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spike
Mar 17, 2003, 10:47 PM
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I just purchased an old Chouinard hammer. It doesn't have a hole for a carabiner to attach a funk cable. Any ideas. The only thing I can think of is girth hitch 1/2" webbing to the head of the hammer.
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philbox
Moderator
Mar 17, 2003, 11:51 PM
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Take the hammer to an old fashioned blacksmith who can make the necessary hole for you and it will be correctly heat tempered to boot. Don`t try to drill it yourself. I reckon the girth hitch idea wouldn`t work as well as you need it to. The thing with the funk cable is it will give you a sharp highly peaked shock load whereas the nylon wil absorb that peak load somewhat.
...Phil...
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yosemite
Mar 18, 2003, 12:35 AM
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Just out of curiosity.....
Are you sure it's a Chouinard? It must be an old one if it is without a hole in the head. I assume it has a wood handle. Where/how does the sling attach? It may be more valuable to a collector as is than it would be once modified. Old Chouinard stuff gets outrageous prices on Ebay.
I have one from the mid- to late '70s that has a hole in the head.
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mesomorf
Mar 18, 2003, 1:21 AM
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yosemite, wanna buy my old hole-less hammer?
spike, the best I've been able to figure out is to kinda loop the funk over the head or nose of the hammer. It's highly unsatisfactory, though. It doesn't really stay on for multiple "blows," and it chews up the funk loop as well.
It's hard to spring for a new hammer, though. Not only are they expensive, this one has been with me for a long time.
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yosemite
Mar 18, 2003, 1:49 AM
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Mezo,
No thanks. What year? What model? Got a garage full of funky ole stuff.
Gene
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mesomorf
Mar 18, 2003, 1:54 AM
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Oh, well, no harm in asking. I'd guess 1973 vintage, can't remember exactly. Chouinard Yosemite hammer. It still works, except for funking.
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copperhead
Mar 18, 2003, 2:35 AM
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Registered: Nov 26, 2002
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Spike,
I've got one of those old hammers too; my unc gave it to me a while back. I tried to rig a sling around the handle, just under the head but found that it didn't work very well. Save it for your collection and get another hammer. Besides, those BD/Ch hammers are light tack hammers. A heavier hammer is much more effective for funking, as well as nailing, heading, cleaning, drilling, etc.
ps - since it is light, it might be a good backup hammer if you ever wanted to carry one.
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mesomorf
Mar 18, 2003, 2:46 AM
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What's your hammer of choice, copperhead?
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copperhead
Mar 18, 2003, 5:12 AM
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Registered: Nov 26, 2002
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Well, I don’t know if this will help much because the hammers that I like are not available anymore, unless you can pick up a used one. The McDevitt hammer, by Klymb Me Rock Products is what I use. They were made by a guy named Bill Forshee (sp?) with design help from Dan McDevitt and myself. The heads are black with square edges and a horizontal biner hole. The head/handle connection loosens over time but can be tightened with the addition off a small nail or two (ti-co). It swings more like a solid framing hammer (construction), and the head is heavier than a BD. More bang for your luck.
My second choice is an A5 hammer. The head/handle attachment is similar to the BD hammer; both are more solid than the McD. They will last longer. I don’t use my A5, partly because it is less comfortable when drilling and nailing (vibration) than the McD hammer, but mostly because Deucey signed the handle and I don’t want to trash it. Smiley makes a hammer as well as Kong (?) but I haven’t used either.
The BD hammer is still a time-proven classic so fear not if you use one.
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apollodorus
Mar 18, 2003, 5:36 AM
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First of all, don't heat-treat the hammer yourself. You'd have to take the handle off, and know what you're doing with annealing and then hardening the steel. Not so good.
I took an old Chouinard Ice Hammer, and cut the end of the pick off. I (carefully) ground a hook into the shortened pick, for levering out pins (I stole the idea from John Middendorf's website, where he shows a picture of the A5 hammer made that way . . . ). Then, I drilled a hole for the funkness beater crab. It's now a mini-Yosemite hammer, and PTPP has given it his That's A Cool Hammer seal of approval.
So, drilling a hole in that Chouinard hammer is not a big deal.
Here's how:
Since the pick surface you want to drill is not flat, you need to use a mill, and not a drill bit. The best thing (or what I did, anyway) is to use a beefy drilling/milling machine. A milling machine would be even better. The mill will cut the hole very nicely. I used a cobalt mill, but HSS would probably be OK. Turn it slow. Use oil. Take your time. Smile.
You can go to any machinist and ask him to drill the hole for you. Just tell him that it's 4340 steel, heat treated. But, you won't have to. He'll take a file, and see that he can cut the hammer head with it (soft enough to machine, eh?). Then, he'll crank it into a vise, drill it and be done in five minutes.
To clean the edges of the hole, you can use emery paper with water. As long as you break the sharp edge, you'll be OK. After all, you'll be clipping a beater in there.
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spike
Mar 18, 2003, 3:35 PM
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Thanks copperhead & apollodorus for the feedback.
I do have a newer DB hammer as my regular hammer. The old Chouinard was purchased as a backup hammer. I have a friend that has an A5 hammer and it is nice.
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spike
Mar 18, 2003, 3:36 PM
Post #12 of 13
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Thanks copperhead & apollodorus for the feedback.
I do have a newer DB hammer as my regular hammer. The old Chouinard was purchased as a backup hammer. I have a friend that has an A5 hammer and it is nice.
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russwalling
Mar 18, 2003, 7:27 PM
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Registered: Jun 12, 2002
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Spike:
Put a #3 rivet hanger around the shaft, orient the loop and tape severely, leaving a small loop exposed. This will live under the head and is not subject to that much damage. Do the same with webbing as an alternative, or unless you are a monster funker, just use the wide end of one model of Funkness (hint) and slip it over your hammer head when needed.
Amazing how we wever got along back in the golden years.....
Russ
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