They need to be harder than mild steel. The mallets are made out of Live
Oak, Lignum Vitae, or Black Mesquite - all very hard woods. And, when
caulking large boats the oakum needs to be set almost as hard as you can hit
it. The C. Drew irons were made to last a lifetime of caulking and I would
like to make the same.
I have some C. Drew irons, but I don't really want to do a grinding test on
them...

Eide

"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in message
news:Ww05e.3814$NM.2282@lakeread04...
The irons I have seen are not all that hard. They are intended for
pounding
oakum into wood seams so hardness is not all that important and in some
cases not desireable. Then you can touch up the end with a ******* file
occasionaly. A caulking malet has a wood face so mushrooming of the
iron's
shank takes a lot of use. Above all it has to be light and easy to
handle.

Normally you would start with about a 3/4" rod of hot rolled, upset one
end
to about 1 1/2" by 3/8", leave about 3" of shank and spread another 3"
down
to various thicknesses and widths for the working end. As for me, I
would
start with 1 1/2" rod and turn down the shank before forming the working
end.

There are all sorts of shapes. Some even have an offset shank with the
working edge on one side and a driving surface on the other. The really
good ones with an edge wider than about 2" have a slightly conic or
parabolic curve to fit better in fair seams.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Eide" wrote in message news

Thanks all, but no one knows what they would have used? I plan on making
a
few of them, setting up some spring swages and I'd like to get some round
stock to start with.