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Fractured hammer head on a railroad spike anvil at 2am
My 3lb cross peen hammer head cracked right through the eye last Saturday night. I was working on a hot 1 inch round bar, missed the hit just a bit, and heard that sickening ping sound. Looked down and saw a hairline crack running from the eye down toward the face. Two more strikes and the whole head split in half, flew right off the handle, and almost hit my shop window. Good thing I wear safety glasses because a piece of steel glanced off my cheek. Now I'm checking every hammer I own for hidden stress fractures before each session. Any of you guys ever have a head fail on you like that or was I just unlucky with that one steel batch?
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noahward2d ago
Yo @young.emma that tapping trick is solid! Yeah man, I had a similar thing happen a few years back with a ball peen. The head just let go mid-swing and I watched it sail past my face. What worked for me was doing a simple water and soap test on all my hammers every couple months. You just wipe the head down with soapy water and look for tiny bubbles forming - that shows you hairline cracks you can't see otherwise. I also started keeping a log of how many hours each hammer has seen, and I retire them after about 500 hours of heavy use. It's boring maintenance stuff but beats having a chunk of steel flying at your head at midnight.
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young.emma2d ago
Damn, that's rough. I had a ball peen head crack on me once. Wasn't even doing anything crazy, just tapping a cold chisel. Piece flew off and took a chip out of my garage floor. Made me check everything I own too. Now I tap each hammer head with another hammer before I start. Sounds crazy but it works.
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