Category: Crucible Tool

Because I have all these great shots of Raney burning handles with an oxy acetylene torch. (This photo was taken through welder’s goggles – hence the weird color.)

We hope to open ordering for the lump hammer next week.

— Christopher Schwarz

Sorry our lump hammer isn’t $5 and won’t wash your truck or cream your spinach.

And if you think that $85 or $90 is crazy for something made by hand in the United States in small batches, then I wish you Godspeed to Walmart.

So after you’re done telling the kids to get off your lawn, get on eBay and buy a used engineer’s hammer with a head that weighs 2-1/2 lbs. (or 1,000 grams for the metricated woodworker). Cut the handle down so it’s about 9” or so long below the head. Clean up the thing and re-wedge the head.

Then put it on your bench.

A metal hammer of this size will save your skin the next time an assembly freezes up during glue-up or won’t come apart. My lump hammer has rescued many workbenches, chairs and dovetailed joints from disaster because it can go almost anywhere and it always outpunches a wooden mallet.

Use it to set your holdfasts (and ignore the people who say you can’t hit metal with metal. Perhaps they’ve never driven a nail or worked on an anvil). Speaking of anvils, use the side of the lump hammer as a small anvil to set rivets or clench nails.

Then one day, when you’re feeling randy, try using it for mortising. Don’t swing it. Just drop it on your chisel handle. Set wedges with it. Swage hinges.

And because this isn’t a Ronco commercial, you can now use your imagination for some other bulleted items.

You might be wondering: Why are we making a lump hammer if there are used ones (and cheesy new ones) available for less? For the same reason we make our own furniture when there are antiques and cheesy flat-pack furniture available for less.

And one more thing…. Nah, I’m gonna drink a beer.

— Christopher Schwarz

The first batch of Crucible Lump Hammers will be up for sale in our store very soon this month. This week I visited the Crucible Lab, where Raney showed me how the production run was progressing, and we discussed some of the details of manufacturing.

As we were talking, I noticed one of the Lump Hammers on his bench that had a natural hickory handle – no “shou sugi ban” charred finish. The hickory was soiled from Raney’s hands. I picked it up and was immediately reminded of Alan Peters’s lump hammer, which I fell in love with years ago.

After some discussion, Raney, John and I decided to make the natural hickory handle the standard finish on our handles. For those of you who wish to make the handle black, we are going to offer detailed instructions on how to do it with inexpensive tools and a few minutes of work.

Why are we making this change? Several reasons.

1. The natural handle has crisper facets and a better feel in the hand. Charring the handles rounds over the facets and noticeably reduces its circumference. Leaving it natural makes for a Lump Hammer that fills your palm and offers better feedback in use.
2. The charring is functionally irreversible. If you want a charred handle, it is a simple thing to make a natural handle into a charred one. If we send you a charred handle, however, it is not possible to get back to the full-sized natural one.
3. It looks right. We love shou sugi ban, but we also love the look of traditional Western tools. The natural handle looks like a new one you might find in an English hardware store (in the 1960s), and it will only get dirtier and more glorious with age.

For those of you who were keen on the black handle, we offer the following solutions. In the next week or so we will publish a video tutorial on how to char your handle with simple home center tools. If you are local to us, we invite you to stop by the Lost Art Press storefront on one of our open days (the second Saturday of each month) and I will personally char your handle for you and finish it with beeswax.

Next up: Details on pricing and availability.

— Christopher Schwarz

Newsy began filming a detailed profile of Crucible Tool right before we launched our first two tools – our Improved Pattern Dividers and our Iron Holdfast.

Today Newsy gave us their kind permission to post the video here for you to enjoy.

In other Crucible news, we are about to launch our fourth tool – a Lump Hammer – within the next two weeks. Raney is milling the heads all day and we are getting set to assemble the first huge batch next week.

More details to come soon. In the meantime, enjoy the moviefilm.

— Christopher Schwarz

 

 

Hey, if you’d like to read the latest on the Crucible lump hammer, check out this brief blog entry.

— Christopher Schwarz