Logo is a bunch beat up, but this Heller is one of my favorites.
Does anyone know the significance of the little "button" on the head?

I have, and have had, quite a few Heller hammers but never saw one with the "button" on it.  It doesn't appear to have any purpose.  Have never seen it on any other hammers either.

Mike

Biggest I can blow it up without pixilating too much.
Doesn't look like a welding slag or such to me.

I've had several Heller hammers as well through the last few years. Never seen a button like that on one. Maybe the die was damaged in some way, and that is the result after drop forging? Quality control may have missed it. Interesting, though.

Factory second? Maybe a factory worker threw it in his lunchbox instead of the recycle bin.

>Maybe the die was damaged in some way,

That is the kind of defect you get when there is a screw missing leaving a threaded hole, a blob that went into the hole, and tearout where it pulled back from the threaded edge.

But...why would you have screws in such a small small forging die ?
Very odd...

Unless Heller was casting hammers from steel...
(even then..?)

I would guess they used an open die drop forging process. Possibly something round like a ball bearing got caught in the die, damaging it. Next hammer through got the "button" added from the damage.

Papaw,

I have seen a number of old hammers with welding slag just like yours.  Usually these were hammers that came out of a welding, fabrication, or body shop environment.  And usually there were slag burns on the wood handles as well.

Odds are, your "button" is welding slag; all part of the hard life of any well used shop hammer.

Wouldn't the hammer have to be near as hot as the slag for it to adhere so well? I am not a welder by any stretch of the imagination, by the way.

When dies break during a coining process they get "Cuds" on them like this one.

I wonder if thats what is on yours.

Slag buttons do not usually fuse themselves to another object with any real amount of holding power, granted they do stick but can usually be easily scraped off or on occasion a grinder may be needed. If you have a bunch of splatter most people will use a grinder or you can buy a can of Anti splatter compound which comes in a liquid form and brushes onto your table or whatever and prevents the splatter from sticking. I would tend to agree with the guys who think it may be a defect in the die.