Trusty-Cook, Stubby's Cousin

[kythri]

You didn't miss anything. We're just getting started.

Please make them in purple!

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

Is there a release date yet? I saw lilscorpion's review and it looks like this would be awesome to keep by the mill and lathe.

We don't have a release date. I'll post a photo of the canister (the assembled metal components) once I have these in hand. We are changing the design of the canister.

 

[Brandon_oma#692]

We don't have a release date. I'll post a photo of the canister (the assembled metal components) once I have these in hand. We are changing the design of the canister.

My assumption is you are using the tooling for the ball pien, removing the slug that holds the ball pien in place, which gets filled with the "plastic" and is slightly larger than the other steel end. Am I close?

 

[WhoWhatNow]

We don't have a release date. I'll post a photo of the canister (the assembled metal components) once I have these in hand. We are changing the design of the canister.

That's too bad, I was hoping to have one to put through its paces over the holidays. I have almost two weeks off and am planning to spend a lot of time in the shop.

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

My assumption is you are using the tooling for the ball pien, removing the slug that holds the ball pien in place, which gets filled with the "plastic" and is slightly larger than the other steel end. Am I close?

Bingo! Well done.

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

That's too bad, I was hoping to have one to put through its paces over the holidays. I have almost two weeks off and am planning to spend a lot of time in the shop.

It won't happen in two weeks, but I've been told that we have the programmer coming in tonight to program our CNC lathe to do the machining.

 

[Ton ton]

Thanks for keeping me in the loop, hammers made in the USA.

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

Okay, we have some parts. The programmer was in last night. I'll post a canister as soon as one is assembled.

 

[Strouty]

First I need to thank Richard and everyone at Trusty Cook for sending me a hammer, especially one that isn’t red. . It feels great in my hands, I love the size and being able to have both soft and hard faced dead blow hammers all in one is going to be great. I can see beating the old part out and finessing the new part in without needing two different hammers.

This is a similar hammer that I use. Having the steel face on one side is great to avoid damage to the hammer, and I use it when separating rod ends.

Notice how the ends are the same size though. I think the TC would be better if it was similar

The above concern is valid, but I do not think it will outweigh the overall usefulness of the hammer. The Nupla depicted above is a much larger hammer and I would never use it the way I would use this new Trusty Cook hammer. They the nupla is nice for hitting things, the Trusty Cook would allow you to beat the same things into submission. I played around a bit using a cardboard box, trying to hit something right next to it, I was able to get it to grab the top edge of the box on the back lip of the soft hammer head. I don’t think it will be an issue very often as it would need to be seriously tight clearance, but I would say either tapering it on the back or making it the same size as the metal end would be a much cleaner hammer.


Here it is from the end, no real clearance issues:



Here it is from the sides, just about a 1/4” of overhang.



Also, just so people think I don’t know what the Nupla is truly like, here it is next to my Trusty Cook.

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

First I need to thank Richard and everyone at Trusty Cook for sending me a hammer, especially one that isn’t red. . It feels great in my hands, I love the size and being able to have both soft and hard faced dead blow hammers all in one is going to be great. I can see beating the old part out and finessing the new part in without needing two different hammers.



The above concern is valid, but I do not think it will outweigh the overall usefulness of the hammer. The Nupla depicted above is a much larger hammer and I would never use it the way I would use this new Trusty Cook hammer. They the nupla is nice for hitting things, the Trusty Cook would allow you to beat the same things into submission. I played around a bit using a cardboard box, trying to hit something right next to it, I was able to get it to grab the top edge of the box on the back lip of the soft hammer head. I don’t think it will be an issue very often as it would need to be seriously tight clearance, but I would say either tapering it on the back or making it the same size as the metal end would be a much cleaner hammer.


Here it is from the end, no real clearance issues:



Here it is from the sides, just about a 1/4” of overhang.



Also, just so people think I don’t know what the Nupla is truly like, here it is next to my Trusty Cook.

Thanks for the feedback, Justin. Would you have been displeased with a purple or glow in the dark hammer?

 

[Strouty]

I would have liked either one of those.

 

[Strouty]

With the construction of the hammer, could you take a sander to the back lip of the soft face or is there not enough meat there? Just thinking a slight taper would make it flow better and be less likely to catch.

 

[DSLTRK]

The above concern is valid, but I do not think it will outweigh the overall usefulness of the hammer. The Nupla depicted above is a much larger hammer and I would never use it the way I would use this new Trusty Cook hammer. They the nupla is nice for hitting things, the Trusty Cook would allow you to beat the same things into submission. I played around a bit using a cardboard box, trying to hit something right next to it, I was able to get it to grab the top edge of the box on the back lip of the soft hammer head. I don’t think it will be an issue very often as it would need to be seriously tight clearance, but I would say either tapering it on the back or making it the same size as the metal end would be a much cleaner hammer.

I should have been more clear. I'm not worried the hammer can't accomplish the same task. It's a hammer after all, essentially a slug of steel with a stick.

I was more concerned about damage to the hammer itself. While I fully recognize urethane as a tough material, I have seen it sheave off in chunks when glanced. I simply see the protrusion as something that can get damaged if swinging this in proximity to other steel components, ie under a chassis.

Now I'm not a process engineer at Trusty Cook, but I would believe the design incorporates the protrusion to save money on urethane molds. Leave the head mold as is and make individual face molds as required. Then like a Lego set build up any hammer you desire.

If I was on the design team at TC, I probably would have chosen the classic dead blow head design to keep everything flush.

Proto took on a different approach by offsetting the urethane head to keep the outer surface flush with the steel face.

 

[Strouty]

Even that hammer has a wider soft face, I think the best way would be to make both faces the same size, so make the soft face smaller. Only time and use will tell, I think I am being nit picky on the functionality, but I think the hammer would look much nicer if it had the slim face dead blow on one side, then the steel on the other.

 

[DSLTRK]

Even that hammer has a wider soft face, I think the best way would be to make both faces the same size, so make the soft face smaller. Only time and use will tell, I think I am being nit picky on the functionality, but I think the hammer would look much nicer if it had the slim face dead blow on one side, then the steel on the other.

I don't know about that. You would be asking a lot from the urethane to transfer all that impact energy through a smaller surface area. I would expect the service life to be reduced substantially.

 

[Strouty]

I did say look nicer.

I will post some pics tomorrow of what style combo I am talking about, either way this hammer will see some use and I doubt it will fall apart anytime soon.

 

[Bighead38]

I got an email from ups 2 days ago and go excited for the delivery. Then I got another email saying it was sitting in NJ due to weather. Today I felt like a little kid waiting for the ups truck to come.

I haven’t used it yet but I can already tell it’s going to be my favorite hammer. The first reason is having 2 different material faces. Secondly it’s way heavier than I expected which is great for me. I love heavy hammers with short handles. I actually have a few hammers that I have cut the handle to shorten them up. I am also very happy I ended up with green although that glow in the dark idea sounds awesome. I can already tell I am going to end up ordering more hammers when I have the chance.

The previous pictures make it look worse than it is. I really don’t anticipate any problems with the head shape or size the way it is. It’s barely wider on the sides and it’s even on the top.

Here you can see how little it sticks out:

 

[lilscorpion]

...I think the hammer would look much nicer if it had the slim face dead blow on one side, then the steel on the other.

Looks?! Didn’t even occur to me. Will that I’m thinking about it though, I do wish that welding helmets looked a little less boxy...

 

[Bighead38]

Looks?! Didn’t even occur to me. Will that I’m thinking about it though, I do wish that welding helmets looked a little less boxy...

Get this one:

For anyone curious this is the difference in face sizes. I know I didn’t center it perfectly.

 

[413dan]

those look great. like reading that it has some heft to it with a relatively short handle. should be useful in tight places. between the lift arms and frame, or working on small engine stuff. usually seems to rust more with the smaller engines machines as people often neglect them and/or store them outside so a good wack from one of these would work well.

 

[Bighead38]

I really like the weight of it. Used it to knock some wheels off that were stuck, then used it to hit the drums to get them off. Worked great for both.

 

[Catch_22]

Oh my God, I need this for my trailbag. Where can I order this? This is the perfect hammer for a Jeeper on the go. I love my Stubby flat/flat and having the deadblow rolled into one saves space and weight for my trailbag.

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

I really like the weight of it. Used it to knock some wheels off that were stuck, then used it to hit the drums to get them off. Worked great for both.

The feedback from everybody here has been great.

Thanks.

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

Oh my God, I need this for my trailbag. Where can I order this? This is the perfect hammer for a Jeeper on the go. I love my Stubby flat/flat and having the deadblow rolled into one saves space and weight for my trailbag.

We made changes to the canister, and we're testing right now.

 

[1cargarage]

I'm in.

 

[nicks78camaro]

I'm in

 

[quattro_sinko]

Subscribed for availability notification

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

We're making progress, and blue works for me.

 

[16again]

We're making progress, and blue works for me.

Send me one!

 

[kythri]

PPPPPPuuuuuurrrrrrpppppplllleeeeee


(Please?)

 

[connorm]

Oh this is moving along... I'm pumped

 

[lilscorpion]

Think Ive had mine for a few weeks now.



Just got it back from my buddy at the dealership. He concurs, the combo of dead blow and steel hammer is incredibly useful.

In regards to the complaints about the shape/styling - he actually likes it. The visual difference between this and other hammers makes it incredibly easy to identify from a ways away.



In true trusty cook fashion, the dead blow side had taken the beating well. He actually used it to beat out wheel studs. I might have used a drift but I promised to take it through it’s paces so...boo-ya!



The only complaint - need a smaller one too but neither of us want a long one. Ideally it would be the smaller format in the stubby length. Hell, maybe evens keep them all the same length but change the head sizes. ::EVIL::

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

Think Ive had mine for a few weeks now.



Just got it back from my buddy at the dealership. He concurs, the combo of dead blow and steel hammer is incredibly useful.

In regards to the complaints about the shape/styling - he actually likes it. The visual difference between this and other hammers makes it incredibly easy to identify from a ways away.



In true trusty cook fashion, the dead blow side had taken the beating well. He actually used it to beat out wheel studs. I might have used a drift but I promised to take it through it’s paces so...boo-ya!



The only complaint - need a smaller one too but neither of us want a long one. Ideally it would be the smaller format in the stubby length. Hell, maybe evens keep them all the same length but change the head sizes. ::EVIL::

Thanks for the further review. We're making progress on our end with the changes we made to the head. I'll post any relevant updates.

 

[AngryBeaver]

For a mobile service tech, sign me up for at least 4 of these. Wish Id have seen this post a while ago

 

[svtride]

i'm in...

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

A couple more samples are heading out the door today. These are modified from the original version. The hammers look the same, though. There is slightly more steel in the head on the soft-faced side with the modified version.

 

[Bighead38]

Does that make it hit “harder”?

 

[_Riddle]

Looking forward to picking one of these up when they're for sale. My TC ball peen and dead blow will be used a lot next week when I tear apart the suspension on a 30 year old BMW for overhaul. Love my TC hammers!

 

[Outwest]

That design in a 14-16 pounder with a long handle would come in handy. That would make a nice persuader. Just sayin...

 

[poppakap]

Me want