Years ago I bought a toolbox from someone and there were a couple of these small hammers made out of wood. The head is maybe 1 - 1 1/2 inches across, a couple of inches long. On one of them the head is made of what looks like a wood strip that's been wound, the other is solid. Either of them weigh a few ounces.
What would these be used for?
google 'rawhide hammer'. they are usually used for tooling ( or beating the piss out of ) metal.
sya know...
If I had a hammer....
Doc wrote:
No, these are small. A few ounces in weight.
No, these are small. A few ounces in weight.
Did you Google? If you do you will find that raw rawhide hammers do come in small sizes, for example 2 oz. in weight 1" in diameter and 2 3/8" long. While the most common known use is probably for striking tools to decorate leather, the rawhide hammers can be used for any application large or small in which you do not want to mar the surface.
on 7/18/2008 4:50 AM Doc said the following:
They are more commonly called a 'rawhide mallet'. Mallets are used to pound on things that you don't want to use a steel hammer on, which would mar whatever you were banging on. In the old days, they were used to pound hub caps onto wheels. A lot less painful than using your bare hand.
for hammering stuff.
I'm guessing your lobotomy worked?!
"Doc" wrote
Lots of things actually. They dont cause 'dents' and so are suitable to use on a softer wood product to 'nudge it in place'. I have 2 even smaller ones like you mention (just a few ounces) used when fixing a very antique shadowbox of a kitchen scene.
I also have a larger one, a wood mallet. I use it to adjust doorframes. I could use a longish block of wood (stayback) and a metal hammer, but I find it faster and easier to just use the wood one that doesnt dent.
same answer.
smaller projects
sNo, these are small. A few ounces in weight.
On 7/18/2008 2:36 PM Oren spake thus:
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
(from Tom Waits a long long time ago ...)
OK - I really hate to do this but.....
This is a case where proper use of the language could help us in answering your question.
Is it a "wood hammer" ie a hammer made to poundon wood? Or.....
Is it a "wooden hammer" ie a hammer made of wood?
This could make a major differnce (or not).
We can't see them from here. Post a picture somewhere if you want more than blind guesses.
-- aem sends...
Wooden hammers are for wooden nails.
Fernwood Tonight, the episode featuring Baby Irene.
It predates that- I saw it on bathroom stall walls at college in the early 70s. Sometimes (in the med school building) as 'I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me, than a prefrontal lobotomy'. I was given the impression by others that it was an old saying even then.
GoogleGoogleGoogle
Hmm, not much help there. Along with Waits, it credits several others, going back at least as far as Dorothy Parker. Likely a traditional college graffiti, ever since the procedure was popular in early 1900s.
-- aem sends...
I believe it was a line from the movie 200 Motels (Frank Zappa), which came out in 1971. It certainly could be older than that, as well.
Perhaps.
To crack the shells of wooden snails.
=46rom that link: "It is recommended for many jobs where the user wishes to avoid scaring." So there's your answer - the rawhide hammer is a less fearsome tool. I guess it's chosen by people who smash a thumb all too frequently.
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