Subject: Strange tool I gotta have

From: Jim McCarty <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 11:52:10 -0500

Has anyone ever seen a hand operated trip hammer made by G.E. Morris, 
Minneapolis, Minn. and sold by the Wallace Mfg. Co., Kansas City, Mo.? 
It has a lever with a wooden handle on it. When you pull the lever it 
swings a 2 pound hammer into an interchangeable anvil. There's a 
counterweight under the anvil. It appears it mounts to a piece of pipe 
or perhaps goes in the hardy hole or vise.

Is this a blacksmith tool or something tinners or shoemakers used? I 
have a friend who makes boots, he is looking for something the 
shoemakers used that is a hammer for flattening leather seems. Don't 
think this is it as those had deep throats for getting boot shafts 
into.

I haven't seen this tool, just going by a sketch made by the owner. 
Looks too neat to pass up, but would like to know what it did. Maybe 
this is the mother of those things Caly Spencer steps on...

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From: [email-masked] (G Merryweather)
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 18:09:04 GMT

>this is the mother of those things Caly Spencer steps on...

Shoemakers hammers are usually fairly light with a large mushroom
head. I used to have one around 500 grammes until it broke (made from
cast iron...).
  I must get around to forging one someday.
Geoff

Avant-Garde Engineering
Woodturning, general engineering and fabrication.
General Blacksmithing and power forging to 2cwt
Ph/ Fax 64-9-2669936

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From: Roger Degner <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 22:46:54 -0500

>think this is it as those had deep throats for getting boot shafts 
The local museum near me has something similar to this.  Unable at the
moment to go there to check brand name.  I was told it was used to roll
(hammer over) the ends of flue tubes in a boiler.
Roger R Degner
Minnesota