Hammer time, I had hammers on my mind so when I did this it motivated me to round some up, there are more.

Hence the segue.

This operation never involves a hammer, ever, nor as I've stated many, many times I have never damaged the frame, paint, flesh, parts, tools or failed to get them out, ever, period.

Nice thread! Thank you.

And thanks for telling us about the Hebrew Hammer!

Also known as a chasing hammer

They are gone, but their memories live on in the tools that they put their hands on.


My dad made this brass hammer for me from a piece of bar stock many years ago. It's only about 10 ounces. This is the only metal hammer that comes near any bikes.


My grandpa had polio as a boy, so he lost the use of his right arm. He still went to college, worked as a teacher, and farmed. To start a nail, he would hold the nail head against the side of the hammer and slam it into the wood, then quickly toss the hammer up and grab the handle on the way down and drive the nail. The side of the head is all dinged up from him using it that way.


I picked this one up at a garage sale without a handle. I cleaned it up and put a handle on. I find myself reaching for it frequently for small jobs.

Great story on Grandads hammer, very cool your Dad made the brass one.

And never underestimate the usefulness of the mini sledge.

+ so many on the bikes and hammer.

Here are two mallets. The crude green painted one was my grandfather's; he used a lot of pegs in his woodwork and I think he made it. The damage to the faces was most likely my doing as a kid. The other is an artist's mallet for sculpting and woodcut carving when using wooden handled chisels.

Took a trip out to the garage…



sometimes the rubber mallet sees use on a bike



hyde hammers are handy for many many things

I don't have much of a collection, but it has all the ones I could actually need.

Estwing geology hammer
4lb club hammer
rubber mallet
20oz engineering hammer
4oz pin hammer, also good for paint tins

First 3 inherited from my dad who was a paleontologist.
Dumped his collection of sledge hammers because I don't break a lot of concrete these days. I think the largest was 28lb - tried it when I was a kid.

I remember those hammers from when I was a kid. My mother had a hammer like that, except it had a claw head (maybe 10 ounce). She used it around the house for little tasks that didn't require a larger tool, and the screwdrivers nested into one another and were stored in the hollow handle of the hammer. Thanks for posting that - I had forgotten.

the lower example is called (by most) a "Maul" and has differences to most other mallets in the shape of the striking surface (curved wood in this case but can be plastic or hide) plus how you use it:

"Rocking vs. Hitting- Mauls are used with a rocking motion of the wrist, as opposed to the hammer-like hitting motion of a mallet. While it takes some getting used to, using a maul over a long work session takes less energy and puts less stress on the body."

YMMV

I have one of those too (looks identical so no photo). It’s the one I use the most - very useful weight and the ball peen end is good for many things.

I was able to make it to the worksite. Here is the favored Hickory Hart Decking Hammer, made on the USA. I purchased about thirty years back. Nice smooth head that doesn’t mar the stock, though the face has plenty of use that helps grip the drive.


I used to have this highly polished, but I left it out during a rainstorm a couple of months ago that rusted up and pitted, the black spots on the handle came from that night. It is currently on its second finish on the handle. It has been sanded that down with 400 grit, and is now ready for its third. Unfortunately the handle is getting loose, I’m hoping the refinish will help like it did the last time. I’m hoping it will last long enough to become heirloom.

I have others, but this is #1

^ nice framing hammer!
If it wasn't a unique shaped handle I'd just replace with a fresh one, but in this case maybe (if it's not so loose on the head that it needs a new or additional wedge) you might try some "penetrating" epoxy. There's some sold specifically for wood preservation/renewal as well as some for boats, both are very thin-bodied so can weep into tight gaps via capillary action.

Some more explanation, hammers generally have a hard, metal head and are used for driving nails, breaking things, or shaping metal. Mallets, on the other hand, typically have a softer head made of materials like rubber, wood, or plastic, and are used for striking surfaces without causing damage or for driving tools like chisels.

One other of note. My great-great grandpa built wooden ships (barques) in the mid nineteenth century on in Nova Scotia. This hammer was part of a bunch-o-tools passed down the generations. Made by R.Timmins & Sons in Birmingham, they started making tools in 1846.The handle is in serious rough shape but unlikely to be original given the hack installation.

I got this hammer for my sixth birthday,

it came with a saw, pliers, coping saw, level, adjustable square, screwdriver, and putty knife on a peg board with a book of projects (first one I did was the rubber band gun)

all painted by my dad in matching blue..... I have everything but the coping saw, pegboard and plans, many many years later

I remember that "kit" with blue painted stuff...I got the hand-me-down which was missing pieces and/or had some broken...too bad they didn't include some "projects" in the manual for fixing the tools that get broken!

EDIT: this was called "Billy Builder" and somewhat different than the hammer squirtdad shared:

That's quite a bit of history. It seems to me a special privilege to know that about a long-ago relative and also to have something he had.

My buddy, Bernie, worked with Andy Goldsworthy to create 'Faultline' at the DeYoung museum. Andy used Bernds' hammer and signed it after they finished. He told Andy if he worked for him and did that he would get fired, lol.
https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/reso...y-visual-arts/

Lot of interesting hammers!
My pitiful drawer of hammers

Oh dude, you handle is on backwards on the Hart, that must be awkward. The head looks like that of my photo.

Don't know where I got that from. Must have been installed primarily for the claw!
Will look up a replacement.

ooooo. Can't find one! Bummer!

Look for camp axe handle. I found a bunch of listings. Truper 30815 Replacement Hickory Handle For Camp Axe

Hah! Thanks for sharing this vid, I walk past this piece at least once every month (or more) and when it was first installed I was "chuffed" to have a genuine Andy Goldsworthy closer to home than the ones in the Presidio or down in San Jose...cause I feel an affinity to him (we share a surname)!
I almost met him at a gallery opening at the Haynes gallery in SF but he had done his talk and left before I arrived, but a friend (who's an artist herself) spent a couple hours talking "ART" with him and said he was wonderful (plus very serious about his art)...

Maybe next time he visits SF I will find out earlier and get a chance to shake his hand.
Then show him my Drivers License