TRASH HAMMERS


     There in the back row at the swap meet under the card table,

     in a battered lard pail with twisted tongs and crusted claw

     hammers, at the bottom half buried in bent nails, was the hammer

     head that satisfied the moment's hammer lust, perfectly.

     The rust patterns revealed a wrought body in a fine steel

     sandwich. The slight offset angle of the drifted hole showed that

     the former owner was right handed as did the dressed faces. Some

     brisk bargaining, $3 on the table and that hammer was heading

     straight towards the anvil.

     Brought it to the shop and punched out the old handle stub

     and on the third try got it hung just right. Even forged and

     barbed a wedge. Then it didn't take but an hour or so and the

     faces had a polish nearly worthy of Whittaker . A few days use

     and that hammer was an indispensable pleasure at the anvil.

     Just back from a fishing trip, washing down the rods and

     silently apologizing to the fish, there's the neighbor carrying a

     4 and 1/2 pack of cheapy beer up the shop drive...not a good

     sign.

     As usual he's gotta say that his grandfather was a

     blacksmith again as he proffers warm beers, want them or not.

     "Yep"' he says,"Banging away with a hammer, it's in the

     blood I guess". The problem lies in why he brought the beer

     instead of bumming it.

     "'Tole the old lady I'd bust up them granite donnikers in

     the walkway and drive them big old rebar for the retaining wall."

     At this point the fear is that he's going to ask to borrow

     some tool, perhaps the new air hammer . He is not a man with tool

     empathy. At best it's gonna cost a sledge handle. On the other

     hand, an unhappy neighbor and an inclination towards midnight

     blacksmithing is a bad combination.

     He says" I didn't want to borrow any of your big sledges

    without asking so I took one of them little bitty ones. It's ok

     though, I took one that you plain never use".

     He's talking pretty fast now and his head is down. "I could

     tell you never used that hammer cause it was still all shiny on

     'a front. Now my grandpaw would'a swore that a hammer like that

     was useless as the tits on a boar, 'till it got broke in real

     good ; I shortened the handle for you too, no charge. It was too

     long anyway ".

     He puts down the two remaining warm beers and a crumpled

     paper bag with a familiar hammer handle sticking out just as a

     customer walks in and by the time you greet the client and

     realize that you really don't want to look in the bag, the

     neighbor is long gone.

     Now, the point here is that this tool trauma could have been

     avoided with a few well placed and garishly painted, trash

     hammers.

     Trash hammers are sometimes a necessary defense as many

     smiths are overly sensitive about their tools.

     A trash hammer generally costs less than $5 and has a handle ,

     that's about it .

     Aside from painless loaners they can serve several other

     important purposes, plus, they allow tool abuse without guilt.

     For example, a trash hammer with softened faces can be

     wielded against hardened tools , even other hammer faces . A

     sacrifice hammer of this sort is good for doing risky operations

     against the anvil's face. Being soft, the faces stick a little

     rather than glance off ,say, a chisel butt that's a little hard.

     No need to make up that special texturing tool, either.

     Remember to keep the picturesque mushrooms and splits

     ground off those faces...they can really fly. Ain't fun to eat

     'em.

     It may be necessary to have trash or sacrifice hammers in a

     spread of sizes and under extreme circumstances Happy Faces may

     be required. If the latter is the case, the sane smith will turn

     them towards the back door from whence the borrower is most

     likely to come.

     That dismally abused brass or copper faced hammer looks to

     be almost beautiful when a punch, drift or chisel is heating and

     expanding while the hot iron it's stuck halfway through is

     cooling and shrinking. When flipping the work over and slapping

     it on the anvil fails to free the tool...grab that battered brass

     trash hammer off the anvil stump pronto. The alternative is pit a

     hardened edge against a hammer face. A smith is sure to loose

     face over that.

     Drive a hole through the side of a tin can, stick a 1"pipe

     in (slightly flattened and spread at the top) and fill the can

     with molten lead (Even wheel weights will do ).Peel off the can

     when cool. Aside from the problem of lead fumes when welding and

     contaminated finishes: a lead hammer is seldom upsetting and very
 
     influential, while still.. strictly a trash hammer.

     A few funky wood mallets or even hardwood limbs with solid

     knots on the end will move hot iron without totally mushing

     surface detail. Soft wood mallets conform to the job on sheet

     metal for example and do even less damage. Like all sacrifice

     hammers, they're pretty disposable.

     Lastly, there is an intermediate class of hammer used for

     learning new stuff, rough work, cold steel, weldments , earnest

     helpers and indiscriminate utility applications. You probably

     already have those or will soon.

     The beginning smith , thus equipped , is well on the way to

     being accused of hammer fetishism: congratulations!

               OTHER ARTICLES
              "Rust"        "Full Employment for Blacksmiths"
                         "The Treadle Hammer As Kitchen Aid"          

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