Hammer time!

[CS454]

Grandfather's club hammer, and Great Grandfather's Ball Peen.

 

[Outlawmws]

Found this in a heap of old junk. cleaned and painted it. Weighs a ton.

I made a tire hammer that way once - Good way to get a busted wrist or arm with a steel handle big hammers buck and kick back...

 

[CS454]

After a little bit of TLC...good for another 80 years or so.

 

[ctuai]

Just got this 16 oz Estwing ($0.25). Painted green that seems to be baked on, which makes me think that it's original. Thinking of sanding it down, but won't if it's the original paint. Did Estwing use green paint?

 

[RTM]

I've never seen a green Estwing. Only own 3 or 4, but seen dozens.

 

[ctuai]

I've never seen a green Estwing. Only own 3 or 4, but seen dozens.

Yah, it's an odd duck. It's certainly old. I wonder if the ones with "patent ***" on the end caps are older? Sure wish somebody had done a study on Estwing

 

[Ton ton]

I have seen quite a few versions of Estwing Claw hammers listed in catalogs and so forth. Thanks for posting a picture of this green Estwing.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Fixed!

 

[dutchgray]

Yah, it's an odd duck. It's certainly old. I wonder if the ones with "patent ***" on the end caps are older? Sure wish somebody had done a study on Estwing

Anything is possible but I thought Estwing were always polished steel, only now is paint becoming common on new hammers they make to cut costs. I would expect the green was someone's tool identification colour.

 

[jonshonda]

Here is my drawer of loud poundy things.

 

[RTM]

Here is my drawer of loud poundy things.

Dang. I like that level of organization. The dividers to hold things loosely upright is great.

 

[jonshonda]

Dang. I like that level of organization. The dividers to hold things loosely upright is great.

Yeah thanks! It works out pretty slick tbh. I figured any more then 2 in same slot and it could be a domino effect?

 

[LesserSon]

Found this very small Buffum ballpein last week. After the rust came off, turns out there’s a crack in the steel from the stamp around past halfway agross the ball. Oh well. I meant to weigh it, but seem to have set it down somewhere and haven’t laid eyes on it since. I am hoping it doesn’t show up in MrsLS’s clothes drier.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

turns out there’s a crack in the steel from the stamp around past halfway agross the ball

That'll buff right out.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I like that level of organization.

I currently keep mine in a vintage 1940's era military cabinet. The drawers are extremely deep. Unfortunately, the only divider options are across, not front to back, which is great for separating pliers, just for example, by type. But my hammer drawers are so unruly I'd be ashamed to even show them. My level of organization is one drawer for ball-peins and another for everything else.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I've probably shown most of this accumulation before, so my apologies for redundancy. I was motivated to pseudo-organize, so I snapped some pics while they were out!

Some 32-oz ball-peins (see Pic 1), including Billings, Craftsman (made by Vlchek), and Bluegrass (see Pic 2), and two "U.S.N." MAYDOLE's (see Pic 3) with "X" and "O" snot weld owner's marks (see Pic 4) that I like to call my Tic-Tac-Toe hammers.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Smaller (24-, 16- and 4-oz) ball-peins, including vintage [VAUGHAN] and Western Giant WIZARD (see Pics 1 & 2), Champion DeArment, script Lakeside, and antique Vaughan & Bushnell (see Pics 3 & 4), and a [PLUMB] and rare McKaig-Hatch (see Pic 5).

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Staying with vintage ball-peins, I also have some sets, including Fairmount (see Pic 1 & 2), Bonney (see Pic 3 & 4), and Blue-Point (see Pics 5 & 6).

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Lastly, a misc. assortment of brass, soft blow, rubber, leather, wood, or otherwise non-marring hammers (see Pic 1), and some specials (see Pic 2, 3 & 4). The WITCHER tool (c. 1910) is technically a lasting plier from the shoemaking industry, for stretching leather material over a lasting board, and tapping in tacks and heel nails with that hammer head. The cobbler's hammer (c. 1850) is E. HOWARD. No name on the lethal slate hammer with stacked leather washer handle.

 

[LesserSon]

Picked up this small, old Plumb script/anchor-logo claw hammer head with octagonal face at flea today. ~4oz

EDIT - here’s what the stamp may have looked like, probably minus the “Extra Damascus” elipse.

 

[LesserSon]

According to a couple websites, the Anchor Brand logo dates from about 1890-1930s.

 

[Tynee]

You gentlemen who paint a hammer when you restore it, what type of paint do you use on it? Is there something special?

I decided I wanted to tackle a couple of cheap chinese hammer heads I was given. Last night I got carried away with the grinder on the 8 oz. ball pein. I was pleased with the way the replacement handle turned out with just some 220 grit and a coating of tung oil, though.

I need to figure out a better way to get the rust off of the 4# sledge without removing the shape of the hammer and all its markings like I did on the ball pein with the bench grinder. I think I'll start with a vinegar bath and see where we go from there.

 

[Ton ton]

I just use silver spray paint for my hammer. Don't overthink it.

 

[JradM]

You gentlemen who paint a hammer when you restore it, what type of paint do you use on it? Is there something special?

I decided I wanted to tackle a couple of cheap chinese hammer heads I was given. Last night I got carried away with the grinder on the 8 oz. ball pein. I was pleased with the way the replacement handle turned out with just some 220 grit and a coating of tung oil, though.

I need to figure out a better way to get the rust off of the 4# sledge without removing the shape of the hammer and all its markings like I did on the ball pein with the bench grinder. I think I'll start with a vinegar bath and see where we go from there.

When painting hammers, I try not to apply the paint too thick. For whatever reason, the paint seems to stand up to abuse better when it's thin.

Like Ton ton I also use silver paint. Last one I did I used that Dupli-color "Chrome" color. It doesn't look chrome, but it does look shiny. I would be tempted to just polish the metal and clear coat it - if I could find a clearcoat I knew would stick well to bare metal.

I'm a big fan of the scotch brite rotary tool bits. They are handy for getting into crevices and will clean up metal well without sanding it down. I bought a no-name bag of 100 in mixed grits from Amazon last time for ~$20. They've been great. They don't last particularly long, but I think that's the name of the game (plus I tend to push a little hard to speed up the work).

 

[Tynee]

I like that 2-tone black and polished look, or maybe a deep navy and polished. Will see what I can track down. Appreciate the feedback.

 

[JradM]

Since hammer organizing came up - here's what I do. I can store way more hammers this way and still have them easy to identify and grab.



I could do a neater job of this - in fact, I might do that one of these days. I have been cutting new holes with a holesaw as I add tools. It wouldn't be much of a chore to pop out the slides and cut a new board though.

What I like about this is vertical storage results in very high density. I also find the space in the bottom of a cart to mostly be a clutter catcher.

 

[JradM]

Here's a "drawer closed" shot too.

 

[Outlawmws]

I couldn't even come close...

I completely filled a 7 drawer Kennedy roller with striking tools adn STILL have at least that much more...

 

[Ton ton]

Here's a "drawer closed" shot too.

Always great to see some rubber mallets. I use rubber mallets all the time.

 

[sXe]

Since we're talking storage...I made this for my bench out of bed frame rails. Have many more hammers all over but these are used often and I can keep track of them.

 

[Clive Russ]

I made a hammer & anvil stand out of two 8'x 9" rough boards of hickory, just like hammer handles, with the help of my friendly local furniture maker, then finished it with shellac (French polished). It's cold in the garage (November), so the coffee table became the work bench.

Each hammer has its place — sledge, ball-pein, malleable iron, steel, hardened steel, alloyed steel, copper, beryllium, nylon, rubber, wood… most with hickory handles that have been French polished. I also polished all the hammer faces.

I used the sledge hammer recently, to flatten a thick Marquet steel frying pan. I tried first by pressing 5 tons of force with a bearing press, but what really moved the iron was heating it, hitting it fairly gently with the Martinez sledge hammer, then tapping it with a small hammer against a block of steel (anvil)!

The anvils are fun, from the gold-plated to a piece of railroad track, with the central antique anvil mounted on a block of Purple Heart wood.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That looks great.

 

[Outlawmws]

Beautiful work!

 

[ejot]

Few of my ball peens and a tiny claw hammer...

The three 4oz I got together and glued/wrapped the two with split handles. One is Stanley (rounder peen) the other two (pointier peens) are Kelly Perfect/True Temper.
Octagonal face one is hand forged and quite nicely done.
The three without handles and the leftmost hammer are early Vlchek, love the look of these. Right-facing one without handle is a particularly early one with just the Vlchek crest stamped.
The Plumb all the way to the right has a neat logo that I believe is somewhat hard to find.
Big one is a 43oz Proto. I've since added a 48oz Vlchek that gets used probably the most.

 

[Lasu]

KTC ball peen

 

[jeffmoss26]

some sad hammers at the ReStore today...

 

[trytochaseme]

heres 2 hammers I made myself

 

[KnurledNut]

I adopted this pitiful, orphaned Vaughan CF1.


Busted handle, rust and varnish, the new ugly painted logo that replaced the older beautiful stamped version....poor child begging for TLC.


Started with an orthopedic transplant...


...combined with a much needed dermatopathologist topo-surgical procedure.


Followed up repeatedly with the dermatologist...


The meds and microdermabrasion seem to be working...


After some time and healing, a child knows when its loved.

 

[ecotec]

heres 2 hammers I made myself

Is the tool, on the right side of the picture, a breaker bar? Also... did you make those sockets?

 

[Ton ton]

I adopted this pitiful, orphaned Vaughan CF1.
View attachment 1580089

Busted handle, rust and varnish, the new ugly painted logo that replaced the older beautiful stamped version....poor child begging for TLC.
View attachment 1580090

Started with an orthopedic transplant...
View attachment 1580091

...combined with a much needed dermatopathologist topo-surgical procedure.
View attachment 1580092

Followed up repeatedly with the dermatologist...
View attachment 1580093

The meds and microdermabrasion seem to be working...
View attachment 1580094

After some time and healing, a child knows when its loved.
View attachment 1580095

That is a beautiful handle.