If you treat them right then body hammers can last a lifetime, but even if you do treat them right they will still undoubtedly end up with some damage on the face of them from the occasional missed hit, drop, or because you forget and use it like it’s a ball peen. Whatever the reason, you can tune them up and make them as good, or better, than new. You heard me right, better than new. In fact, these same techniques you’ll see in this video are the ones that can be used to make a set of cheap body hammers into something far better. Remember, everything on the face of the hammer you are using is being transferred to the material you are hitting so that means any blemish in the face of the hammer can potentially damage the surface you are trying to shape with it. That’s no bueno.

In this video Karl from Make It Kustom is going to show us how to repair some old body hammers that he got at a swap meet. Take a look at your hammers and I bet you they look as bad or worse than some of these, which means they could use a tune-up. And if you wonder just how good you can make the face of your hammers, or how much you can change the shape of them, go buy a $25 set of body hammers and dollies at Harbor Freight and spend some time making them really nice. The results will amaze you.

Watch.