Not sure if this will be visible to those who aren't on Facebook, but here's a little video of a two-man sledgehammer in use somewhere in Scandinavia(?):

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1259419712218495

I wonder how many muscles were ripped apart when they had to come to a screeching halt on the downswing because tong-dude wasn't ready?

Well, no one doubled over screaming in pain (as happened with one of my kung fu buddies when he ripped a bicep in class), so I’m guessing not many.

Good Morning,

Ethan Harty and Mark Ling made one at CanIRON XII, Ness Creek, Saskatchewan, in 2019. Because of their height differences, it was difficult for them to use it. Others made it work fine. there are video's online.

Neil

Another FB video of two of these beasties in use:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EWme7DQdz/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Looks like fun, thin there's room for a 3rd. team? What do you think the hammers weigh?

Frosty The Lucky.

I have an old stonemason’s maul about that size, and it weighs about 16 pounds. 

I have a 22lb. stone mason's maul that doesn't look as large as those. It'd sure be better suited to 2 handles though. It's a real bear to do more than drop on hot steel.

Frosty The Lucky.

Fun video, thanks for posting.

I'd like to see how the handles are made/attached

 

This is just speculation but in the day, like now nobody wanted to spend more than necessary so I imagine the holes are drilled and reamed with a flat bottom, the handles would be rip sawed just enough so the wedge can be inserted and stay without widening then the handle inserted in the head and driven to the shoulder driving the wedge in simultaneously.

It's not like anybody is taking a full overhead swing, they're probably not raising the head above shoulder height so the handles don't need to be locked in as solidly as a regular sledge does.

Heck, they might have used hide glue.

And those are my morning WAGs for now.

Frosty The Lucky.

You can see from this freeze-frame zoom that the handles come all the way through the head and converge in a single eye. 

Boy, unless it has steel handles it must be a bolt on attachment / bracket for mounting the handles. It'd allow it to be mounted as a blacker, or other hammers I'm not aware of.

Now I REALLY want a look at the far side.

Frosty The Lucky.

Good Morning,

Ethan Harty and Mark Ling had the handles staggered. One above, one below.

Neil

This is pure conjecture on my part, but the single eye visible in the screenshot above, leads me to think that there may be some arrangement like this:

That is to say, the two eyes (one for each handle) converge into a single eye, each handle tapers down to take up half of that hole, and a wedge forces the ends of the two handles apart, holding the head securely in place.

As I say, though, that’s just my guess. 

I'd say that's a good guess, JHCC.  Makes the most sense to me.

 

I'll give you a maybe could be. 

I just tried to sketch my thoughts and liked it not much. It didn't explain the plugged center hole as anything but a plug. 

My thought was the hammer head itself could serve double duty on a blacker hammer and the double handles fitted to a Y bracket that bolts to the unseen side of the hammer head. However if a double handle bracket were being used why plug the hole?

Like I said, I don't like my idea, so far anyway. It is an interesting problem for the voices to whisper to me about though. It might come to me in my sleep next month. I'll let y'all know.

Frosty The Lucky.

Looking back, I see that we had another discussion about these about ten years ago. Here are a couple of photos from that thread:

The first of these appears to support (or at least to be consistent with) my conjecture.

Sure enough and I remember the thread. It was about forging anchor chain in Britain, "The last hand forged anchor chain" or similar? 

I believe you've got it good sir!

Frosty The Lucky.

A friend of mine has a 40 pound sledge hammer he bought from a guy in Alaska.  Just one handle.  I "swung" it once just to prove I could, but I admit is was not an impressive swing.

"This is pure conjecture on my part, but the single eye visible in the screenshot above, leads me to think that there may be some arrangement like this: (pic snipped)"

JHCC, if that is the case, would you guess that the handles were milled to that shape or formed wet/steamed?  

I'd be interested to know the mass of the 2-handle hammer in the anchor chain picture.  Maybe over 100 pounds?

1 hour ago, Bull Sigh said:

would you guess that the handles were milled to that shape or formed wet/steamed?  

Neither; you can see in the photos that the handles are straight. In my sketch, the curve in the section within the eye is the same as results when a regular (single) handle is wedged into place inside a standard double-tapered eye. 

Straight handles, securing them would be as simple as starting a wood wedge in the slit and driving the handle into the eye where the wedge would be driven home against the bottom. 

Of course that's how I'd do it because I can't think of another and I doubt they would've glued them in.

Speculation is what it is, not admissible in court.

Frosty The Lucky.

I agree, Frosty, although that doesn't account for the single eye visible in the above photo:

Come to think of it, blind-wedging the handles would make them pretty hard to replace when they inevitably break.

No problem a brace and bit won't de-handle. Provided someone doesn't use an iron wedge. In that case a length of yellow hot rod will do the trick, it's not like it could effect the temper of a 40lb block of steel where it matters.

Frosty The Lucky.