Hammer I.D.

Butch(OH) · Aug 13, 2019

What was this hammer used for?

Steve Neul · Aug 13, 2019

I would call that a rail splitter for driving railroad spikes.

John Garner · Aug 13, 2019

Looks like a blacksmith's "hot chisel", used to cut red hot metal. A blacksmith's chisel has a handle -- used to hold the chisel edge against the piece to be cut -- and then struck with a hand sledge. The blade of a hot chisel is substantially thinner than the blade of a cold chisel, and the hot metal is much easier to cut than cold metal . . . those two factors together make a hot-chisel cut very much easier than a cold chisel cut of the same material.

jeffcat · Aug 13, 2019

The axe used for splitting rails looks something like that but with a nice sharp end. Lots of tools are just different versions of a more basic tool and then modified to do specific jobs. Really neat to see how tools of long ago have changed.

unc · Aug 13, 2019

X2 hot chisel. unc

Absent Minded Farmer · Aug 13, 2019

I had also thought it was a spiking maul until I seen the flat wedge on the right. Handle's also too short for that & the hammer end is too fat. x3 on the hot chisel.

Mike

NC Wayne · Aug 13, 2019

I've got hammers designed to drive spikes that I use to drive pins, or as a handled punch when I need a heavier sledge to do the driving. This definitely isn't one

I'd also say this one was used as a chisel. I say this because if you look closely at the head, it appears the edges are slightly mushroomed. Mushrooming tends to happen far more from being struck with another hammer, rather than being used to strike something.

Russ from MN · Aug 13, 2019

This is a Rail spike hammer, I even drove a spike with one once!

Butch(OH) · Aug 14, 2019

Around the steel mill they called that type of spike sledge a "B&O"

Butch(OH) · Aug 14, 2019

I inherited it from my step father. I don't know if it helps or is even related to it but he was a pipeline welder for the gas company. I'm just going to clean it up a bit and let it occupy a spot on the hearth with my other old axes and hammers.

Tony in SD · Aug 14, 2019

It?s not a spike maul. I drove 1000?s of spikes with a spoke maul (above) when I worked for the railroad one summer in my college years. We shortened the handle so we could swing it faster. 3 hits was all we needed to set the spike firmly.

PJH · Aug 14, 2019

My friend, a railroad section hand, has a tool very similar to that. He calls it a "cold cut". He said it was used to "mark" the sharp corners all around a railroad rail, then the rail was put in side tension and snapped to length. One man held the cold cut, while another man struck it with a heavy sledge. I can't imagine that working, but I never knew him to tell phony stories. I have one around here somewhere that I used to try to use as a firewood maul. It did not work well for splitting wood - just a little too light weight for my liking.

Cliff(VA) · Aug 15, 2019

That is NOT a hammer. Whoever called it a cold cut is correct. It is a handled cold chisel. It is a very common blacksmith tool.

Cliff(VA) now (NC)

Hammer I.D.

Butch(OH)

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Steve Neul

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John Garner

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jeffcat

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unc

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Absent Minded Farmer

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NC Wayne

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Russ from MN

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Butch(OH)

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Butch(OH)

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Tony in SD

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PJH

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Cliff(VA)

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