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Of the importance of make sure your hammers are in good shape. I saw one of my techs pull out a 5lb sledge and noticed the head just didn’t seem right. It was loose. Told her to put it down and use a dead blow for knocking a tire and told her this story.
I was working at a Meineke while I was finishing school. Another tech was knocking off a tire with a sledge, the head bounced and flew back, who was standing in the way of 5lbs of flying iron? Me. Hit me just above the knee. Dropped instantly. Luckily it didn’t break anything, just hurt like hell.
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Broken tools cause broken bones.. or worse. NOTHING in the woodshop more dangerous than a dull blade on a big saw.
New handle, with a piece of conduit sleeved over the top as miss strike protection. Wood wedge. Double steel wedge it. Use a carbide bit cut out about 1/8″ and fill it with epoxy. If ya have to fix it fix it right. Just make sure when you place the wedges you do it on a diagonal and that you get it as close to the center line the length of the head as possible. Then make sure 1/8″ isn’t going to be enough to effect the wedges. Might take 2-3 days to dry but if you do that odds are unless you snap the handle it ain’t coming loose till you wear out the handle.
Also always take the staple out of the bottom of the new handle before you do anything else. Also I would dry fit the head.
There are 2 great videos on how to properly put a handle on a sledge in this video list:[quote=”MDK22″ post=132092]New handle, with a piece of conduit sleeved over the top as miss strike protection. Wood wedge. Double steel wedge it. Use a carbide bit cut out about 1/8″ and fill it with epoxy. If ya have to fix it fix it right. Just make sure when you place the wedges you do it on a diagonal and that you get it as close to the center line the length of the head as possible. Then make sure 1/8″ isn’t going to be enough to effect the wedges. Might take 2-3 days to dry but if you do that odds are unless you snap the handle it ain’t coming loose till you wear out the handle.
Also always take the staple out of the bottom of the new handle before you do anything else. Also I would dry fit the head.
There are 2 great videos on how to properly put a handle on a sledge in this video list:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-gZT3I9va10kKHyZRdAE-1WnVoGI2QTW%5B/quote%5DThat is some amazing info! I myself try not to use a sledge but have a 5lb and 10lb from my days of doing fleet work. But I am actually going to save this info for myself and other techs. You don’t realize how dangerous a hammer head can be until it’s not secure on the handle.
My Matco rep told me once about a guy who used a cheapo hammer to wail on a stuck rotor. Guess it had a flaw in the steel and a tapered chunk came off when he put some english on it when he swung. Went straight into his heart and killed him. Talk about some Final Destination stuff right there!
Certainly have seen more than a few people using hammers with loose heads. Makes me shudder and get out of range. Picked up some dead-blow hammers from the tool truck and not only are they more comfortable to use, as a molded unit there is no way for it to break apart.
Check out the Bash line of hammers from Wilton. They did some engineering of a molded handle with a steel rod core that will not let got of the head no matter how bad you trash the handle. They actually had a bounty of a few grand awhile back for anyone who could make that head separate from the handle by using it. They don’t give them away, but they did make it safer.
Yes, cheap tools can be deadly. Don’t buy em. Let me guess, the Matco guy said to buy only Matco hammers ? Probably a rebrand from something else Whatever the case, don’t cheap out on the hammer
Snap-ons are a rebrand of someone else lol. I own Craftsman and Vaughan and Vaughan makes Craftsman hammers for the most part. I also own a professional grade nail type hammer as well at work. The only nameless hammer I have is my great grandfather’s sledge and that thing is solid as a rock and i put the handle in so i know it ain’t going anywhere any time soon. Vaughan and Estwing are fantastic. I did forget I have an Expert brand pair of all rubber deadblows but, expert is proto’s industrial brand. Basically that is one tool I do not buy from a crap supplier. I only buy Craftsman that are rebranded Vaughan hammers. I did manage to loosen the handle on my last Vaughan but i was driving a tappered, keyed, sway bar out of a truck that someone had put green lock tight on. Basically 45 mins of straight hammering with a 4lb sledge it finally split a piece of wood next to one of the steel spikes. Made enough progress though to knock it out with a sledge the next day in one hit as at the time mine needed a handle my coworker with his was out sick, the other was at the doctors so did what I needed to.
[quote=”MDK22″ post=132283]Snap-ons are a rebrand of someone else lol.[/quote]
Since you mentioned tool rebranding heres a pretty good list -http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249851
Back on topic….
You should tell this to the mechanic I work with! He’s got some vintage wooden handle hammer that gets him about 3 swings in. After that the bottom end of the hammer needs to be smacked on the floor to reseat the head 😆
Some years back a couple of wash room guys who worked in the detail section at a car dealer where I worked were horsing around with a couple of those 3 foot long screwdrivers.
They were pretend sword fighting and the blade came out of the handle of one of the screwdrivers and hit one of the guys in the head. He dropped like a rock.The ambulance was called but the guy was DOA at the hospital, Just a tragic fluke accident that illustrates the dangers of defective tools and horseplay in a dangerous work environment.
[quote=”MDK22″ post=132283]Snap-ons are a rebrand of someone else lol.[/quote]
No, Matco is a rebrand of Trusty-Cook.
Mac uses Stanley’s one piece AntiVibe hammers.
Although similar, Snap-on uses a different design. Snap-on’s HBBD and HBFE series hammers are exclusive, you can’t find it anywhere else.
The bigger deadblow sledges are Trusty-Cooks, though they rebranded under Blue-Point.
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