I was just out in the Danger Zone going through some old coffee cans full of crap that the Old Guy across the street was going to deep six that I couldn’t bear to see when I ran across an old Ball Peen hammer head with the handle broke off.
So I stuck it in the vise to knock the broken part out of the eye.
Low and behold, I see a Flat Bladed screw sticking up out of it.
“Fuckin’ Rednecks” I mutter to myself under my breath.
There just so happened to be an old wood handled screwdriver in the can also so I snatched it up to get the screw out.
Imagine my surprise when this is what came out.
A real wedge screw made just for holding hammer handles on.
I can’t even REMEMBER the last time I saw one of those but it HAS to be at least forty years ago.
This is why I do everything I can not to let that old bastard throw anything away that even REMOTELY looks salvageable.
He still has several buckets full of old crap sitting over there that I am just dying to get my grubby little mitts on, just to see what other little surprises he has stashed away.
I have told him repeatedly not to throw anything away and that I will PAY for anything he doesn’t want anymore.
I still have another coffee can full of crap to go through and I also found another perfectly good wood handled screwdriver.
40 years??? I’ve been wrenching and replacing wooden handles for at least 65 years and didn’t know a tapered threaded hammer handle wedge even existed!
Worked on a CDF hand crew beginning it ’72 and all the wooden handled tools we used had the triangular stepped wedges, exactly what’s common today.
That threaded screw wedge? Ya learn something new every day, that’s all I can say.
Pretty sure I saw one in a Chinesium hammer way back in the day.
I’m with Elmo on that one. Maybe not 65 years for me but damn near it and I never saw one of those either. I’d just about guess that it was a one-off made by some inventive guy. —ken
I’ve never heard of one either. Was it designed for fixing loose handles or initial installation?
It was the only thing in there.
I asked some folks who know more than I do about such things and found out Plumb used them for some of their hammers and hatchets.
I cleaned up the side of the head and found out it is an old Stanley!
That leads me to believe the handle had been replaced at least once.
It’s getting another one. A guy just can’t have too many hammers…
Joining the club, I’m 71, never seen or heard of one.
Well, you just taught me something new. I have never seen a threaded wedge made in the form of a tapered screw. It boggles the mind to just think of having to turn that on a lathe, or worse, make it by hand. Every hammer I have, including the oldest ones, have chisel type wedges and one actually has something that looks like a “U” shaped piece of metal pounded in, then the whole top of the hammer was ground flat to make the handle and wedge flush and pretty.
Great find!
Same here, I have NEVER encountered one of those, Phil.
Looks like you have a real antique there! Hang on to it,
I’ve got a wooden handled curved claw hammer that needs the handle replaced as it’s loose and splintered. I got it from my Dad’s cellar when he and mom broke up house a while ago. I looked every where I could think of for a replacement. The eye in the hammer head is rectangular. It is currently being held in place from flying off when swung by two roofing nails. I scavenged some elm branches at camp this summer that I’m going to try to employ in making a new handle for it this winter.
Looks like the back end of a tooth implant.
Me too, learned something new today. Thanks Phil.
I’ve never seen one, either! Been wrenching since I could hold one, and that’s completely new to me, Phil…
Great post, Phil.
Great comments, everyone.
But not ONE Paul Pelosi joke?! 🙂
Paul is so yesterday Dave… he and the others are just scum sucking parasites.
Scum-sucking parasites are at least useful for sucking scum.
Pelosi (either one) is/are useless parasites.