This is pretty counterintuitive. I had a three-pound Estwing drilling hammer. My favorite hammer. The task was to knock all forty wheel studs out of the back end of a tractor. Then hammer in longer ones. Brand new vehicle, so no rust. Anyway, got a little tired after the first one, decided to use a larger hammer. The guy I was working with had a five-pound minisledge with a wood handle. I borrowed it and nearly knocked myself out cold. Where it took my little hammer three to five hard hits on average to remove a stud, it took his five-pound hammer five to ten swings, and it clearly bounced a great deal further back each time. Whether it was him, me, right hand, left hand, one hand, two hand, results were pretty consistent. So how in the hell is it that a bigger hammer bounces back harder and drives the stud less? I'm mad about that, even if my hammer turned out to be better. Damned head still hurts.
- posted
17 years ago