I picked this straight peen hammer up at a "junk" shop and was curious what the intended use was.

The hole goes all the way through the head. The hammer weighs 3.5 pounds.

Maybe they used it to start a bend in something.

it's a stepping hammer from a lineman,
The hole slipped over the bent end of the spike and the handle length provided leverage to thread the screw into the pole.

Used by line men to screw the metal pegs into telephone poles. Most likely has 'Bell', AT&T, or someother company logo on the hammer. They are collectible.

if you look at the pic you can see BELL SYSTEM stamped in it

Used by line men to screw the metal pegs into telephone poles. Most likely has 'Bell', AT&T, or someother company logo on the hammer. They are collectible.

Glad I saved it from the collectors, then. :lol:

Just saw one of those on ebay, iirc, and was wondering what the hole was for!

I have one of them in 3.5 and another in I believe around 2. Thought it had something to do with possibly alter the impact or something. Explains why they were with climbing spikes and a riggers harness

Just saw one of those on ebay, iirc, and was wondering what the hole was for!

I was outbid on the one on eBay, then found this one for less than I had been willing to pay. Guess I should be glad I missed out.

Not my favorite straight peen; but I have one too. Had to buy it at a fleamarket as my Father and Uncle both spent their careers in the Bell System---I only got 15 years in Bell Labs myself.

An electrician friend of mine says they're not bad for tweaking I/2" conduit but I don't mess with that stuff myself so I wouldn't know for sure. I had one that was left at my home in Santa Fe, NM when I was a kid along with a big claw hammer. I guess the guy got tired of toting them around. :wacko:

As I am just beginning to outfit my soon-to-be built smithy, I just bought it to have a straight peen. Once I start actually forging, I will evaluate to see which hammers I really like.

These are called 'Stepping Hammers' by the Bell System, since they were sized to correspond to the distance between the climbing spikes (steps) driven and then screwed into telephone poles. The hole slipped over the bent end of the spike and the handle length provided leverage to thread the screw into the pole. Handy thought, but now it's all obsolete, since climbing poles is risky business, much less having to hammer in your own steps as you went up. Bucket lifts sent these and a lot of other tools out of action.-giovannimeola.com

Edited July 26, 20214 yr by Mod30
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You just repeated what a couple of other folks have said the function was...didn't you read the thread?  And...the "font" or formatting of your text is really bad and hard to read.  Try to remove the dark background and just use plain, normal text in the future.

Matt;  welcome.  Are you interested in blacksmithing or just in old tools?  Have you used one of these hammers for their original purpose in real life?

that's a weird one  

There is a difference between power poles and telephone poles. Not something you see on power poles…