Snapped a 12 inch cross peen handle mid swing yesterday

I was out in the shop trying to finish a set of three brackets for a gate in Tulsa. On the third one, the handle just gave out right as I brought the hammer down on a 3/8 hot strap. The head flew clean off and bounced off my garage wall, nearly hit my propane forge tank. I had to stop and dig through my old scrap bin for a hickory billet to carve a new one. Has anyone else had a handle snap on a decent hammer they thought was solid?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamesfox1d agoMost Upvoted

My dad had a 20 ounce ball peen from the 1940s snap on him two summers ago. He was just peening a cold rivet on a trailer hitch and the handle split right down the middle like it was balsa wood. Ended up finding out the old hickory was dry rotted from sitting in a damp barn for thirty years.

bettywood1d ago

Used to think hickory was all the same until a "solid" handle let go like that.