SK warranty/defect question

[[CJ]]

I ordered an SK dead blow hammer through amazon and when I got it I noticed it had all these pock mark like divots on it, like air had gotten in the mold when it was molded.

So, I emailed SK asking if it was normal and attached pictures of the concern. I got a reply stating it was not and to reply with a shipping address so they could send me a prepaid UPS shipping label. This was on August 11th and I still have yet to receive a shipping label.

For anyone who has warrantied an SK product, does it usually take this long to process? Also, there is a Grainger nearby, would I be able to warranty it there?

 

[jumbojak]

I've never sent anything back to SK for warranty work but have thus far found their customer service department very easy to deal with. My 1/4" flex head arrived with a 3/8" drive so I called the number and they had the right kit mailed very quickly. They did offer a shipping label but I suggested the kit to save me time and them money.

If I were you I would call them to check up on things. Also, check your spam folder.

 

[Davefr]

Just call them again.

It'll be far easier then trying to deal with Grainger!!

 

[PJNJ]

I dealt with them and had a shipping label emailed the same day. Why would you wait over three weeks to follow up?

They were very easy to deal with and everything went smoothly and quickly.

 

[nes999]

The last time I sent something for a warranty it took 2 days for a label. I would call again.

 

[LB-1911]

I ordered an SK dead blow hammer through amazon and when I got it I noticed it had all these pock mark like divots on it, like air had gotten in the mold when it was molded.

So, I emailed SK asking if it was normal and attached pictures of the concern. I got a reply stating it was not and to reply with a shipping address so they could send me a prepaid UPS shipping label. This was on August 11th and I still have yet to receive a shipping label.

For anyone who has warrantied an SK product, does it usually take this long to process? Also, there is a Grainger nearby, would I be able to warranty it there?

You have waited this long - Why not just follow up with another reply email wait two days then call?

In the future you may want to consider purchasing your hammers directly from Trusty Cook.


A few of the recent deals

Trusty-Cook, 3-Pack Specials
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=338307

Trusty-Cook, Yellow Hammers, 20% off list price
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=335002

Trusty-Cook 20% off List Price, Blue Hammers
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326116

Trusty-Cook, Green Ball Peens, Available
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=317834

 

[gdocktor3]

They can email you a prepaid shipping slip. I think they've done that for me in the past. Someone has anyways. Either them or Snap On.

 

[firworks]

Those pock mark like divots are a result of the process they use to manufacture those hammers. Unless they are gigantic they won't effect the durability of your hammer and are normal. If you get a replacement from them it is highly likely that it will have some just in different spots.

As example, this is the ****-end of my Buddy Blaster 64:
View media item 60729And the bottom of the head:
View media item 60730
It's not a defect, it's just a result of the way they make those hammers. Obviously you can still probably return it to SK but I wouldn't.

 

[augustus]

i just dealt with them on a socket, they sent me a new one in 8 days. You should call and talk to them.

 

[ken w.]

I e -mailed SK on Saturday to get 2 1/4" drive rebuild kits. I got a reply on Tuesday morning saying they would ship them right out. Since the new company took over the customer service had been excellent for me.

 

[[CJ]]

You have waited this long - Why not just follow up with another reply email wait two days then call?

In the future you may want to consider purchasing your hammers directly from Trusty Cook.


A few of the recent deals

Trusty-Cook, 3-Pack Specials
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=338307

Trusty-Cook, Yellow Hammers, 20% off list price
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=335002

Trusty-Cook 20% off List Price, Blue Hammers
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326116

Trusty-Cook, Green Ball Peens, Available
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=317834

Good to know, Thanks!

 

[[CJ]]

Those pock mark like divots are a result of the process they use to manufacture those hammers. Unless they are gigantic they won't effect the durability of your hammer and are normal. If you get a replacement from them it is highly likely that it will have some just in different spots.

As example, this is the ****-end of my Buddy Blaster 64:
View media item 60729And the bottom of the head:
View media item 60730
It's not a defect, it's just a result of the way they make those hammers. Obviously you can still probably return it to SK but I wouldn't.

Yeah, mine looks exactly like that. If those marks are normal then I won't worry about it. I was just concerned because I've never seen them on another dead blow. Thanks.

 

[drewvdw]

I'm lucky enough to work across the street from them. Walk in with a broken tool, hand it to the lady and she went in the warehouse and grabbed the new one and I was on my way in 10 minutes.

 

[Scotland Offshore ABZ]

Not to have a go at SK, but I have never had a Snap-On or MAC tool be sold to me like that. It seems their quality control might not be that great?

 

[firworks]

Not to have a go at SK, but I have never had a Snap-On or MAC tool be sold to me like that. It seems their quality control might not be that great?

Again, it's not a quality control problem. It's a result of the way they are made. They are hot-cast and as I understand it, any moisture that exists on either the parts or the air or the mold will result in a little air bubble. They don't effect the functionality. Maybe Richard could come in here and explain it better. I know they are all inspected and if the bubbles are large they are pulled as a blem because TC sells the blem hammers and some of them have larger bubbles in them. Stanley hammers likely have the same bubbles as they use a very similar process, but their finishing is terrible. The casting line on Stanleys will cut you.

 

[Scotland Offshore ABZ]

Again, it's not a quality control problem. It's a result of the way they are made. They are hot-cast and as I understand it, any moisture that exists on either the parts or the air or the mold will result in a little air bubble. They don't effect the functionality. Maybe Richard could come in here and explain it better. I know they are all inspected and if the bubbles are large they are pulled as a blem because TC sells the blem hammers and some of them have larger bubbles in them. Stanley hammers likely have the same bubbles as they use a very similar process, but their finishing is terrible. The casting line on Stanleys will cut you.

I didn't know that they were made differently. I just assumed due to the price difference that the material Snap-On and MAC used was higher quality or that the quality control may not be as good.

 

[LB-1911]

Not to have a go at SK, but I have never had a Snap-On or MAC tool be sold to me like that. It seems their quality control might not be that great?

I didn't know that they were made differently. I just assumed due to the price difference that the material Snap-On and MAC used was higher quality or that the quality control may not be as good.

Some additional background - cut from previous threads

Are you guys the OEM for Snap On's hammers, they look very similar.

Kunkernator - We only make the Deadblow Sledgehammers for Snap-On that are branded "Bluepoint", they switched to an injected molded style deadblow line several years ago.

Oh alright. Injection molded as opposed to....?

HOT CAST Urethane....different animal

01-16-2014

Hello All - Jeff, VP Sales at Trusty Cook (Trustyhammers.com), and new to Garage Journal and glad to be here to clear up some confusion about the Dead Blow Hammer Market...... Trusty Cook of course offers all full line of DEADBLOW Soft Face, Sledge, Ball Peen and Metal Shaping Bossing Hammers (new to market and only deadblow bossing mallet in Industry) that can be purchased at Trustyhammers.com.

We are very proud to still be manufacturing ALL our hammers 100% in the USA at our Indianapolis, IN plant! We also are PROUD to private label a full line of Dead Blow Hammers for several BIG NAMES in the Hand Tool Arena - Armstrong Tools (Red Color), Cornwell Tools (Red Color), MATCO TOOLS (Only the Green Ones - the red and clack ones are imports and not made by Trusty Cook), SK Tools (Red), Estwing Mfg. (The Red CCD Models/CCD45 is in Home Depot and all the Grey Ones with blue rubber grips),

and finally Snap-On Tools - We only make the Sledge Hammer Models branded as Blue-Point for them, their soft face and ball peens are an injected molded hammer they went to years ago.

I have also seen some confusion on hammer weights, particularly the Ball peens, the Part Number for our brand ends with the HEAD WEIGHT (not total weight) - example TCBP16 (head weight is 16 oz and total weight is 26 oz.) We did this years ago to comply to GSA (Military/Gov't) Contract Standards/Specs. Confusing I know, but the weights are accurate on our brand.

We do offer a 2 year warranty against manufacturer defects (on our brand only - private label brands control warranties on their products even if made by TC). Warranty outside 2 years is discretionary on a case by case basis, but we are pretty good guys who always like to hear from our customers with any feedback or stories about our Deadblows!

 

[Scotland Offshore ABZ]

Some additional background - cut from previous threads Good info there thankyou, I do like the look of the Trusty Cook hammers. I dont know if I will be able to gt them in the UK. I only have Snap-On Ball-Peins but I do have a good few Estwing claw hammers.

 

[Git]

I ordered an SK dead blow hammer through amazon

If you buy something and a problem develops within the first 30 days - just send it back and get another one!

No reason to deal with a manufacturer unless it is an unusually large item or something along those lines

Amazon makes it extremely easy for returns - they will even have UPS come to your house with a label to pick it up

 

[zcbauer89]

It only took half an hour to get a return label emailed to me. But I've been waiting on my warranty return for 3 months and counting. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't get a different answer whenever I called.

 

[dutchgray]

Some additional background - cut from previous threads Good info there thankyou, I do like the look of the Trusty Cook hammers. I dont know if I will be able to gt them in the UK. I only have Snap-On Ball-Peins but I do have a good few Estwing claw hammers.

You can, they ship internationally but shipping is expensive but hammers are big and heavy and you will have to pay import taxes.
The cheapest way to get them is watch Amazon.com for the brands TC makes and pick them up when there is a deal on, as Amazon has very cheap shipping, I got a large Estwing branded one that way.
Have 9 TC hammers now and the Estwing branded one.
I don't know of any distributor here that carries them.

 

[Loscaldazar]

I've never had to wait more than a few hours (assuming this was during the business day). Otherwise get a response early the next business day.

 

[rshadd]

Why don't you just return it to Amazon and buy another one?

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

Urethane dead blow hammers are typically made using one of two processes: hot casting or injection molding. My understanding is that injection molded hammers have the urethane injected into the mold by a machine under great pressure. The finish of the product is very smooth. We hot cast our hammers, which means the hammers are poured by hand. We will have pock marks or slight imperfections in the finish. Some of the pock marks make the hammer look like Swiss cheese, and these hammers get tossed. We ship thousands of hammers a week to private label customers, and never receive complaints about the finish of the hammer.

Why use injection molding technology to make hammers? It is much cheaper. Do you get the same end result as hot casting? No.

The attached photos show injection molded hammers and hot cast hammers. Note the sharp etching and the smooth finish on the injection molded hammers. There is something funky going on with the head of the black hammer. Does anybody have an idea on what happened to the head?

 

[countryroad82]

I'm lucky enough to work across the street from them. Walk in with a broken tool, hand it to the lady and she went in the warehouse and grabbed the new one and I was on my way in 10 minutes.

So I'm assuming you have an entire SK arsenal? I know I would!!!!!

 

[hammersmadeinusa]

You can, they ship internationally but shipping is expensive but hammers are big and heavy and you will have to pay import taxes.
The cheapest way to get them is watch Amazon.com for the brands TC makes and pick them up when there is a deal on, as Amazon has very cheap shipping, I got a large Estwing branded one that way.
Have 9 TC hammers now and the Estwing branded one.
I don't know of any distributor here that carries them.

FYI--we are not making the two blue dead blows for Estwing.

 

[dutchgray]

FYI--we are not making the two blue dead blows for Estwing.

Large grey one, if you guys didn't make it then somebody is doing an exact copy.

 

[firworks]

Large grey one, if you guys didn't make it then somebody is doing an exact copy.

They do make that one. They just don't make the new blue ones that Estwing is now selling. There was a thread a few months back about it.

These are the ones they DONT make: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Estwing-45-oz-Dead-Blow-Hammer-CCD45/202183856

 

[Scotland Offshore ABZ]

Urethane dead blow hammers are typically made using one of two processes: hot casting or injection molding. My understanding is that injection molded hammers have the urethane injected into the mold by a machine under great pressure. The finish of the product is very smooth. We hot cast our hammers, which means the hammers are poured by hand. We will have pock marks or slight imperfections in the finish. Some of the pock marks make the hammer look like Swiss cheese, and these hammers get tossed. We ship thousands of hammers a week to private label customers, and never receive complaints about the finish of the hammer.

Why use injection molding technology to make hammers? It is much cheaper. Do you get the same end result as hot casting? No.

The attached photos show injection molded hammers and hot cast hammers. Note the sharp etching and the smooth finish on the injection molded hammers. There is something funky going on with the head of the black hammer. Does anybody have an idea on what happened to the head?

So just to go a bit off topic for a second, is my hammer pictured below a POS? I think it is great and the second of these I have bought from SO. Should I be buying the other brand, and is injection molded inferior? I always try to buy the best and I am not a Snap-On fanboy. I will always buy whatever is the best. Any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[dutchgray]

I have never had a Snap On dead blow but if you like it then go with it, at least with those if it does fail you can get a new one out of them.

 

[dutchgray]

They do make that one. They just don't make the new blue ones that Estwing is now selling. There was a thread a few months back about it.

These are the ones they DONT make: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Estwing-45-oz-Dead-Blow-Hammer-CCD45/202183856

Pretty sure I posted in that thread. I haven't seen one of the new ones yet, they are not commonly available over here.