My first hammers were inexpensive hardware store ball peens that I
polished the faces of. Over the years, I have gradually added to
my collection-
I once knew a master machinist - still know his son though I haven’t
seen him in years - who had a hammer collection. Not “a bunch of
hammers” but a real collection of 3-400 hammers from every walk of
life, on display in his house. I wish I could do more than just
report that I saw it, and show it to you all because it was really
fascinating.
Cynthia says it well, and others, too. The issue of hammers is not
difficult, really. It’s just a matter of what you want it to do. If
one is like most of us here, a hammer is largely for stamping and
general smashing of stuff. In that case almost any good hammer of a
good weight will do - there’s nothing wrong with getting a $100
swiss hammer, but it’s not going to hammer any better. If and when
you get into raising, planishing, swaging and all manner of other
things - farriers, clockmakers, ship builders, upholstery -where it
really matters what the hammer is about, then it becomes important.
I think the important point of this thread is the context of the
question - why have expensive hammers and are they any better? I
would say (again) that newbies can do just fine with about anything
for general work. If the hammer head has some certain shape or
quality that makes it ideal for some job, then that’s the best. If
it’s just a pretty version of a ball pein for a lot of money - well,
sure if you like it. It probably won’t do the job any better than a
generic ball pein, though.
http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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