A striking collection.

"yeah, I use this one pretty often" *Blows the dust off it* Oh, Tom.

Hi Sam, Thanks for the comment. Spread the word to other addicts near you. Tell them you found a new dealer..... Regards, Tom

I can't believe I watch this whole video.... And believe it or not I enjoyed every moment. THANKS...

Hi Mike, Thanks for the comment. Us hammer addicts have to stick together. Mallets don't count? That means I'll have to build a segregated rack for them and keep them away from the real hammers. Regards, Tom

Hi Toly, I need a new rack soon. I just got two more recently to add to the collection. Best, Tom

Yep, gotta get'em out of the drawers. Adam Savage says "Drawers are where tools go to die..."

Hammer time! Great collection :)

That's some weeeeird addiction dude! (just wait till you see my transformer collection haha! )

Hi Jack, Ain't it great! I just smoked a big bowl of hammer handle shavings. Thanks for the comment. Best, Tom

Hi Tom, This morning first to the supermarket and purchased a bottle of liquid frying butter (Blue Band) for 1 Euro 50 and a bottle of olive oil for 80 cents. First I made a steel plate template with the hole-pattern for pilot holes. The holes of 4mm we drilled with olive oil, it was a bit smoky but it worked well. The 18mm holes we drilled with Blue Band. A few drops is enough and it smells like Brussels waffles. Henk

Hi Toly, We seldom make our own handles here in the US. I never thought about it until you mentioned it. I have experienced hammers wanting to do a twist when hitting with them. I always attributed the twisting to a long hammer head length or glancing blow. Thanks for the comment and good information. Regards, Tom

I am a carpenter. I swing an old Belkmap Bluegrass BG47-16 it is a16oz curved claw with a wooden octagonal handle. It is my FAVORITE

very nice collection of hammers, quite expansive. In our workshop i'm the 1 with the hammer addiction, i've got nearly 30 and am only a a 4th year Appy. Nice idea on the racks i'll have to make 1 to suite. cheers from Australia.

I love hammers. I had to build a multi level shelf to organize most of mine. It helps to be able to see at a glance the different types of hammers at once, sometimes gives you alternative ideas just by looking at the variety. Great collection! Cheers to Hammer Addicts Unanimous.

Awesome hammer collection Tom , thanks for showing us .

Hi Gordon, I don't have any if you can believe it. I prefer the cast iron rawhide. The reason is rebound. I want just a little rebound so you don't have to work so hard. Many of my hammers are for sheetmetal where you are doing thousands of hammer blows. I tried deadblows a long time ago and found them tiring because of no rebound. I am convinced I need a couple so I'm looking at the Lixie's trying to decide which ones. Thanks for the commet. Best, Tom

Very interesting, all the little anecdotal details that determine tool design are fascinating. That stuff about the anvil especially!

Hi Tom, I am loving your videos! I have been a "Handy" guy forever and over the last year I have really become focused on engineering, machining, industrial processes, history of precision industry etc. Keith Fenner's videos got me started and your videos make me determined to get into this field. I aim to start studying in 2014. Thanks for all your efforts!

Hi Tyler, Excellent question. Pretty hard to answer in a few short sentences. The hammer face density governs the type of blow delivered. A couple of basic examples. Rawhide is non marking but produces a slow low velocity impact that doesn't stretch metal. A metal hammer produces a sharp high velocity impact that can stretch and displace metal. This subject would be an excellent article for a more in depth explanation and demonstration. Regards, Tom Lipton

Came for a quick look at a hammer rack of impressive proportion. Stayed for some great wisdom and insight into what all those different hammers could be for.

I have to say , this is the first video I've seen like this and I really did enjoy it. I love tools of all types and enjoy working with my hands . Thanks for the great video.

Thanks for this. You helped me recognize my addiction before it became an issue. I have a small collection. Around 20-25 at the moment.

Tom,congratulations...awesome hammer rack and collection.

Hi Tom, Until it started to rain this afternoon, it change in a kind of white lumpy alien substance!! On a scale of 1 to 10 for the olive oil a 6 and a 7 for the Bleu Band. Tomorrow we will continue with the drilling and cleaning the beams with a high pressure steam cleaner. Henk

I love the Cream in the back ground :)

I was looking forward to seeing the slate roofing and other unique specialty hammers with odd shapes, but standard for their craft. Found the explanation of copper hammers enlightening. Thank You Tom.

I have 7 hammers and constantly want for more but would always ask myself “how many hammers do you need?” This video has answered my question to myself

Hi Henk, Not sure what's happening to your comments. Maybe there are so many yours are on another page. Typically there are several pages of comments for each video! Thanks for the preliminary report on the Redbrick safety sneakers. We are waiting for the full report from our Dutch tool testing lab. Regards, Tom

Thanks Tom, you really nailed that one.

Loved seeing you in the Caltech shirt. Great memories of Pasadena when my son was attending college there.

Nice collection Tom, thanks for sharing.

16:24 Yep. I have one that the handle broke during a hip case so the OR tech pitched it. I was doing the Anesthesia so I got first dibs. Has brass faces. Use it all the time.

Hi Zoltan, How did you know I have a plier collection. Is it that obvious? Regards, Tom Lipton

Tom you need a sign " Don't force it get a bigger hammer"

I used to think that I had too many hammers. Now, I realize that I don't have enough.

Love that you have the bone hammer. I use mine for meat tenderizing.

Hi Tom, Life is full of surprises! Yesterday, I have two lathes and a milling machine given to me, for a very ridiculous small amount of money and a BBQ ( Knuth Servoturn 410 , V-turn 410 , WF 4.1 mill ) Out of my family business. And this morning my German contractor has given me the keys to my new home and rebuilt workshop. Thee months earlier than planned. So I'm busy the next few months. With setting up my old / new workshop. Or was it planned by my girlfriend and family?!?! Henk

A friend of mine had to move out of the house he'd grown up in, and was going to throw away the hammer heads he'd inherited from his dad. Call it 35 pounds of steel. I wasn't about to let them get junked out, so I "threw them away" in my truck and over the past few years since then I've fitted new handles into almost all of them. I've learned that fitting new hickory handles into old hammer heads takes patience. One of the oddballs I got turned out to be a Cobbler's Hammer (I was wondering who would make a claw hammer and not cut the center groove between the tangs, it just seemed so stupid); another hasn't been ID'd yet, but I'm thinking I might have seen something like it when I watched a demonstration of how a track gang straightened railroad track back in the day (I think it might be a railroad spike hammer). I got a good axe head (warped and weathered handle, gladly replaced), several geology hammers, a small sledge and a variety of carpentry hammers. I was tickled to see you have a cousin to the brick mortar chipping hammer that I got (mine saw use recently when a neighbor was laying used brick over sand for a new walkway; he was just a little surprised that I had the exact right tool for the job). My wife doesn't understand hammers. I found out that she'd used one of my jewelry hammers (it's actually a "Flatting Hammer") to drive some small nails. She didn't understand why I got upset or why I had to replace it. She'd scarred the face and made it unusable for flatting. Her rationale for picking it was because it was girl-sized. Maybe I should get her a girl-sized pink hammer, and tell her to leave the rest alone. I love the idea of having a "Roll-Away" for the hammer collection. It's so much cooler (and more compact) than peg board. You forgot the seat-of-the-pants Engineering Rule: "Figure out what will do the job, then double it" (you knew you were likely to get more hammers anyway, right?). If it were me, I think I'd go for an A-Frame approach, with racks on the front and on the back, and try to keep the center of gravity in between the wheels. The less-often used tools could get relegated to the backside racks. Anyway, thanks for the tour!

This video should be legally required viewing for all wives, girlfriends and sisters who for some reason do not understand the greatness of.Toolaholism.

The "Removable face, split head type" are great! I have one with nylon+wood and another with ribber+brass. I should get another for copper and make some pin heads for the other side.

Just like a gun safe, as soon as you get it home you've outgrown it. Pretty cool stuff.

Those aluminum bronze hammers and tools are also, typically, non-magnetic and useful in facilities with big/strong magnetic fields like rooms with a NMR or a MRI.

Hi Henk, The machinery gods are smiling on you. Run with it. Sounds like you need to retain your German contractor for a shop expansion. Regards, Tom

Hi WW, I have made a few hammers for doing compound sheet metal work. As far as metal hammers go I would probably go the forging route if I really got it bad. Regards, Tom Lipton

Don't judge me but all I own is one Eastwing claw hammer and one tiny hammer I made from 1/4 square stock and 1/8 th rod. I used it for pinning balsa down to make planes 32 years ago.

4 years later and lot of paperwork, laws, misunderstanding by two governments, more laws. I have 660 square meters of workshop floor now!!! I love Otto!! my German contractor.

Could you maybe do a "blacksmithing tools" video? great collection by the way!

I'm a cabinetmaker and just started into metalworking. And I thought my hammer collection was bad!

I was hoping you'd pull out a Roman hammer. But the rawhide ones are of interest. I think those are on the purchase list now.

Jeeze, I thought I was the only one. Will have to video my hammers for you.

Great collection! They tend to accumulate pretty fast :) I'm not quite to this level though

10/10 Tom looks great

I have always had a weird headphone addiction. They always fascinate me and I've spent way too much money on them. What's even weirder is they are in style now. Guess I'm just ahead of my time :).

I'm really enjoying your channel. Lots of great stuff. As a blacksmith, I too have hammer issues. You can let yourself off the hook on the bottom row, mallets don't count :) The hot cut is a struck tool, also not a hammer! The big odd one is a tire hammer, from the split rim days, but the handle looked a little short. Keep it up, these are great!

wow,amazing hammers collection

Hi Henk, I have heard of some shops that use olive oil. Never tried it myself but fundamentally there should be no problem. You might try something more high temperature like Canola or Peanut oil. They won't perform quite as well as lubes optimized for metal cutting. Try a little and report back. Definitely skip the fish oil. Your shop would have a "unique" aroma. Regards, Tom

Hi Henk, Sounds like an excellent workspace. Can't wait to see some pictures of the shop. Do your safety sneakers squeak on the new floor in your shop? Best, Tom

Interesting video... until I saw this video I didn't know that one could have too many hammers...

I just found your channel. That's it, I won't get any work done for months.

Hi Henk, What were your approximate speeds? Sounds like the waffle oil works ok. Please do a test on tapping with these oils. Tapping involves higher pressures than drilling so it would be interesting to hear how they perform with thread cutting. Good report. It appeals to my cheapskate side. Best, Tom

All I can say regarding Hammer addiction is "Don't knock it" MoK

As for Ball Pein hammers I use the Vaughan 8 and 12 oz hammers which seem to only come in a blue color these days, which isn't bad considering I love blue.

No Starrett center punching hammer with the magnifying glass in it? I reckon you'd love it. Anyway, I'm off to get me a piece of train track. :D

Hi Tom, I do not know. Now it's a rough liquid-tight concrete floor. The floor comes when everything is in place. It will be a two-color epoxy resin quartz gravel floor. Next week the first thing we are going to do, columns for the mezzanine and the 5 Tons overhead crane. Videos and photos will be on display within a year, i hope on my channel ( The New Saffie ). Henk.

One can never have enough opinion amplifiers.

I find the title of the video amusing. I seem to suffer the same affliction, only it's mostly framing hammers? I still have no idea why I have so many.

I watched this video once before years ago and apparently my wife was watching over my shoulder. I still remember her comment, "men are weird" lol. I recently organized my hammers and apparently I'm a collector as well. I dedicated a deep drawer in an old file cabinet too keep them together. I have two favorite hammers, in case your interested. One is a 6, maybe 7 pound bronze head baby sledge hammer. I actually found this thing on the road as a young man. The soft forgiving nature of the bronze head has given it the title of favorite hammer and has made countless jobs easier. I polish it up and reface it as needed. My second is a small all brass one. Maybe its my favorite, but in a different way. Its head is similar to a ball peen but much more refined. Made by someone long ago as maybe a school project?? 8 or 9 inches end to end.. Whoever built it had ability. The knurling, threading and turning is fantastic. I used this hammer as a delicate "tapper" for many years. I've refaced it a few times over the years. Then my young son noticed the end was actually a fancy cap that unscrewed. How I missed that is beyond me. Anyways, inside, wrapped in a single wrap of soft cloth was a small extremely well crafted brass screwdriver, about 3"long, that threaded into the hammers handle. Cool by itself, but there was one more secret. That 3 incher had a hollow body and the cap had tiny internal and external threads. What the heck. Another tiny screwdriver was hidden inside that. Maybe an inch long, an 1/8 in diameter. Beautifully turned and knurled. The flat head is maybe 1/16" wide and under a magnifier it is spot on! Both shafts appear to be flawlessly polished and hardened tool steel. I often wonder what else this person built. Watches? Jewellery? I guess we'll never know. I guess I am weird. Have a good day Tom. Thanks for the video.

Nice collection.

Hi Henk, Can you give us a better link to your channel. I searched YT and got tired of looking through pages of weird cats. Best, Tom

You know what's said about hammers? If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail ;-) Keep on!

Hi Tom, I'm very busy the last few weeks. Not much You Tube for me the past weeks. It was a rainy day today, so I had time for your request try to break off a couple taps. Tapping ( M 12 ) with liquid frying butter really worked well. But one hour after tapping the tap is corroded. I believe it's because of the salt that is in the butter. Best, Henk and Shopdog Finn

Yup, from York, which is in the North of England. I will look into buying some Blunnies 'elf' boots ! lol

Hi Henk, Another viewer suggested Rapeseed oil or Canola oil. Did you try those in your test? Maybe you can get the heart healthy low sodium version of the butter. Cheers, Tom

Awsome! Just Awsome!

Use ear protection for sure when using a railroad track anvil. I don't know the alloy of RR track but it has an ear splitting ring when struck with something hard.

Hi Tom, My name is Henk and I am A Toolholic to. But I have it under control now, I never buy more than 5 pcs in a month. Otherwise I get in to big problems with my girlfriend! Greeting from Europe.

This may be a dumb question but could you explain when to use what hammer? I know many times you don't want to damage or mark the thing your trying to move, I don't understand the difference between the rawhide mallet, rubber, plastic, brass and bronze and lead hammers. I just know that they are designed to be less damaging.

Hi Tom, We have the 4 mm holes drilled with a hand-drill from Fein ( BOP 13-3 0 and el cheapo hand-drill stand with the base rotated 180 degrees and clamped onto the beams, with a load speed of approximately 640 rpm. And the 18 mm holes with the magnetic base drill Holemaker PRO35 and annular cutter with a load speed of 300 rpm. I will comply with your request to try to break off a couple taps. But where does the bill go :-) Henk.

Hi Henk, I thought you were drilling a test piece. Don't break a tap in your beams for the show. I can see it know. You dog will be out in the shop licking up the "oily" spots from your metalworking. Best, Tom

100 does not seem like much for that particular Plomb. You keep the valuable body hammers polished and in a drawer, covered and dry. Wax is not something you want transferred onto your auto body sheet metal.

l can so relate to you buddy....like my lipstick collection..

hope i find a ball pien hammer at some point, hard to find in the netherlands. verry nice collection :) also the restoration vid :)

Nice video thanks

Hi Titty, You have an advanced case of the disease. I'm sorry but there is no cure. Send a couple pictures of your collection. Regards, Tom

Hammer time!

Hi Tom I'm back from our holiday. So here is my field test report of the Redbrick safety snaker. I start with the negatives; they make strange noises on coated concrete floor. They are not suitable for climbing on ladders. The profile of the sole of the shoe is so fine; they're going to fill up with junk, waking outside in the grid en mud. More tomorrow. Henk O and what's going on with KZfaq? my comments are deleted all the time.

You know you mean business when you switch from a No. 3 garland to a 5 it just works so much nicer

A good start.

i have a snap on hammer.. helps me look professional while smashing things

Hi Bic, Take a look for Redbrick Smaragd safety sneakers, which are very comfortable.

Love the idea of the hammer rack, so much for the hammers I want to know more about the rack. It looks like you used unistrut for the rails, is there anything to keep the hammers from turning sideways and falling through. I have several drawers of hammers and would sure like to use those drawers for something else. Plus it would sure make it easy to find the hammer I wanted to use. Thanks for the video, I have been trying to figure out what to do with them. There is a place here that buys scrap metal and I just purchased a bunch of brass hammers most had the handles sawed off but I got 4 good ones with handles for scrap price, to add to the collection. It is truly unreal what people scrap out, one day I found a complete set of number, letter and fractional bits by Hout and only one was missing it cost me 6 bucks. I guess a tool is worthless to someone that doesn't know how to use it. That place is unreal, you never know what you will find there. Thanks again Tom, sorry for the babbling.

Great video Tom. This is off-topic, but what boots do you go for? Is it hard getting a balance between safety and comfort? I weld / fabricate in foundry boots - safe, but very uncomfortable. Can you recommend good shop boots?

Good Day Sir.I found a DIN 8475 100G, do you know what it is? Ty

Tom, I have a piece of rail that I've already pre-drilled on each corner so that I can eventually bolt it down for a small bench-top anvil. The top has some pitting in it. I've been planning on using my South Bend shaper to turn it into a more proper looking anvil, but I'm wondering if I could clean up the top or if that would destroy the work hardening of the surface (I have no idea how deep that would go in a rail). Thoughts?

Tom, do you have an MC hammer ? There's probably a 12 step program for this hammer addiction. Great Collection ! Burklyn hammers ? Is this the right spelling ?

+oxtoolco you have a lot of very nice hammers. You make me feel better about my collection. I used to think I had a problem, until I saw your rack. So thanks for that.

Freaking Awesome.............!

Hi Tom, Yes I field tested them. I own 3 pairs of these shoes. And I do not look like an idiot, when my dog is taking walk with my :-) But more after our holiday. I'm abroad and the Internet is shit here. O and look for Quick Olympic shoes. Greeting your shoe salesman

That is a nice collection. I had about fifty hammers, many of them were close enough to be doubles, so I gave a bunch away to someone who is trying to make a difference with kids. I still have about thirty hammers left. there is the usual carpenter and machine shop hammers, sheetmetal hammers and lots of body hammers. I did find a few really nice condition hammers in a garage sale. The deceased owner had been a shipwright. Some of the specialty hammers are for pounding jute. I need to buy a really good rawhide hammer, what do you recommend. I have real Vise Grips and lots of them. Right now the total is 149 pairs and I would not say no to another pair. I only buy the original PETERSEN VISE GRIPS. My Mother was born in the next town from DE WITT the families knew each other. I refuse to buy an off shore locking pliers, except for making a specialty tool. For me, there is a real joy in cutting up the import tools. I would never cut a real Vise Grip, EVER. Good videos. I am an old dog and it is never too late for this dog to learn a new trick.