Blacksmith Depot Hammers

[Quenchcrack]

Ecart, The Depot carries Peddinghaus Swedish hammers and the store brand of Swedish hammers. I bought the store brand.

[Ecart]

I am pretty sure that's what I bought too. Mine only cost $30.

[rthibeau]

QC...don't know about too picky, but not that much money so really no big deal on either end. There's a reason the store hammers are cheap, as you unfortunately found out. Is a swedish pattern what you're still wanting to get? Otherwise, an inexpensive hammer for demos but still very functional are ones like I remake from store bought hammers. Yes, they have to be cleaned up, re-heat treated and rehandled, but not that big a chore considering what you end up with.

[Jack Evers]

It's possible they reviewed the last shipment of hammers after your complaint and discovered there aren't any up to standard to replace yours with.

Some years ago, I had a similar problem with one of my farrier tools, a clincher. I left my good one at a clients about 60 miles away. Called him, he said he was coming to town on the weekend and would bring it. I went to my supplier, bought a cheaper replacement to get me thru the week and serve as an extra later. I then proceeded to tear up the replacements at the rate of about two/per day. I'd have been happier and I'm sure they would have been to just have my money back. It was a frustrating few days for both of us.

[Gerald Boggs]

Sounds like the house brand are cheaply made imports from China. You get what you pay for, From Hammer Source I got a very good German pattern locksmith hammer for 28.99 and it was made by Picard in Germany. Not only did I get the hammers, but a week later, Hammer Source e-mailed and checked to see if I had received my order and if everything was alright. That's customer service. So to me, there's a lesson here: One sells poor quality hammers, (that he will refund if you complain) the other sells top quality and checks to make sure you're happy with the product. So who, in the future, are you going to buy from?
On a note of hammers: Hammer source is also the only company selling 1.25 kilo weight hammers, all the rest sell one kilo and then jump up to 1.5 kilo. One is a bit light for me, and the other, way too heavy. I've bought the Peddinghaus hammers and have always had to problems with the head coming loose. With the two Picards, the heads are nice and snug.

[Quenchcrack]

I do not work for the companies I buy stuff from. I am not their Quality Control Inspector. Apparently, some companies think they can sell junk, let the consumer find the clinkers, refund their money and everyone is happy. This is cheaper than actually doing in-house QC. I am not saying Blacksmith Depot is one of those kind of companies but this whole affair left me with a bad taste in my mouth. If the low-priced item is not serviceable, then have the courtesy to say "these items look just like the real thing but are made so poorly that they may not actually be functional, however they are really cheap". If the Chinese did this, their economy would tank in 6 months.

[Quenchcrack]

OK, to be fair to Blacksmith Depot, they did try to make this right. I don't particularly like the hammers but they gave me my money back and said to keep the hammers, which is one way to give me a$50 gift certificate. I know a lot of companies that would do no such thing and leave me hanging. So I still have my $50 and a couple of light hammers that I can present to a young newbie smith at one of the HABA meeting and we will all be happy.

[Gerald Boggs]

these items look just like the real thing but are made so poorly that they may not actually be functional, however they are really cheap". If the Chinese did this, their economy would tank in 6 months.

Quenchcrack, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but this is exactly what the Chinese are doing. We Americans think with our wallet and are happy to accept poorly made if the price is low.

[petere76]

Gents,

We are dancin around the issue of a few bucks. Why not re-forge a chinese product, a dump find or simply make a hammer. This way we get what we want. As to china and US love affair with cheap products... not likley that will change, been to wally world lately?
Peter

[Quenchcrack]

Gerald, see the last sentence in my post on 11-17-08.
Petere, I have a small forge and no power hammer. Making a new hammer head is possible but more work than it is worth. I can buy a good Plumb Cross Peen hammer, properly hardened, for about $18. Why should I have to reforge anything on a hammer I paid $24 for? The world is now learning what happens when other countries depend on the US consumer to buy their crappy products to keep their incompetent governments in power. So much for the Bush Doctrine on Free Trade.