One of the cool finds on a recent trip to the Alameda Point Antiques Faire was the Green, Tweed & Co, No. 1 BASA hammer on the right hand side of this picture.
I'd been keeping an eye out for a split head hammer for a while. I wanted a (relatively) heavy hammer with one copper face and one lead face, so I knew I'd be rehabbing an old hammer of some kind. As purchased, the hammer looked like hell. Rusty, dirty, and only one rawhide face...and that one hanging on by a thread. This turned out to be an advantage for me because the guy only wanted a few bucks for it. I could tell that after a little clean up, this hammer would do the trick for my Cu/Pb combo hammer. The face diameter would give a hammer heavy enough to be useful but not so huge as to be unwieldy. |
After scrubbing off a little light rust and a lot of accumulated grime with some gray Scotchbrite and WD40 action, the head of the hammer looked to be in pretty good shape. The hammer handle looks original with the end grain at the head still covered with black paint or pitch and tight on the handle.
The handle was also pretty grungy, but cleaned up readily with same materials. |
I mentioned this find to Tom Lipton (a man with a serious hammer problem) and a couple of days later, an envelope arrived for me at work. Inside were some cool, old metals industry magazines with ads for this kind of hammer!
Does Tom ever sleep? How can he have enough time to make all the cool youtube videos, send cool stuff to his friends, and still get to his day job, without going 24/7/365? It's a mystery to me...
Does Tom ever sleep? How can he have enough time to make all the cool youtube videos, send cool stuff to his friends, and still get to his day job, without going 24/7/365? It's a mystery to me...
What about getting some new faces for the hammer? Is there any chance they are commercially available or am I going to be turning some on the lathe?
I may be luck! Turns out Greene Tweed is still a going concern, 150+ years on. But...
While they are proud of the BASA hammer's role in the company's history, it appears the the BASA hammer is no longer part of their product line. But...
Garland Manufacturing appears to sell equivalent split-head hammers and replacement faces, even with the BASA trademark. But...
Garland is really proud of their copper replacement faces...$55 each for the Size 1 (1 1/4" diameter). Ouch. Any other options?
I may be luck! Turns out Greene Tweed is still a going concern, 150+ years on. But...
While they are proud of the BASA hammer's role in the company's history, it appears the the BASA hammer is no longer part of their product line. But...
Garland Manufacturing appears to sell equivalent split-head hammers and replacement faces, even with the BASA trademark. But...
Garland is really proud of their copper replacement faces...$55 each for the Size 1 (1 1/4" diameter). Ouch. Any other options?
McMaster to the rescue!
$7 each for the Size 1 (1 1/4" diameter) copper faces. That's more like it. I won't be buying a lead face from them, however. $38 for one short, cylindrical chunk of lead about an inch in diameter. That's almost as laughable as Garland's price for the copper faces. Looks like I'll be casting a slug and machining my own lead face(s). |
Sad to say, this is where the story ends for now. I need to remember to buy a couple of copper faces next time I order from McMaster. Then I'll have a example to follow to make the lead face(s). I can use the hammer with two copper faces in the meantime.
Stay tuned!
Stay tuned!