Lead, "Dead Blow" Hammer

If you have the lead to make one then I can see 2 courses open to you,

1: make one and use it, 2: weight the lead in and use the money to buy one ;) if you dont have the lead then its a moot point, you have to buy something...

Dave

Thanks Dave, I have the lead kicking about but I guess I was looking to see if anyone was going to say how wonderful these plastic/lead shot things are. I nearly bought one then saw on another forum that some have cracked up quickly. I think I will empty a suitable tin or two :-) as a mould and just get on and make one I know will work.

Regards

Keith

There used to be a wondrous tool which had TWO handles, and a combined ladle/mould.

When the lead head on handle 1 became distorted beyond useablity, one placed the hammer, head end down, in the ladle.

One placed handle two in the mould.

One applied heat, the lead melted, and the ladle/mould was tipped so the lead ran onto (and cooled around) handle 2, and formed a nice new head.

Handle 1 is now free to repeat the process when the new hammer is once more distorted beyond useability.

BugBear

In article , jontom snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com writes

Keith,

I have a Thor dead blow hammer, used it for many years. The rubber side is just perfect for assembling/disassembling veneered chipboard items and the like; the plastic side is more useful to give a really hard knock when surface damage is not important, or won't happen. Whether the dead blow feature is helpful is harder to judge, it may work pretty much the same if it were solid, but it certainly doesn't bounce around much, if at all.

David

Greetings Keith, I have and use several dead blow hammers. They are different sizes which is why I have more than one. And boy are they nice. Much better than lead hammers for most uses. It's weird to whack something hard and not have the hammer rebound. One of the nicest uses is tapping parts down in a vise. When the part bottoms out against the vise bottom or against parallels it doesn't bounce back a tiny amount the way a part can when using a lead hammer. Cheers, Eric

Eric Hi,

Thanks for your comment it is just the personal experience I was hoping for and exactly the use I envisaged. I hate thumping a rough casting with my nice new Thor hideface to settle it in the vice as it tears up the soft face quicker than anything and I haven=92t found a local source for new hide inserts. I was not looking forward to having to re-cast the lead hammer frequently either. I=92ll =93break out=94 the piggy bank and invest in some =93new=94 technology whilst avoiding the inevitable =93discussion=94 that follows heating lead in her domestic area.

Thanks again Eric, best regards

Keith

Bugbear Hi,

Thanks for that, I thought I had been =93about a bit=94 but I have to admit I have never seen such a beast although it sounds an intriguing and very practical idea. Very =93green=94 these days as well being a recyclable tool. But oh, what would the H&S police make of us melting lead? I feel at least 20 =93risk assessments=94 and =93certification opportunities=94 coming on. :-)

Best regards

Keith (still learning thankfully)

In article , jontom snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com writes

Keith,

You could always use the copper face for this - my non-dead-blow hammers have 1 hide face and 1 copper, don't know what yours have got.

David

...also major opportunitues for the use of a dead blow hammer...

Regards, Tony

decided to break yesterday

David Hi,

Thanks for your comment, extremely useful to me. The rubber/plastic dead blow seems to be just the thing as some of the "rough" castings I mentioned are non-ferrous and while the copper end of the normal hide face is a little hard particularly as it work hardens after a little use, the hide face is too easily damaged and tends to "pick up" metalic bits which then mark the surface. Does the rubber face tend to cut up at all or pick up swarf etc? I'm also taken by the ability to clout veneered chipboard without causing damage, if it can handle that I guess it could also handle varnished softwood, ply or soft aluminium sheet. At the moment I use some small plastic faced hammers but tend to change the inserts often as if marked they will damage a soft surface even with a very light tap. I'll have a look out for a Thor "dead blow" and give it a go. I will of course promise myself to keep it specifically for the softer work but I wonder how long that will last as it seems it could do at least two jobs for me :-)

Thanks again

Keith

An excellent idea Tony but I've just bought a 7Kg sledge for such purpose. I've also noticed that unless you catch them when they are not looking the b*ggers won't stand still while you hit them. :-)

Keith (not me gov I didn't do it)

In article , jontom snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com writes

Keith,

I've had mine for about 25 years and it's still on the original faces. That is largely because I have only used it on wood or plastics. It would handle castings just fine, but I don't imagine it would last quite so long! So, I can't answer your question about the rubber face picking up swarf, but my best guess is that it would pick up as you suspect.

David

Thanks David, as soon as I can get out to find one I will make the investment.

Regards

Keith

Good luck, Keith; I can't even get into my workshop at present!

David

Herewith:

BugBear

Thanks for that BugBear, what a fascinating tool. Looks as if they expected it to cast plenty of hammers too as they listed handles by the dozen. Lead must have been much cheaper in those days. That similar mould for =93vice jaws=94 also looks useful. I currently keep a roll of old lead flashing to fold over my vice if necessary but that looks as if it would produce much thicker jaws. My only concern would be that the two halves of the mould fitted together well, I wouldn=92t want nice warm lead running down my shirt sleeve.

On that point it is interesting to see how times have changed, no H&S dire warnings, no disclaimer to avoid responsibility and no safety gloves either, but of course just the right amount of shirt cuff is exposed =96 one has to be dressed correctly. The prices look very reasonable by today=92s standards as well.

Thanks for posting it as it has saved me from an embarrassing (not to say dangerous) moment, I had not thought of plugging the hollow handle until I read the instructions. At least now my hammer will be better balanced than it might have been. :-)

Best regards

Keith

Many years ago I was on a plumbing and brickwork course, we wore wellies for the brickwork, and then went on to plumbing.... wiping old- fashioned lead joints, with moleskin cloths. Somebody accidentally poured a small slug of hot lead down his welly.....and we laughed - at first.

I still shudder when I think of that afternoon.

On or around Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:29:07 +0100, Chris Edwards enlightened us thusly:

I doubt the unfortunate victim did. I've had weld spatter do that and it's not pleasant, and that's only tiny bits.

On that point it is interesting to see how times have changed, no H&S dire warnings, no disclaimer to avoid responsibility and no safety gloves either, but of course just the right amount of shirt cuff is exposed =96 one has to be dressed correctly

I got a book yesterday called Henleys Twentieth Century Formulas Processes and Trade Secrets - 1945 edition that lists all sorts of formulas to make from poison,hair conditioner ,drinks to metal patinas using things like Hydrofluoric acid,Hydrogen Sulfide, Mercury bi- chloride, silver cyanide to name but a few of the "exciting" ingredients. My personal favorite in the pyrotechnics section is the formula to make Woods metal for the trick they quaintly call "To take Boiling Lead in the mouth" !!! There are only warnings for the most poisonous chemicals - I guess the liquid woods metal in the mouth is innocuous compared to some of the others!

Tim