What happeend to these Stanley Hammers?

[nickelmore]

I have seen this happen to my SO hammers once but now all of a sudden almost over night I open a drawer and this is what I find.

I had to argue with my SO rep at the time because it happened in use and blew apart but I spent 30 min finding enough of the part number and name so I could glue it back together.

[/IMG]

 

[firworks]

Whoah, what on earth!? It did that while sitting in a drawer not actively slamming into something?

 

[nti06]

Did somebody dip your hammer in liquid nitrogen?

 

[woody 73]

That happens more then you think my Stanley compocast is also turning white. They tell me that it is something in the chemical make-up of the plastic that degrades after so many years. Snap on will replace it for you not sure about Stanley but they have known about this problem for many years.

Hope that helps you out.

 

[firworks]

I bet Richard from TC would have an idea. Paging Richard... Hammer question on line 9.

 

[vintage nut]

Good to know. I was thinking of picking up s proto one of these, hopefully warranty wouldn't be any issue. .. kinds makes me want to stick to my old lead hammers

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

 

[B_Bimmer]

I have no doubt Stanley will take care of it with their products. You may have to wait on the phone a bit, and they may ask you send it in, but that is about as "bad" as it gets. They are a good product and last a long time, if you don't wear it out before it goes nuclear it's not too hard to get it switched.

 

[woody 73]

Like I told you already they new about the problem from many years ago:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78618

 

[Fedwrench]

I've seen the white cancer before, and there's no stopping it once it starts. Kiss that hammer good bye The top hammer kind of looks like it was in a fire but, it's probably advanced rot too.

I believe the new Proto dead blows are made differently these days. Good luck!!

 

[nickelmore]

I have a whole set of these and duplicates of some. Some are degraded and some are just fine. I got them all at the same time years ago.

These two have been stored inside in my basement box for the last 4 or so years so no temperature fluctuations.

 

[vintage nut]

I'll try one out! So far the only dead blows I've used are the generic Chinese ones, and I tend to destroy them pretty quick. Pretty much given up on dead blows and gone entirely to lead hammers. Just melt them down and recast when they get mangled.

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[Stevenn1]

I had that happen to a couple older USA Craftsman screwdriver handles. They looked just like that bottom hammer- a powdery white. Took them to Ace Hardware recently and was able to get free USA replacements. But they did give me the evil eye like I dropped them in something.

 

[Tinner]

All dead blow hammers fall apart eventually. Usually after about 20-30 years, but exposure to chemicals can shorten their life. I've warrantied 7 or 8 Snap-ons and had a couple Stanleys and one other of indeterminate origin all fall apart within that time frame.

 

[bmxdad]

Naphtha will do that, and fast. Takes the elasticity of the rubber and turns it almost into glass .... weird stuff.

 

[davethorik]

My dad gave me an orange Mac deadblow that was probably 15-20 years old. First time I ever used it, to tap a part flat into a milling machine vise, the plastic around the shot cylinder exploded, and I was standing there holding just the handle.

The HF orange plastic dead blows smell like mothballs and are basically made out of wax. I've found dead blows are one area where if you spend a little more, you won't have to go back to HF to warranty it every 2 weeks.

I have a Nupla 3lb. Dead blow that has a rubber head and fiberglass handle with the ribbed grip. Just bought a 4 lb Proto and it looks identical to the Nupla. I love both of them.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I had that happen to a couple older USA Craftsman screwdriver handles. They looked just like that bottom hammer- a powdery white. Took them to Ace Hardware recently and was able to get free USA replacements. But they did give me the evil eye like I dropped them in something.

I've got a few older CM screwdrivers that have the same white chalky **** all over the handles. Does anyone have any suggestions as to clean them up?

Thanks

 

[NOZZLEMAN]

very typical for the vintage... I had several MAC deadblows that did the same thing. They wanted to replace with Stanley - I took that deal, threw them in the home box and bought snaps for my work box

 

[skruft]

This is very interesting - I have old (10-20 years) dead blow hammers of other brands that have not done this. Must depend on the composition.

 

[honcho]

It's probably similar to the chemical decomposition of acetate handle screwdrivers. Ozone similarly destroys rubber products. Plastics are great for many things but longevity isn't one of them.

Examples of plastics decomposition in my tools and other things

Numerous screwdrivers
plastic grip on Estwing hammer
Elastomer Suspension components on ProFlex Bicycle
Bicycle grips turning to "goo"
Rubber coating on Minolta lens "blooming" white coating
Rubber coating on Nikon cameras turning sticky

Those are just the ones I can remember.

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

Had a soft face Proto hammer shatter like that a while back, need to find a source for replacement tips...

 

[nickelmore]

Well I dropped 7 Stanley hammers off today at the local Stanley service center. I really should say lack of service center.

When I called them a few weeks ago they told me they could only warranty them if they lost their color not if they broke.

I went there today and the counter girl grabbed two of them and ran to the back room. i thought that was quick and nice but I have 5 more sitting in the box. A few min later a manger comes up front and says that they are not warrantied because they have been exposed to something. I explain that they have been sitting unused in my basement and in my garage. He asked if I had the original receipt.....I explain that the hammers are 20 years old and no I do not have the receipt. He tells me that perhaps they were exposed to to much humidity in my basement....

I frigin lost it. In the end he told me that he would have to send them to corporate and have them review them but it is clearly apparent that they have been exposed to something.

I lost it again and explained to him how they break down and that his corporation has already gone through this with me he should just replace them.

No way was that going to happen so I smiled said thanks and will consider their warranty process when I am considering my future tool purchases of any dewalt products as well.

I called the Stanley customer service and asked to speak with someone who could help me.

Seems hand tools are sent to a warehouse for evaluation and warranty claims and "if" found defective will be mailed direct to me.

THERE IS NO ONE TO CALL FOR STANLEY HAND TOOLS.

I doubt if I will get anything back from them, but at least they shipped them on their dime.

I don't think I will be buying Stanley anything for a good long time.

 

[nine4gmc]

were they exposed to brake cleaner?

 

[nickelmore]

Not on these two. I would speculate that one may have never been used. These were at my home and home shop so most of there life was sitting in a box.

I had a SO piston hammer do the same thing a few years ago at my shop and since we did not have a regular rep I called SO customer service. They asked me a few questions, they verified my address that they had on file, explained the process and in two day I had a new hammer.

 

[Mr_fixit]

I have a Stanley hammer like that right now. It's the second one that happened to. POS.

 

[MushCreek]

I have Lixie hammers, and they don't fail like that, but the replacement tips (only the green ones) get funky. Oddly enough, the new replacement tips get a white bloom and become too soft to use, but the tips on the hammers don't do this. They're all in same tool box! I wonder if I could get the tips replaced under warranty, as they are still unused. They are expensive!

 

[bobdell]

Had two SO hammers do this in the last 5 or 6 years.
One dead blow and one ball peen, both orange.
Both were replaced with just a phone call to Snap On.
No shipping the pieces back for inspection.
Been retired for 8 years, so no contact with a dealer.
SO also just sent me a 1/4" ratchet rebuild kit at no charge.

 

[finn]

Chlorinated brake cleaner does that to plastics in screwdriver handles.

 

[TheGrooveking]

Normal for those hammers. I had two drawers worth of those do that. I bought them in the early 80's from Matco prior to them private labeling them, so of course when they shattered my Matco dealer wouldn't cover them.

TheGrooveking

 

[mfewtrail]

I've had a specific type of Stanley screwdriver handle turn brittle and fall into a lot of pieces in similar fashion to those hammers. Almost certain it was from the 80's or thereabout. It looked brand new prior to me randomly finding the handle in pieces one day.

 

[nickelmore]

We will see what they will do about it...I have calmed down a bit but not much.

I am going to call corp again on Monday and try to talk to someone who cares.

I am still searching for my largest of the set. It was a 2 or 3 lb dead blow. i put it away when this started to happen a few years ago and no cant find it.

 

[bigdav160]

Weird. Every SO plastic dead blow I've ever owned has cracked and fallen apart like that. I've got one that was replaced a few years ago that I need warranted.

 

[nickelmore]

I recently had some SO srewdriver handles crack, I told the rep I don't care on color style etc

 

[pstemari]

...
plastic grip on Estwing hammer
....

That would be odd. I have an Estwing rock hammer w a plastic grip that I got when I was in elementary school--maybe 40-45 years old? Despite a great deal of abuse, it's still perfectly serviceable and the grip has zero deterioration whatsoever.

 

[wood02]

My two Stanley dead blow hammers look identical and were not exposed to anything other than air. White powdery ash and cracked rubber, they fell apart in my hand.

 

[WWheeler]

If that happened "all of a sudden almost over night I open a drawer and this is what I find" I'd be very concerned about the air quality in that basement.

If it happened very slowly over a long period of time I'd chalk it up as the useful life of the product is over and buy new ones. I don't try to warranty 20 yr old items whether the manufacturer gave a lifetime or forever guarantee or not. I just don't.

 

[bcradio]

We will see what they will do about it...I have calmed down a bit but not much.

I am going to call corp again on Monday and try to talk to someone who cares.

I am still searching for my largest of the set. It was a 2 or 3 lb dead blow. i put it away when this started to happen a few years ago and no cant find it.

Dang, 2 months and you still feel that way?

 

[Mrmontebuilder]

I have an almost unused Mac one that fell apart also, most of it has turned white. It sat in my toolbox in my shed for years, maybe from moisture exposure? I was going to see about warranty but the HF ones are so cheap it's probably not worth the bother since I am not working in a shop anymore.