Pepr

I think you're probably right. I was a blast-hole driller for a couple years before I started welding, ran a bunch of stand-by-side Ingersoll drills, ran a pneumatic hand drill on occasion, and I cannot imagine drilling a hole with ANY sort of hammer. That would be a miserable job. I have been way way up in the Sawtooth Wilderness where only a mule team could haul supplies and was fascinated to see signs of blasting way up there. I have heard that in the days of western expansion, mining towns were made way up in the rocky mountains, they fed themselves with deer, elk and whatever else professional hunters would sell in town. Did they have pneumatic drills way up there? Were they all drilled with a rod and hammer? I don't know, but either way it's amazing to me.

This picture shows only 2/3 of a page, the lower third displays a typical sledge with the octagonal faces. Maybe it is a marketing thing? I personally happen to find this hammer to be much more attractive, but then I don't know that many other people care so much what their hammer looks like I decided to Google "Nevada striking hammer" after making this thread and was able to find a railroad supply that are still selling this style of hammer. So for railroad work perhaps? Of course there are plenty of things a guy could wail on with a good hammer, so maybe I'm looking for marvelous answers when the reality is marvelously simple. I might be trying to romanticize the old thing, but I just find it really interesting to try and dig up the past!

Hey y'all, Just wanted to share a cool find I came across this week. A coworker had this hammer head laying in his tool box, and I couldn't help but lay my hands on it and get a closer look. He offered it to me because he "already had a sledge hammer" and thought I could use it. The hammer shows very minimal use, other than a couple dings on one face and two chisel marks on the side. Stamped as an 8lb Leetonia, made in USA. The shape made me very suspicious of this hammer, to me it looked quite old and the chisel marks whispered the word "blacksmith" in my mind, as many old anvil bodies were seemingly used to test a new punch or chisel. I did some digging on the name and found an old catalogue advertising what is undoubtedly the hammer I have here. It is called a "Nevada" striking hammer, and I'm curious to see if anyone else has came across, or knows about hammers similar to this. Would "striking hammer" mean that it was intended for use at the anvil? Or maybe it's purpose would be to strike stakes, drill rods and the like? Let me know what you think, and if anyone is interested I can try to post a link to the catalog for more viewing of cool old stuff. https://archive.org/details/LeetoniaToolCoCatalogNo157

I was sweating bullets when I went to pick it up. I couldn't believe I was getting it for that price! Are you with the ABANA affiliate down there? I have been curious in paying them a visit some day as there aren't any other groups around here. Thanks Frosty, but I think I'm going to hold onto this one for a while. I can assure you that it will be in good hands. Besides, I think I heard that you live in Alaska and I don't want to triple the cost of this anvil getting it up there! I definitely want to make a new stand for it, but I'm torn between the wood block pattern or just welding one up. I work as a welder, so it would probably be cheaper and more in my area of expertise just to fabricate one out of the scrap bin at work. You make a great point on the safety issue, it didn't even cross my mind! I was just concerned about being able to draw out over that edge without getting snagletooth marks in everything. :D

A couple days ago I picked up this Peter Wright and the stand it was mounted on for $100. 146lbs that had seemingly been heavily used, but not too abused. This is my first real anvil. In one of the pics it is sat upon my RR track anvil that I've been using for the last 4 or so years. I am curious if anyone knows what some of the stamps may mean. There is the letter "F" stamped underneath the maker's mark and the letter "H" stamped on the foot of the anvil under the horn. Some may find it blasphemous to take a grinder to an anvil, but it would have been pretty useless to leave that jagged edge there.