Will be trying a Lump Hammer of sorts

[Derek Cohen]

I have NEVER needed to seat a hold down with anything heavier than 7 oz. Often I just use my hand.

My most used mallet is about 16 or 17 oz, which is a re-handled Veritas Cabinetmakers hammer.



That 28 oz mallet I posted earlier occasionally gets hauled out if morticing very hard wood but, frankly, when it is that hard, I prefer using a router and morticing jig.

I really do not need a steel hammer to force joints together, and if it was necessary I could use the heavy mallet. I test fit everything beforehand and avoid having to bash parts. The hide glue I use actually facilitates a smooth joining of parts.

Perhaps the lump hammer is best reserved for specific types of furniture, such as wacking round tenons into chair mortices?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Handplanesandmore]

  And who spends $85 on a simple hammer, anyway?  

The answer to this question is easy, in two words - celebrity power. If someone else was trying to sell such hammers even for just $60, people would riot.
 

Sellers sells books, but imagine what if he were selling some British woodworking gadgets.

This is what social media is all about. Get a following and money will follow you. It works on teens, adults, and.... woodworkers.

Simon

[Handplanesandmore]

I really do not need a steel hammer to force joints together,

Regards from Perth

Derek

I was scratching my head...do people work with STEEL WOOD? Wouldn't a steel hammer leave an indentation on the wood if you banged on it? Why clamps alone wouldn't be enough to close a joint? I never buy the glue seize story...it is an excuse for poor joinery work or poor glue up preparation or both, period.

Simon

[bandit571]

Then again, everybody else knows to place a block of scrap wood where the hammer would be hitting....how else?  
 
Even Norm Abram use a scrap of wood between the hammer and the dovetail joints he machine made....


But, there are some that merely push a draw-bore pin into place with their thumb......

[Handplanesandmore]

Metal hammer + block is ok if you use it sparingly. Occasionally you do need some force for persuasion. But that would not be my primary tool and method for assembly.

Watch how ISHITANI does carcass assembly (with tight dovetails or not) using a rubber mallet.

For the record, I do use my Japanese metal hammer when dry fitting dovetails as it gives a better feedback (sound). In the final assembly, hand fitting (fist , not thumb :-) ) and clamping are used.

Simon

[bandit571]

Like when test fitting pine drawer sides, to Ash drawer fronts....when both parts of the dovetail joint are tight.  Block of wood, and a hammer sized for the task....pine compresses a bit, Ash doesn't. 


I use a few counter-bore plugs, to cover screw,.
....best way to make sure they seat in the hole, is a well-placed whack....with a 7oz riveting hammer, and, IF one pays attention to the grain, plugs disappear.
...NO, I do not let end grain show, I use face grain plugs, cut from cut-offs of the same board, with a plug cutter.  



Would rather drive a joint together, with the rawhide mallet....then fumble around trying to add clamps.....once the parts are glued and together...THEN I can add the clamps as needed...since I would have BOTH hands available to monkey around with the clamps....
 

Just like my handplanes, I size the tool to the task needing done....Hammers, chisels, saws....planes.   I don't use a No. 8 to do the work a #3 can do...I don't use a 32oz ball pean, where a 7oz hammer would do the job.

Yes, I do watch Ishitani videos.....I also watch ones from GE Hong....I'll even watch New Yankee Workshop videos, when I get bored....

[Handplanesandmore]

Most (98%+?) of my furniture joinery is hard wood to hard wood. Little room for compression...risk of breakage is high if I use a sledgehammer.

Simon

[bandit571]

Whatever....YMMV, I guess...

   

   
Is also very good at driving small nails...

   
Rawhide mallet also works...

   
and..

   
yep.

   
YMMV...

[C. in Indy]

I used the home-hafted lump hammer a bit today, and I feel better...



I had got a real lowball deal on a machinist chest.  But when I looked into it, problems are many...

   


I decided to see what makes it tick!  The heavy hammer was pretty fun.

   


Overhauling it, won't be as instant-gratification....

Chris

[AHill]

Way back in 2015, Chris Schwarz wrote about the lump hammer and was praising the fact that they were plentiful and cheap in the wild. I guess he decided they were no longer either when he decided to offer his version from Crucible Tools. So, the lump hammer wasn't a recent discovery for Chris. It's been a useful tool in the box of several notable woodworkers prior to Chris's reincarnated version. It's useful to note that most of those woodworkers reserved use of the lump hammer for limited applications, and they also noted it's most useful application was destructive in nature (dismantling stuff).

I suspect if the lump hammer was a really popular tool, you'd find it in many vintage tool kits. Which you don't. Even timber framers used large wooden mallets. Joiners used "joiners mallets", which were wood. Sensing a trend here? When you think about it, making a heavy mallet out of wood is an easy task for most woodworkers. In the day, wood was plentiful and pretty much free. An hour or so with a saw and a spokeshave and you've got a nice persuader. Something with an steel head was not inexpensive. A couple of other points of reference. Lee Valley's heaviest hammer is a 28 oz. carpenter's claw hammer. Their Cabinet Maker's Mallet is a whopping 18 oz. Tools for Working Wood's heaviest Japanese Chisel hammer is only 20 oz. Compare those to the 35.2 oz LAP lump hammer.

Japanese chisels are indeed normally struck with a hammer. Traditional Japanese woodworkers don't whack even mortise chisels with Herculian force. Instead (quoting Toshio Odate from a class I took), they "tap, tap, tap" until the hammer achieves what it needs to do. Precision is more important in the Japanese work ethic than time.

I've no doubt that many will find a lump hammer a useful addition to their tool box. I don't see a need for it. I don't do demolition. I set my holdfasts with a medium sized wooden mallet. I don't use Japanese chisels (except for a few paring chisels which don't require the use of a hammer). I don't do hand-chopped mortises anymore. And I don't feel comfortable using excessive force to close a joint. This is why I dry fit assemblies prior to glue-up. I'm not saying one isn't useful and I'm not disparaging those who disagree. I'm just saying it's not for me.

Schwarz's 2015 blog on the lump hammer:
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodw...mp-hammer/

David Savage's blog on the lump hammer referencing Alan Peters:
https://finefurnituremaker.com/news-blog...7-hammers/