Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Hammer Time

When I say it is hammer time, I don't mean this: U Can't touch this.


  I mean it is hammer time, like this:



   These are three hammers from my shop.  The one on the left is a Warrington style cabinet makers hammer. I bought that hammer 30 years ago and it has followed me around and served me faithfully. This hammer taught me two lessons; one; good tools are so worth the money and two; if you were to be look very closely there is a chunk split out of the end of the hammer where I tried to use it for something other than that which is was designed to do.  The chuck had never been repaired because I like it to remind me to use the proper tool and not to be a dummy.

  The middle hammer is a cheap tack hammer (?) that is very small and light and that was purchased in a dollar store to go into my Grandson's tool box.  Over Christmas he tried to use that hammer, it is of no use what so ever to him.  The hammer is light but since it has so little mass, it needs serious swing speed, not the correct combination of variables for a small, inexperienced hand.

  The hammer on the left:


  is the surprise for this week. 

   I promised Kieran that he would get a tool box, with real tools for his birthday and my first swing was a miss. So...I went looking for a hammer with mass and that was manageable. There it is, a pocket hammer or a condo hammer, a hammer for the bottom drawer in an apartment kitchen for doing those little jobs that you can't do with the heel of a shoe.  Amazingly, it is a good hammer design, since it has an 8 oz. head it has some heft to and and so it handles like a small carvers mallet.  I used the pocket  hammer to drive in the 1 1/2 inch dowels on the bath room rack repair and it was perfect for the job. 

    I certainly wouldn't go out and buy myself a pocket hammer. I've got lots of hammers and mallets of various sizes, my answer to the pocket hammer is a 6 oz. hammer on a shorter than average handle that was my Grandmother's junk drawer hammer. 

   Consider a small hammer, it has it uses. 
   


No comments:

Post a Comment