The Greatest Hammer?

Pretty cool hammer. I really like the idea of interchangeable faces...the level of craftsmanship looks superb.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48306

Hey, I made one of these in school :D

TBH, $130 sounds amazingly steep for something so easy to make. Especially when he says they are "machinist's hammers"; and any machinist could easily reproduce. And almost $20 for a new head sounds like kind of a lot for a small block of nylon with machined threads.

Yeah, he's making Snap-On blush with that price.
I also think that I'd want some rubber on the handle. whacking away on that all day long with all the vibrations going RIGHT into your hand would get old.

redvalkyrie wrote: Pretty cool hammer.

At first I thought you meant this

....but now I'm pretty sure you meant this

Yeah, what's funny is almost that exact hammer was one of the projects students could do in the intro Machine Shop class I was a TA for in college.

I also don't really need my hammer to come with a side order of xenophobia (even his loctite has to say made in USA, sheesh). I bet there are chinese or taiwanese tools involved with cranking these things out at some point in the process. And if you ask me, there's nothing more American in principle than giving the job to whoever can do it the best for the lowest cost :).

This hammer don't take no schmutz from nobody.

It is always funny to me that what ever is posted no matter how good or how cool some people love it, some don't care and some find nothing but fault with it.

Of course that's life in general.

THIS is hammer time.

http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3007492460047935481ceogFA

If you look at some of that guy's other posts, you'll see the craftsmanship in that hammer is way beyond anything you built in school. Among other things he's been doing a concours restoration of an old Doall bandsaw that's worthy of a vintage Ferrari...it's way beyond what would be necessary just to get the thing up and running again, but he's a meticulous person and that's the sort of thing he does. It's been very interesting to watch, and he seems like a genuinely nice guy.

There's a market for high end tools (scan through some of the Snap-On discussions over there) and there's a market for tools built in the USA (scan through some of the Made in America discussions over there.) He's been able to tap into both of those markets and produce a tool people want to buy, so more power to him.

914Driver wrote: THIS is hammer time. http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3007492460047935481ceogFA

OK, that's amazing. Not real practical, what with the step ladder being near by, but REALLY impressive.

914Driver wrote: THIS is hammer time. http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3007492460047935481ceogFA

I agree...very impressive

every engineering student @ RIT makes one before they leave. I ran the student lab..

What's so special about his level of craftsmanship? It dosen't look all that great. Had been be good he'd have single pointed the threads on the main body going to the replaceable faces.. Also the handle should have a threaded cap on it so you have storage in it for a punch. Which you can also make in Machinery 101 @ any engineering school... E36 M3 or just talk to a proper machinist. They'll make that in minutes.

I think he's a choad. anyone in that thread who says, do want, is a bigger choad.

Grtechguy wrote:

914Driver wrote: THIS is hammer time. http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3007492460047935481ceogFA

I agree...very impressive

at first I thought; this is dumb. Then I thought; this is great. LOL

Hrm, I like wood handles. Dampens some of the impact vibration to my sensitive keyboarding hands and carpal tunnel'd wrists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-7bz7bmDg4 <-- proper hammer and really scary working conditions

Some people take one upping to extremes - my %^#$ is bigger/faster/cooler/better/neater/awesomer/dangerouser/fantastic-er than your *&$%&

when someone goes down that road, all I hear is "oh hai, im 5'6", have a tiny schwanson, drive a ginormous pickup, and pick fights with 9 year olds cuz Im a douche with short douche syndrome, and feel the need to call everyone out on their e36m3. ZOMG I am the kewlest douche I know, ask all my friends, they will both tell you the same. Now, outa my way, Im late to my WOW clan meeting"

I <3 engineers.

4cyl- you described the "fraternity of douche" nicely. Now just let me get back to my autocad (because solidworks is for fags) and design the E36 M3 out of a hammer better than you. And I'd sell it (not that I'm willing to put the time or energy into anything other than bashing someone else's E36 M3) for less than XYZ home fabricator who actually lists a price and a product, which I haven't done. Then, I'll realize that I've put 100 hours into designing my own kickass hammer, come up with a parts list and producer, that said hammer will cost $150 each for a batch of less than 1000.

Ehhh. The Annihilator could take it.

slantvaliant wrote: Ehhh. The Annihilator could take it.

deadon tools makes some cool stuff...

They have a $300 framing hammer. It's got a Ti head and a graphite/Ti composite handle.. Pretty stupid. in a good way.

Come on guys, haven't you read the original post of garage journal... 10% discount to anyone who posts it on another forum. redvalkyrie is just out to save a few bucks. Cool hammer, wouldn't pay that much.

I use this one from Park Tool almost everyday for my job. It has replaceable faces and it retails for $13.

http://picasaweb.google.com/blueridgeMB/HammerWagon#

IDK, it's kind of funny listening to so many people here dogging it. I mean, sure some people could make something similar, but the time/effort you put into it - would it be worth $150 or whatever? It would probably cost twice that much to make, unless you have access to a free machine shop. The vast majority of the population probably doesn't have the machining skills or equipment to make even a relatively simple hammer like this, I would say.

And then people are like "oh it's nothing special." Hey, maybe it isn't anything particularly amazing. But this is coming from people whose main goal in life is making Miatas and Civics go fast (guess what, that's been done a few times too, and alot of people can do it)

As for the "well, if it's for machinists, they could make it themselves" yeah, certainly true. That said, this kind of hammer is used for all kinds of things. I work weekends at a ski shop and we would definitely use this kind of hammer for alot of the work we do in the service shop there. Right now we just end up buying ALOT of various types of mallets and hammers to do particular things that require non-steel faces and more touch than a typical hammer can provide.

I really don't care where my stuff is made, as long as it's good. That said, all things being equal, I'll buy American over other...Nothing wrong if he markets it as such. Last I checked there are alot of people on here who make a big deal about their American cars (see: any recent thread about Toyotas or GM on this board).

Bottom line is that he seems to be selling a quality product that is very nice. Whether or not it's overpriced or "nothing special" I guess is up to the person who buys it. Plus the whole point of selling something is to make a profit on it (the whole world isn't GRM), generally speaking. So I guess he's built whatever profit margin that he wants into it, and leave it up to the consumer to buy it or not....

irish44j wrote: IDK, it's kind of funny listening to so many people here dogging it.

It's an item that's dubiously useful, needlessly expensive, and could be duplicated by many of usfor a tiny fraction of the price with the application of our skill and effort. And you're surprised to see folks on this site dogging it?

By 'dubiously useful', I don't mean useless. I'm sure it does what it does perfectly well, but it's not something most people need. And this forum is usually not too excited over a more expensive way to do anything.