Broken hammer

[edge9001]

Today while attempting to make a RRspike hawk, the head came off of my hammer. This hammer was just an off the shelf cross peen hammer, bought from Lowes. I;m not supprised that the head and handle seperated, and it's no big deal. The probelm cam when I put the handle back in it. I just put the head on my anvilt and drove the handle in. I picked it up afterwards and notice the head of the hammer is broken. I know I didn't do this when putting the hammer back in, but I am wondering how I managed to do this. Anyway it's time for me to find a new hammer.

[Dodge]

Why aren't you surprised?? I would be! Lowe's doesn't really have a rep for selling cheap tools. After all, its not Harbor Freight. In fact, their Kobalt line are some of the nicest tools I've used after Craftsman. Do you still have the receipt? Or even if the skew # is still on it they should give you a replacement.

[Golden_eagle]

Cheap hammer, years of rough use, or bad temper. get a good American made forging hammer, like an armstrong(armstrong tools), Estwing,
Klein, vaughanm, stanley, or Wright.
Don't be like me and forge with shiny Chinese trash for the first three years. Just now getting a good old fashioned hickory handled Vaughan, real nice 48 ouncer.

[edge9001]

Dodge, I am very suprised that I managed to hreak my hammer, but having a handle come loose, I am never really suprised that that happens. after all with the pounding it takes and amount of abuse the joint takes any handle is liable to separate from the hamer head eventually. I love kobalt tools, but any time I purchase a hammer I assume I will eventually need to rehandle it. so...no suprise I have to rehandle this one. perhaps a little prematurly, yes, but it is happenning.

What was a suprise was I cracked to hammer head. there is about 8 pieces to this head now. I have cracks running as deep as 1/4 inch into the face of this hammer, at the edges. so for now I am stuck using a large ballpeen hammer, or putting a handle into a 5lb crosspeen sledgehammer head.

My 2 lbe hammer is going into forced medical retirement. it just couldn't handle the pressures and finnaly cracked up. hhmm are tools capable of getting a "section 8" discharge?

"Cheap hammer, years of rough use, or bad temperand forgeing with shiny Chinese trash for the first three years" it was a kobalt hammer and less than 9 months old. as for 3 years with a piece of chinese trash, in comparison the the hammer I have it seems like a 3 year lifespan is not trash, even if I would have to regrind the face and peen angles. plkease keep in mind that just because it is not american made does not make it a bad product, just not made to our standards. some foreign made tools need a little tweaking to be a good tool. now American made is best since it keeps out money and jobs at home, but what about those who are not american should they avoid thier cuntries internally made products, no. from a patriotic standpoint always buy american. from a logical standpoint, but the cheapest tools you can while maintaining the strictest quality control

[Mainely,Bob]

What was a suprise was I cracked to hammer head. there is about 8 pieces to this head now. I have cracks running as deep as 1/4 inch into the face of this hammer, at the edges. so for now I am stuck using a large ballpeen hammer, or putting a handle into a 5lb crosspeen sledgehammer head.

My 2 lbe hammer is going into forced medical retirement. it just couldn't handle the pressures and finnaly cracked up. hhmm are tools capable of getting a "section 8" discharge?

"Cheap hammer, years of rough use, or bad temperand forgeing with shiny Chinese trash for the first three years" it was a kobalt hammer and less than 9 months old. as for 3 years with a piece of chinese trash, in comparison the the hammer I have it seems like a 3 year lifespan is not trash, even if I would have to regrind the face and peen angles. plkease keep in mind that just because it is not american made does not make it a bad product, just not made to our standards. some foreign made tools need a little tweaking to be a good tool. now American made is best since it keeps out money and jobs at home, but what about those who are not american should they avoid thier cuntries internally made products, no. from a patriotic standpoint always buy american. from a logical standpoint, but the cheapest tools you can while maintaining the strictest quality control

First thing is that if your bring it back to Lowe`s they will replace it as their tools have a lifetime warranty.Question is do you want to risk a repeat performance?
I`m going to go out on a limb here and say that the chances of you being hurt by a quality American made hammer are almost non-existent as the US company is subject to our laws and the civil liabilities involved. US companies have to be far more careful than imports who face little chance of having to pay off a lawsuit.
Looks like your hammer was either made from the wrong material or more likely subject to the wrong heat treat procedure.A US company would have redone the heat treat on that batch of hammers to avoid liability.Exporters send them on regardless and you just saw the results.
I am willing to bet you wouldn`t be so cavalier about that imported hammer breaking if it had shattered and cost you an eye or a trip in a life-flight helicopter and emergency surgery with the tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills you or your survivors would be left with.These are the sort of things folks fail to factor in when they buy cheap off shore tools.
Doesn`t anybody pay attention to the news anymore?This imported crap is effecting our health as we speak and we as taxpayers are footing the bill while the off shore companies laugh all the way to the bank.
Want cheap,buy good used tools,they have a proven history and will stay together and get the job done for you and probably for your great grandchildren.
just don`t understand where and how we as a country made this shift from shopping around and buying things that would last a lifetime to settling for something that we hope will last thru the job because it`s the cheapest thing out there.Can somebody explain that to me?

[Golden_eagle]

Want cheap,buy good used tools,they have a proven history and will stay together and get the job done for you and probably for your great grandchildren.

Proof in point, My uncle, a long time smith and the man who got me interested metal working, has a vaughan that he's had almost 20 years now.
and my current mentor, a blacksmith and caster of more years then is known, has a Estwing framing hammer and a plumb ball pein(link to plumb Ball peins)(link to plumb cross pein) that he got in 1992, and the ball pein has stood up to years of abuse by his students.

[rthibeau]

Bad heat treat is most likely the cause of a broken hammer head. You could always spend a bit more money and buy a hand made hammer from any of the many smiths who make them...some visit this site regularly. The only "cheap" way of getting a better hammer is to buy one from a store and reheat treat it and clean it up with a flap disk. I do that with some I get from Menard's that come out of Mexico.....good steel, but bad heat treat and handling as they come from the store.

[edge9001]

Hey o have an idea i wanna run past you guys. the hammer is a cross pein hammer, and the damage is on the flat side, not the pein side of the hammer, it has visible about 1/4 inch deep. would it still be safe to use the cross pein, or would you guys say it is better just to chuck it out with the trash and replace it all together?

[evfreek]

I wouldn't use it without grinding all the cracks out. Even then, it is risky. Why don't you get another cheap hammer? There was a kid in my class who had the "exploding hammer" problem. He had all these streams of blood trickling down his forearm. The doc said the pieces were in so deep that it was not worth taking them out. Of course, he was wearing safety glasses, so it was only a sobering warning for the rest of us. Anyway, the metalworking teacher said that by far, screwdrivers were the most dangerous tool in the shop.

[edge9001]

I was afraid you would say that...lol

Replacing the hammer tomarrow. the old hammer will probably be scrapped. unless I can find a use for the metal. probably not, I think it will end up i the scrap bin.

[Steve Shimanek]

Good used hammers are on Ebay all the time, some are very good bargains. Almost all of the hammers i have are vintage and were made in USA for the purpose.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Take the pieces back to Lowes and get a replacement. Use that lifetime warranty you paid for. They also need to know the quality of the tools that they are selling.

I agree that we have become a throw away society.

[ThomasPowers]

And then check out the face of the replacement with a file---if it's too hard and therefore possible too brittle you can do a ring temper of it *with* the handle on!

Forge a thick ring of steel that just fits around the face end and heat it till glowing and place it on the hammer so the edges of the face get heated and draw to a "safer" temper in the areas that will see the most strain.

[Frank Turley]

And then check out the face of the replacement with a file---if it's too hard and therefore possible too brittle you can do a ring temper of it *with* the handle on!

Forge a thick ring of steel that just fits around the face end and heat it till glowing and place it on the hammer so the edges of the face get heated and draw to a "safer" temper in the areas that will see the most strain.

When I was young, I used to see ads for Plumb brand hammers which stated, "Exclusive rim temper." I see on the net that they still have the rim temper which "helps prevent incidents of chipping and spalling." I don't know how it is done in industry, but I have done it as Thomas describes. I might advise that if the haft is still in the head, to protect the haft from catching on fire with a wet rag. I use a snug fitting, turned eye on 7/8" square stock, leaving enough extending for a handle. I apply the eye at a welding heat, which surprisingly, is not often enough heat to draw the proper temper color of the face (normally a dark straw). Sometimes, I'll have two tempering irons in the fire, just in case. The face is abraded to bare metal to better see the temper colors.

The THEORY is that the face should temper to a straw or dark straw (430-470ºF) on a forging hammer and the "rim" of the face to a "softer temper color" because the heat is conducted from outside in. In my experience, this may happen to a degree, but in real life, the softer temper colors are not too noticeable on the rim. Nevertheless, I consider the smithy rim temper to be efficacious.

Based on my experience and my reading, there is the possiblity of a forging hammer face "hollowing" or at least, "flattening" with prolonged use. The fairly hard temper in the straw range helps to prevent this from happening.

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