Dead Blow Ball Pein Hammers

[kythri]

So, I'd really, REALLY like to get a set of these.

Seems that my options are:

Snap-on
Armstrong
Cornwell
Matco
Trusty Cook

I understand Trusty Cook used to make the Snap-on ones, however, apparently, no more.

Are they making them for Armstrong, Cornwell and Matco?

Any other brands to consider? Any specific reason to buy one of the brands above over another, past personal preference for a particular brand? For the truck brands, I don't need any of the value-add that the truck brand/dealer provides. I just needs/wants me some hammers.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the Trusty Cook based on price.

I've seen some other stuff in the past - ATD or Astro Pneumatic used to import a set, and I think I saw some Stanley branded stuff?

 

[bobcatdan]

SO and Stanley make there own. Mac and proto are Stanley compo cast. Anything else USA is trusty cook. I don't think any are bad options. I hate wood handles and dead blow ball peins are my favorite.

 

[Hiball]

Stanley compo cast in 32, 24 and 16oz.




And a 8oz to round out the set.

Made in the USA to boot..

 

[SC-AW11]

whats that black stuff on the ball pein? how much?

 

[bobcatdan]

Its shipping **** to keep the metal ends perfect.

 

[Hiball]

whats that black stuff on the ball pein? how much?

As bobcat mentioned its a plastic coating that is there to protect the face during shipping. I don't recall what they cost exactly, I bought the 3 big ones them via zoro tools during one of there 40% promotions. The 8 oz came from another online vendor on a recommendation from sk farmer.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Any other brands to consider? Any specific reason to buy one of the brands above over another, past personal preference for a particular brand? For the truck brands, I don't need any of the value-add that the truck brand/dealer provides. I just needs/wants me some hammers.

Warranty something that you care about? Word on the street/my impression is that some of the non-truck brands don't really have a warranty..
MAC ones come on sale for what I'd consider a decent price...I personally have a set of SO's in Green..Love em.

 

[stonesfan68]

When I was looking for hammers I found that Armstrong and other re-branded Trusty-Cook tools were slightly less costly than the identical T-C hammer and had a better warranty. For example, the Armstrong and SK versions have a lifetime warranty and the T-C version is one year.

 

[Stephenw]

I've got the 16 oz Stanley, made in the USA. I'm not sure if these are still made, but they can still be found new from some online sources.

 

[kythri]

The Stanley hammers appear to be the cheapest, by far, but they don't appear to make a 40-ounce version? The 8-ounce version doesn't seem readily available, or is being sold several places as a 12-ounce version?

Besides Stanley, Snap-on is the only vendor that seems to sell an 8-oz version.

Two questions:

Matco has two difference series of part numbers - CDBP (red hammers) and BH (green hammers) - anyone know the difference, besides the color?

Are the Snap-on green hammers a limited kind of thing, or are they pretty much always available? If the latter, what's the part number for them?

Throwing everything together in Excel so I can sort stuff, it appears the Armstrong and the Cornwell branded stuff is only about $30-$35 more than Trusty Cook directly.

Snap-on is about $110 more than those, excluding the 8-ounce hammer.

So, for a set of 16oz, 24oz, 32oz and 40oz:

Matco (red) from matcotools.com: $289.80
Matco (green) from matcotools.com: $353.95
Trusty Cook from trustyhammers.com: $214.00
Snap-on from snapon.com: $357.75
Armstrong from amazon.com: $251.70
Cornwell from cornwelltools.com: $242.80
Mac from mactools.com: $346.96

 

[jmscollinsiii]

Warranty something that you care about? Word on the street/my impression is that some of the non-truck brands don't really have a warranty..
MAC ones come on sale for what I'd consider a decent price...I personally have a set of SO's in Green..Love em.

^^^This is exactly what my thoughts were.

 

[rshadd]

Can't go wrong with a Trusty-Cook

 

[rshadd]

When I was looking for hammers I found that Armstrong and other re-branded Trusty-Cook tools were slightly less costly than the identical T-C hammer and had a better warranty. For example, the Armstrong and SK versions have a lifetime warranty and the T-C version is one year.

It's two years, but your right that the warranty is better with the rebrands.

I can't say that I've ever broken a hammer.

Warranty Information

Trusty Hammers warrants all its hammers against failure in normal use (manufacturing defects) for a 2 year period. We do not warrant our tools against misuse, abuse or WEARING OUT. All warranty claims are subject to product review by Trusty Hammers. Warning: striking a cold hammer (below 38 degrees) may/will cause a cracking failure.

 

[rival904]

It's two years, but your right that the warranty is better with the rebrands.

I can't say that I've ever broken a hammer.

Seen many a broken SO and Matco hammers in the last year

 

[purplezr2]

I have broke a few Snap on Hammers, they get weak with age I believe.

 

[Steinmetz]

Dead blow hammers are a limited lifetime item. That's the price that's paid for their superior dynamic properties.

 

[HighPlainsWrencher]

I am as big as Snap On fan as the next guy but I think Trusty Cook builds a hammer 10x better for the money. To me Snap On's ball pein hammers feels like they glued two pieces of steel on the end of a hollow thin plastic handle.

 

[tomshep]

I had a number of MAC dead blow ball pein and orange handle dead blow hammers. As of this past weekend every one of them ended up getting brittle and a white, sandy substance on them. They also became sticky and came apart. No clue why. These were probably 15 years old.

All were shipped back and warrantied over the last year. A few came back labeled MAC and the rest Stanley.

If I didn't have them, I wouldn't buy them today based on their performance.

Tom

 

[Polski-Chevy]

Can't go wrong with a Trusty-Cook

x2

I got my dead blows straight from the source, good group of folks there, and I was told hammer away if it breaks bring it back.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Those TC's are VERY nice!

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Are the Snap-on green hammers a limited kind of thing, or are they pretty much always available? If the latter, what's the part number for them?

Pretty sure they are available all the time...I've bought them here & there, never had a problem getting what I wanted...my most recent add was the HBFE24G, 24oz Soft Face Dead Blow. As for PN#'s just throw a G to the end of whatever PN# hammer you find on the SO site....or ask your friendly local driver

 

[Rezeppa]

Don't buy Matco. Matco started to make their own hammers overseas that appear to look very similar to Trusty Cook but are definable inferior. The current difference between red and green is the green ones are NOS and are still Trusty Cook.

 

[Brownsfan]

I have a few of the Cornwell trusty cooks. Great hammers at a decent price for a rebadge truck tool. No issues at all with them. Warranty might be tough for me because my Cornwell guy got out of the biz. I am not worried about it though. They are built like tanks. Not worried about any of the Cornwell stuff I have

 

[shockwave]

Go with either the trusty cook or rebadged versions I like the feel of there ball piens better they feel more balanced vs snap on also look at a 4lb sledge Cornwall has a nice one still made in the USA for a decent price I believe it's called a lil bfn for around 25-30 bucks

 

[senlow]

I recommend the Snappy or Trusty Cook.

 

[1950mercury]

i have an older mac 16oz and a so 32? oz and i can not seem to blemish the face of the so. the macs face is neat to **** and cracked up waiting for they mac guy to replace it..