The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop slapping spoons

I remember reading an article on the web about making slapping spoons from old leaf springs but I don't remember where it was. Anyone know what I am talking about?

Yes, I have one and its over 50 years old...but I have never
heard of it as a slapping spoon...it is used to take down ridges and high spots, by hitting with a hammer...Now, a slap hammer is
another useful item that is made out of a bastard file...You heat the file red hot, then make a Z bend...it is an important tool that
is used a lot in the body business...Another item is a pick that is
made from a pitch-fork tine...I have many more tools that I had to
make...Many times every job needs a tool that is not available, so
as a result You make it...Bill B

Dont know the website or article but theres one I made myself.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2436229470102553149QhRwxV

heres a side profile of one that I bought.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2266564490102553149GPuHnZ

I would aim at making the total weight around 1.5 to 2 lbs. Anything lighter then 1 lbs is wasting time and over 2 lbs gets heavy real quick.

The one I made in the first pic is from a 90ish Ford F250 so its thick and weighs about 4 lbs. Its friggin heavy but moves the metal fast!!

I use that one to rough stuff up then finesse everything with the one in the second pic which weighs 2 lbs.

I clamped one end in a vise heated it up cherry red then bent it. Heated another spot for the offset. Then I trimmed the area where the handle is down and welded a pipe over it for comfort.

THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is dress the surface of the spoon!!!!
Use a high speed grinder with 36 grit to smooth the surface and remove any nicks etc. Then move to 80 grit and continue to about 150 grit to polish the surface. The shiner the slapper surface the shiner the surface on your metal you are repairing which means you can repair the damage easier and faster.

But you NEED to remove any nicks from the slapper's surface otherwise it will print itself into the metal's surface...Eric

Thanks Eric. Hey, where are those custom metal and How to videos?

Thanks Eric, the first pic is exactly what I am talking about. Excuse my ignorance when I called it a slapping spoon. By the way, I love your videos on metal working techniques.

Ralph,

Here is a link to a Metal Shapers Assoc photo layout. Anything close to what you were looking for?
http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbums.cgi?action=openalbum&albumid=9980107588548

Bill B,

Would you be willing to post some photos of your homemade tools? No better homework assignment for us metal working students than to make our own tools. Here are few I've made so far.

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/22262951

sevt_chevelle
how do I find the videos?
how hard is it to learn how to do this?
I have a fender that is real rough to practice on.

Peter, the Metal Shapers link is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

Unfortunately, life got in the way. A new very demanding job from General Electric and the disappearance of all my free time. For the time being video production stopped.

I did get to make a video on door skin replacement put its still in editing and simply dont know when I will get to it. But this winter my schedule will level out and get me back in the garage.

For the guy with the rough fender, I have a few very short videos on you-tube that just kinda highlight a few techniques. Just do a search under sevtchevelle...Eric

Ok here is the link for one video

Personally, I dont think its all that hard, the toughest part is reading the metal and figuring out what it tells you.

If you watch the videos and look through the link on my sig you should get a few ideas and techniques.

Do some looking, think of some questions and Ill gladly answer them.

Just focus on one dent at a time, dont overwhelm yourself by looking at the whole fender...Eric