Found 100+ Year Old Blacksmith’s Sledgehammer?

[TheGrayRider]

I found this old sledgehammer on a hike recently along an fenceline on an abandoned farm in the Midwest. It weighs over 15 pounds and was partially buried in the dirt.

I scoured the internet and think its a blacksmith’s cross peen sledgehammer made by the Plumb Company in the 1920s in Pennsylvania???

I am having the sledgehammer restored by a local high school welding class and a new hickory 36” handle attached. Should look good in the hunting room.

Anyone have any information on a vintage hammer like this one or have any friends who are old tool collectors?

Thanks in advance, TheGrayRider.

 

[TheGrayRider]

Phase 2 complete - restoration of 100+ year old blacksmith’s 15 lb. cross peen sledgehammer.

Shout out to the nearby High School Career Services welding class 2 day turnaround on the sandblasting rust removal. Next phase - polishing.

 

[mdhunter]

Pretty cool!

 

[stillkickin]

Way cool!

 

[mtnrunner260]

That's awesome.
Man those old timers were tough. I can't imagine swinging a 15lb hammer while pumping the bellows

 

[Indianajoe]

Very cool. I have found neat stuff on old farmsteads. Nothing cool like that. I bet that guy had arms like poppeye.

 

[duckhunt]

That's awsome

 

[Nick87]

Cool find.

 

[recon6036]

That’s a great find!

 

[Hem]

Very cool.
Bad azz dude that could manage that all day for a living....bet he was deafer than a post in no time.

 

[Sytes]

That's very cool! What a great find and to be a fantastic addition.

Look forward to the completed restoration. Agree w/ others. A bruiser user.

 

[BrentD]

Looks like a very well used hammer. Can't imagine using that for more than about 3 swings.

I have a very similar ~50 yr old Plumb sledge but it has a much lighter head - maybe 10 lbs, but the same basic shape.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I would have left some rust on it. When new it wasn't polished. Perhaps paint it black? That's what it would have looked like at the store or in the smithy. I don't think it is a blacksmith's hammer. I have my great grandfather's blacksmith hammer and it is not 15 lbs. Keep in mind the smith needs to work it with one hand while holding the object being shaped with the other. For that reason they are lighter than a sledge and have short handles. I seem to recall most splitting malls with full length handles are only nine pounds. My hammer is not nearly fifteen pounds. I'm guessing mine is seven or eight pounds max. If your hammer head is fifteen pounds I'm thinking it was used for heavy two-handed metal work, not horse shoeing. Maybe peening rivets on iron beam structures? The angled head certainly indicates it was used for metal work. Malls for driving rail spikes, for example, had driving face on both heads. Interesting. Looking forward to the finished product.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Found "along a fenceline" perhaps indicates it was used to drive fence posts. Whatever the use it is, as Sytes describes, a "bruiser user".

 

[hank4elk]

I have found a few old tools here left over from the old homestead. Only sledge head is a 10 pounder,like that one. A single jack is what grandpa called it back in the day.
Have a 4 axe heads ,the single jack,2 shovels,an old handmade prybar, a hoe,pulley's, some old chain and a drill bit head in a pile.

 

[TheGrayRider]

Through my online research, this sledgehammer was "probably" made by Fayette R. Plumb, Incorporated in Philiadelphia, PA from 1890 to 1910.

Their 1906 Illustrated Catalog and Price List on page 48 shows and lists "Plumb's" Anchor Brand Blacksmith Sledges, which is extremely similar to this sledgehammer. I did not copy and paste the information and photographs because I don't know if I was violating any copyright laws, etc. With a little research, you can see a few of their old catalogs online.

Customers could order hammers using Telegraphic Code phrases over the telegraph which was introduced in their Catalogue in about 1888 before land telephone lines were common. Interesting history.

 

[TheGrayRider]

New hickory handle put on the 15 lb. blacksmith’s cross peen sledgehammer. Should be around for another 100 years. Glad I found & restored this unique piece of history.Next to 8 lb. splitter and standard claw hammer.Will look good in the man cave.

 

[Indianajoe]

BOILER UP!!!

 

[OntarioHunter]

Yesterday I happened to view a reenactment program on Smithsonian channel and there was the blacksmith shaping something with a whopping two-handed sledge like this one. His helper (the show's host standing in) held the hot metal on the anvil with tongs. They were making a weapon but danged if I can remember what it was. Congreve rocket I think?