Today's #2 Find 30MAR12

[Wrenchmensch]

I get a pension check every month from Greene, Tweed & Company. While I was employed with them, I developed a collection of artifacts made by the Company over its long history. 

Shown below is a Greene, Tweed tool I had never seen before.  The $1 Greene, Tweed No. 1 Basa Hammer is 10 1/2 inches long and has copper faces. What it was used for I do not know

[OilyRascal]

It has nice character!

[Branson]

Shown below is a Greene, Tweed tool I had never seen before.  The $1 Greene, Tweed No. 1 Basa Hammer is 10 1/2 inches long and has copper faces. What it was used for I do not know

Copper faced hammers were used for knock-off hubs on old sports cars -- remember the knock-off hubs on wire wheel sports cars?  They're useful anywhere you need to smack something hard without marring the surface.

[Papaw]

A great persuader! Lots of weight to smack with and little to no marks left behind.

[jimwrench]

 Evidently Basa hammers were used to install fire brick in coke ovens etc. Basa is a trademark of GT & C Inc. but didn't find out what Basa stands for.

[rusty]

> but didn't find out what Basa stands for.
Probably nothing, most of GT&C's tradenames seem to be made up words or arbitrary words that don't mean anything relative to the thing they are used for...

The Basa hammers seem to have been advertised all over the place for general use 30's-40's, and to a somewhat lesser degree into the late 60's. There were various different materials available for the striking face, not just copper. You had a choice (by the 40's) of Alumnium,plastic, rawhide , copper, and babbitt metal.
(I have to admit tho, the hammer looks really nice with shiny copper faces...)

(The "Empire" rawhide mallots seem to have been a different hammer, so I guess you had 2 choices for a leather faced hammer)

[jimwrench]

 Yep Garland still sells them and lists 6 different striking faces. They list rawhide,copper,urethane,nylon,Gar-Dur plastic,and Basa, which led me to believe Basa was a particular material,but I have found nothing to substantiate that. Anybody know if Basa is a material ?

[kxxr]

I wonder if basa is an adaptation of the Japanese word (basa) used to describe a swish or pfft sound of something striking but making a soft noise. I forget which of us it is that is more familiar with Japanese, (is it Branson?), maybe he can corroborate.

[Wrenchmensch]

From a senior tool collecting friend, comes this about the copper faced Basa hammer:

"We used these in the machine shop to knock the work, while lightly dogged down, into line on the bed of the planer or the larger milling machines. Maybe they had another intended use but, that's how we used them."

[Branson]

I wonder if basa is an adaptation of the Japanese word (basa) used to describe a swish or pfft sound of something striking but making a soft noise. I forget which of us it is that is more familiar with Japanese, (is it Branson?), maybe he can corroborate.

No idea about a Japanese connection.  We'll need a history check on the origin.  Garland's web pages notes:

"Six face types are available: rawhide, copper, urethane, nylon, Gar-Dur plastic and BASA. The BASA hammer has been the leading refractory hammer for decades. Used for installation and demolition of coke ovens, blast furnaces, and other applications where refractory brick (firebrick) is being installed or removed."

"BASA brand trademark GT&C Inc"  is found on their specs for a hammer using BASA faces, as opposed to copper, rawhide, nylon, etc.
So BASA is the name of a material, one which is chiefly designed for refractory work -- building industrial fire boxes. 

Refractory building requires that  there are no voids in the mortar between the fire bricks.  "All joints must be completely filled over the entire surface with joint material."  And, "Rubber and plastic hammers of different sizes [are used to] align the laid bricks and to close the vertical and bed joints.  The bricks will not be damaged even when hit hard if working properly with these hammers." 

I'd guess that they developed BASA early on as a material, and that gave the hammer its name, since BASA is only one of the materials used for the faces, and that the other materials were added later.

[rusty]

I think you are right, searching for Basa as a meterial instead of a hammer got me some interesting references:

"Basa plastic faces and Empire plastic mallets are recommended as substitutes for rawhide"

"Tough, resilient plastic will not chip, split or mushroom, nor mar struck surface, ..."

And an interesting reference from 1944:
"Basa Plastic Faces and Empire Plastic Mallets are recommended by the maker as o substitute for the now difficult to obtain rawhide"

(I assume rawhide was a restricted war material...)

[scottg]

Mcmaster carr still stocks replacement faces, but they are not cheap.
They came in 4 sizes. Yours is a #1.
I have a 1 and 2, both leather (compressed water buffalo hide is what was advertized.)
  I can't imagine ever running out of rawhide.  As long as there are steaks and hamburgers.....

Anything you needed to hit hard without scarring it up, is what they were made for.  I find all kinds of uses for mine. In this picture I was driving big corner and straight chisels with one, to make large sized mortises.
  yours Scott

[Branson]

I have a # Thor "copper hammer," marked Thor Hammer Company, and Shirley Birmingham.  Don't know how one would replace the copper faces...
Pretty sure it was for auto use, for knock off hubs.

[rusty]

>Pretty sure it was for auto use, for knock off hubs.

The #1 size came in Healey tool kits....

It is not a Knock Off hammer tho...

Because the Brits have to be different....

So it is a Knock-On hammer....

[benjy]

It is not a Knock Off hammer tho...

Because the Brits have to be different....

So it is a Knock-On hammer....

we made,,,we can call it what we like:->