal, or not. Fit is as important as having the correct form, especially if your going to butt weld the patches in place. I'd hold out that you need the welder, and at least a grinder with a cut off wheel, and know how to use both, before you can learn how to make good patch panels. There is nothing wrong with having a lot of nice tools, but you don't need a tool box full of them to learn a process. Often, you will find, if you start with the basic tools, you can do almost everything. The extra tools are for those occasional times you need something special, and those extra tools spend the rest of the time taking up space in the tool box drawers. Gene
Thanks Stimpy, 50Dodge4x4. I have a grinder and cut off wheels, so I'm good there. Ear protection, eye protection, and gloves good ideas there. I wear glasses, so I prefer a face shield over goggles, but I use both, depending on the job. Got the big box of foam ear plugs already; I'm also a musician, so hearing is important. I'll see what I can find in muffs, I've never needed those before. For normal working on the car, I like the Mechanicswear gloves, but there isn't any padding there. I think they have some that are padded, though. Other than that, Lemont gloves are about all I see locally, they may have something.
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