Tool Talk
Woodworking Forum => Woodworking Forum => Topic started by: Branson on December 24, 2013, 10:28:48 AM
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I've decided that the most appropriate cooper's hammer for Sutter's Fort use is the Spanish pattern. There is zero documentation for what cooper's tools were used there that any of us have found yet, so we're doing scientific/historical WAG. The missions had produced wines we know, so cooper's tools must have been here from before Sutter's arrival in 1839. At this point, I've watched dozens of videos and this one, which clearly shows the Spanish pattern cooper's hammer, is one of the three best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsAbaf1YXy4
Now to find a couple of these hammers. I say a couple because the Fort will need one, and I just have to have one of my own!
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Stopping the frame shows them pretty good. Good luck finding an original! Yikes, never saw one before.
I wonder if the plain-as-a-mud-fence handle was really necessary? heehehehe
It kind of looks like finding a small "overhead" drift pick head, and then reforging from there would get you one? Of course you'd have to find 2 mini drift picks.
I have one you -can't- have (why I thought of it).
Mine is what I call my Bottle Wolf, meaning, I carry it bottle digging for the tough stuff. Its backpack small and not too heavy, but has enormous power.
The good news is, picks generally have no value at all when you find them, big or little.
The only guy I know who might find an original one, if you wait long enough, would be my good friend Tony Seo. He loves the early hand forged stuff, is a confirmed hammer junkie, and lives in Pa where a lot of it comes from in the first place. Oh he loves spokeshaves and adzes too, but I never saw one of those massive wide curved coopers hand adzes for sale anywhere,.... ever.
http://www.oldetoolshop.com/ (http://www.oldetoolshop.com/)
Really though, hornswaggling the Fort's blacksmith shop into making you some would be the best option.
yours Scott
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Those would be easy to forge, if we knew the approximate size of the hammer poll. Then its just a matter of splitting, drifting, and some drawing to make a reproduction. I've seen some square shafts on old farm equipment that would be about right for the job....wonder if that thing is still there where I saw it a few years ago. Hmmm....
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>I wonder if the plain-as-a-mud-fence handle was really necessary? heehehehe
Not at Tonelaria Grandstaff, obviously...<g>
> It kind of looks like finding a small "overhead" drift pick head, and then reforging from there would get you one? Of course you'd have to find 2 mini drift picks.
Um, these seem to weigh in at two to four pounds. If I have to (and I don't want to if I can help it) I suppose I could forge modify one of those cheap square headed numbers from Horror Fright.
> The only guy I know who might find an original one, if you wait long enough, would be my good friend Tony Seo.
Well, I'm not fussy about having an old original (of course, I wouldn't object to an old one!). Thing is, I've watched several videos of modern Spanish cooper factories, and they are still using the same hammer. Somebody has to be still making the danged things. But who?
>I never saw one of those massive wide curved coopers hand adzes for sale anywhere,.... ever.
I actually have, but I sure don't want to pay those kind of prices. There are a couple of perfectly serviceable D.R, Barton cooper's azes already in the shop. Good enough for me, anyway.
>Really though, hornswaggling the Fort's blacksmith shop into making you some would be the best option.
I kinda think that I can do at least as good a job as the fort's blacksmith can. I remember when he had never worked a forge.
The trouble with doing searches for cooper's hammers is that 95% of what comes up is stuff on Alice Cooper, Mini Coopers, and brand new tools made by the Cooper's Tool Group. The other 5% is junk. Grrrrr!
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Those would be easy to forge, if we knew the approximate size of the hammer poll. Then its just a matter of splitting, drifting, and some drawing to make a reproduction. I've seen some square shafts on old farm equipment that would be about right for the job....wonder if that thing is still there where I saw it a few years ago. Hmmm....
The hammer face appears to be about 2 inches square. I actually have mandrels for the eyes of smith's hammers. Like so many tools, they're in a chest somewhere in storage, and I don't remember which chest. Maybe squaring an old heavy axle...
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I watched this video a while back. Once I found it an double checked it does show a hammer or two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxPSvAX_7o
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The trouble with doing searches for cooper's hammers is that 95% of what comes up is stuff on Alice Cooper, Mini Coopers, and brand new tools made by the Cooper's Tool Group. The other 5% is junk. Grrrrr!
Branson, you may already know this, but if not, it may help the search effort. If you put the terms in quotes, like "coopers hammer", it should narrow the results considerably. I'm not saying it will do the trick, but it will eliminate a lot of Alices and Minis :)
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22coopers+hammer%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=%22coopers+hammer%22&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&safe=off&start=10
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Images:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22coopers+hammer%22&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=v3Z&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Q-y5UtqZEcz7oATAy4KACQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoATgK&biw=1680&bih=917
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I can't tell you anything about the hammer the guy used, but I did enjoy the video and the barrel making process. Traditional craftsmanship at its finest!
Jim C.
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I watched this video a while back. Once I found it an double checked it does show a hammer or two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxPSvAX_7o
That's one of my top three coopering videos. Lots of very good information, not to mention five generations worth of learning. The hammers shown are both straight pein hammers with round faces. Seems to be the rule so far with UK and US coopering. The French and the Spanish cooper's hammers, though distinct from each other, are square faced cross pein hammers.
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Which is the one with the curve? Like this listing:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Prospecial.1/ANTIQUETOOLSNUMBEREDANDLISTED#5231133877010649010
Chilly
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Which is the one with the curve? Like this listing:
Chilly
The one on the left is not a hammer, but a handled hoop driver. The one in the center is the usual shape for Spanish cooper's hammers, though it seems on the light side. I see them weighing between two and four pounds.
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Any idea what the origin of this one is?
http://www.shop.roseantiquetools.net/8344a-Auto-Body-Hammer-8344a.htm (http://www.shop.roseantiquetools.net/8344a-Auto-Body-Hammer-8344a.htm)
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Any idea what the origin of this one is?
http://www.shop.roseantiquetools.net/8344a-Auto-Body-Hammer-8344a.htm (http://www.shop.roseantiquetools.net/8344a-Auto-Body-Hammer-8344a.htm)
No idea, but I wouldn't call it a hammer.
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Hmmm. I guess I just assumed there was a poll on the side.
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So Mike, when are you gonna give up and re-forge a standard cross pein hammer head round??
Seems like all you'd have to do is anchor a couple of iron blocks on the anvil and lay the hot head across it,
then wallop a handled swage (need a second guy here) with a sledge, to bend the head round. Probably take a couple/3 heats.
Then of course the eye would have to be drifted back out,
after the assault heehe...
It might be a little short compared to the old ones, but it'd do the job.
Need to borrow a large, handled, top swage?
Or just show up at my door. It'd take some time but we'd figure something out. ;)
yours Scott