Ebay purchase: Lead Hammer Mold

[alex71]

I stumbled across this on ebay and had to have it... Wound up paying about $50 to my door....

Not a bad price, but not what I would consider a bargain. What caught my eye is the handle in the picture looked so familiar... The handle and mold were for a lead hammer that I already have. I have a couple others, but this one is my favorite. Now I'll have two of those, and as long as there are used wheel weights around, I'll have them both forever

For those of you who may not know, lead makes the best dead blow hammers. It produces a very heavy strike, and is completely non-marring, even on copper, aluminum, and plastics. The downside is its so soft, that the hammers don't last long. That's where the molds come into play.

 

[BackTracker]

That's pretty damn nifty!

 

[wildman1]

Wow - your post sure brought back memories ....

My Grandfather ran the sinker department at Pflueger's here in Akron back in the 60's before Shakespear bought them out. Not wanting to move away from us grandkids to Florida with the company, he instead bought the lead furnace & molds from the company & opened his own sinker business.

As a natural follow-up, he went into the lead hammer business. Remember, at that time, Goodyear, BF Goodrich, General Tire & Firestone all were building tires 24/7, and each tire built started out in a mold. Lead hammers were used to seperate the molds, and it did not take long for the hammers to be beaten into lumps of lead. My grandpa would pick-up the mis-shapen hammers, drop off newly molded models, and go back to the shop and melt down the lumps & start again. I used to help, and if I remember correctly, a well beaten hammer still retained about 75-85% of the actual lead weight. Needless to say, handles (simple knurled pipe, nothing fancy like yours!) were always re-used, so the rubber shops paid him very well to basically re-mold the same hammer head many times over.

I still have two of his mold hammers in the bottom drawer of my left roller, and everytime I use one, I remember him.

Again, thanks for bringing up the memory

 

[IROCZ]

Very cool new toy!

 

[tube_guy]

That's a nice old set you've got there. I bought a 3 pound set a few years ago from McMaster Carr, also made by Cook Hammer Co. in Rhode Island. I use them quite often to remove workholding devices from my lathe spindle where a gentle soft blow is critical. The mold is similar, but your handles are much nicer. My set was more than you paid too, so for 50 bucks I think you did alright.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Just don't breath the fumes/smoke. That is what contributed to the fall of the Roman empire. At one point there were as many as 900 lead smelters operating in the Italian peninsula. Recent corings of the Greenland ice cap show layers of high lead content at that period of time.

Charles

 

[blueflame6]

Seeing that mold and finished hammer with that particular handle brings back memories. Making lead hammers was part of my job as a toolmaker/machinist apprentice over 40 years ago. Being an apprentice you did all the menial tasks around the shop until a real job came around. That hammer was the same style I used to make. I have 2 of them now which I still use on occasion. memory lane......where has all the time gone?

 

[Monte]

cool find !

 

[Rory Bellows]

I just bought a hammer mold at an auction. I think mine is the same as yours. Mine has PATENTED and a 3 on one side and CHAS.H.FIELD PROVIDENCE R.I. on the other. I can't wait to remold the hammer that I have and make a spare. I wish I had a handle like that it looks nice. I plan to make up some hammers as Christmas gifts and give them to everyone in my family. I think it's a great gift idea. Most of them probably won't see it that way.