Hammered

[PFSchaffner]

I don't collect hammers, but somehow ended up acquiring these (29 plus
a few that missed the picture), all I think in 2016. Nothing very
exceptional here, I guess, but cumulatively they begin to take up
a lot of space. And prompt a few questions. Inquiring minds need to know.

(1) B3 has the full ATHA TOOL CO logo. Was that ever used
    after the company was acquired by Stanley? I.e., is it
    safe to date this pre-Stanley?
(2) There are two Stanley/Atha 780s here, one with the Atha
    logo, one without. Is the latter likely to be later
    than the former?
(3) B.L.Marder (B6) is not a company I'm familiar with, though
    I see examples online.
(4) The items with asterisks in the list have the dreaded
    "Wear Safety Goggles" instruction. What year did that
    come on the scene, anyway? Is it a useful dating criterion,
    aside from meaning 'recent'? (e.g. like a book with a 9-digit
    SBN is probably 1968-1972; one with a 10-digit ISBN is post-1971.)
(5) Anyone recognize the "DS & S" or "DS & SH(?)" on the mean
    6-1/2-pound cast slab of a hammer (T2)?
(6) T13 is a curiosity, I think: probably a shop project. The
    ball-pein head and the handle are both solid polished steel
    turnings; the handle screws into the head.



Bottom row:
B1 "4 ROCO"
*B2 "USM 4"
B3 ATHA TOOL CO CAST STEEL 5
B4 True Temper
B5 [unmarked bronze]
B6 B.L. Marder Co. Chicago (F) DROP FORGED
B7 [unmarked small claw hammer]
B8 [unmarked perfect-handle-type, face w/some chips]
B9 ARROW
B10 [cobbler's hammer marked only "DROP FORGED"]
*B11 STANLEY 16 oz.
B12 STANLEY 780 - 3 LB. with A-in-horseshoe Atha logo
B13 STANLEY 780 - 3 LB. (without Atha logo)
B14 [unmarked cobbler's hammer, looks rather old]

Top row
*T1 Warren-Teed 84-6
T2 6 1/2 LBS (triangle logo) DS & S [maybe DS & SH?] WARRANTED
*T3 M 2 1/2
T4 PLUMB
T5 HELLER MADE IN USA 8 oz.
T6 CHICAGO RAWHIDE 2
T7 PROTO 1448 LOS ANGELES MFD USA
T8 [unmarked cobbler's]
T9 [only an owner's mark: "JACK OMALLY"]
T10 HE 5 GARLAND No. 8 SACO MAINE
T11 [no markings, plated]
T12 BEALL BROS ALTON ILL 4
T13 [shop-made, solid steel turnings]
T14 [no markings]
T15 FAIRMOUNT

[Bill Houghton]

The correct term for what you experienced there is "inadvertent acquisition."

Can't help on your questions, much, except to say that the ball pein hammer design looks like a student/shop project for sure.

You can still get faces for the Garland hammers - look on eBay.  They're pretty useful tools.

T9 is an interesting design.  What are the pieces captured in the slots made from?  One British tools-for-sale website IDs a similar hammer as a "Brades dressing hammer" (at http://www.timelesstools.co.uk/wood_working.htm, and scroll down to #1945, and see pic below too).  Not sure what you dress with it; the only references I find when I search "dressing hammer" have to do with things done on hammers rather than with hammers.  I wonder if if it might be used for cleaning up slate roofing or something similar.

[PFSchaffner]

You can still get faces for the Garland hammers - look on eBay.  They're pretty useful tools.

Yep, I checked up on that -- but it does depend on being able to loosen
the big nut that holds the halves of the hammer together -- and so far
this one has defeated my best efforts...

[Bill Houghton]

Too bad.

I have a big Garland thumper with the opposite problem: someone dinged up the threads and distorted the mating lines on the side (probably by using the side of the hammer - idiot).  It's somewhere on The List to take a file to it, so I can put it back together and get some faces for it.

[PFSchaffner]

I think dressing hammers are for dressing stone, and sometimes
in particular for dressing mill stones, but that was like 150 years
ago, which doesn't explain what they are used for now.

[mvwcnews]

I think dressing hammers are for dressing stone, and sometimes
in particular for dressing mill stones, but that was like 150 years
ago, which doesn't explain what they are used for now.

Unlike us in North America, most of Europe builds in brick & stone -- limestone dresses nicely.  The Central Post Office building in London (when I was there in 1972 on a school field trip) had all the shrapnel holes from WWII bombing neatly patched in the stone trim, columns, etc. -- all hand work.

[PFSchaffner]

I have watched in fascination for hours as the masons (mostly students, I think)
at York Minster painstakingly shape blocks of limestone into replacement replicas.

[Northwoods]

I think dressing hammers are for dressing stone, and sometimes
in particular for dressing mill stones, but that was like 150 years
ago, which doesn't explain what they are used for now.

Unlike us in North America, most of Europe builds in brick & stone -- limestone dresses nicely.  The Central Post Office building in London (when I was there in 1972 on a school field trip) had all the shrapnel holes from WWII bombing neatly patched in the stone trim, columns, etc. -- all hand work.

Kansas City, Mo., went the other way.  During a shootout and failed attempt to rescue one of their own, Pretty Boy Floyd and similar trash killed four lawmen (and their pal) and left the façade of the Union Station pocked with bullet holes. They are quite impressive.
The bullet holes; not the gangsters.
 
https://www.google.com/search?q=union+station+kansas+city+bullet+holes&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiorfjJv-DOAhUJ02MKHY13CKoQ_AUICCgB&biw=1280&bih=566