I am looking to upgrade from my cheap body hammers to some Martins. I have already bought a dinging hammer and really like it. Which other hammers and dollies should I buy next? I can't afford too many at once...so which ones am I going to get the most use out of on my model A coupe? I was thinking a general purpose dolly and or an egg dolly? What would you recommend for a finishing hammer? Thanks
I use my heel dolly probably twice as much as all the others put together. 2nd place would probably be a tie between GP and toe dolly. For hammers, which one I pick up depends on how much crown is on the face. Really, all you need is one with a very slight crown, and one that's dead-flat.
An almost flat square faced hammer comes in handy a lot on older cars that have raised reveals or for replacing door skins. Old used hammers are sometimes almost better than new ones, because the edges are rounded over and sort of polished. Just make sure if you get a used one that you see what the face looks like in case some idiot used it to pound out nails and dinged it all up. I think the toe dolly would be the first one to get, and then maybe a wedge dolly or general purpose dolly. On the older cars, there are a lot of different curves, so it's good to be able to have enough dollies to match all the different curves you might need to work on. I have one old used dolly that I don't know what it's called, but it's about 2" x 2" x 4" and it has different curves on three of the long sides and a round bullet shape on the nose, and perfectly flat end on one end cut at an angle. I use it a lot. It's also big and heavy enough that you can use it as a battering ram in close quarters to bump out deep dents. I think maybe it was made by Facom.
Think about getting a dinging spoon. I seem to screw up a lot less stuff when I am roughing out misshapen panels. I like to use the universal dolly the most because it hurts my hand the least with continuous pounding. Its also nice to have both long and short reach dinging hammers for different applications. Dave
Not that HAMBers don't know what they are doin' but, check out WWW.metalmeet.com 'cause it is geared towards metal workin'. Smokey
RustyBolts makes a real good point about the used hammers. Also there is somethin' cool about usin' a good old tool that somebody else has used for years before you. Smokey
i know they are probably a little pricier than most, but snap-on has the best selection of body hammers and dolly's than most, i've had mine for over twenty five years, and i would'nt trade 'em for any other. just my .03 (cost of living increase)
I have 2 Proto #1427 One head is a medium reach chisel and the other is a medium circular head with a low crown. Bought the first at trade school in the late 60's and our instructer told me grind the chisel end to a dull pick instead and I would then have a great all around hammer. He was right. I just replaced the handle a week or so ago and it is easily the most used body hammer I own. The other one remains as bought. I also bought an AP ( all purpose ) dolly at that time and it is a good first one to own. Buy others as you can or need to. John Worden
I use a head from an old sledge hammer for a dolly and my 2 favorite hammers are a framing hammer, and an Iron workers small pick. Im not kidding. To each his own I guess.
I have the new Martin GP dolly, and like it a lot. My hammers are vintage Blue Point and Fairmont on new handles. I was suprised how much I used the square face on the Fairmont. I would definetly say keep an eye out on ebay. I got good deals on quality hammers.
I really like MAC hammers and dollies both. I've been real happy with both new and used MAC stuff for years. Snap-On and Martin are also in my collection. As for which dollies, I would say the best foundation is a general purpose, toe and heel. Those three will get you through most everything. Hammers. Pretty personal I would say. I prefer only wooden handles. They have to be weighted well and crown is important. Everyone has their favorite. Buy a couple.
I just bought a new full martin hammer and dolly kit. I saved quite a bit of money buying them in the set instead of buying separate.
I show my favorites in this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR4CcczpZFs John www.ghiaspecialties.com
Hey, I own about thirty body hammers and only use two of them on a regular basis! The cross pein by Proto ,and an early Snap On medium length picking hammer. I think I gave $10-15 bucks apiece at a swap meet for 'um. For a choice in dollys, I'd go with a universal and an egg shaped. The universal has a flat side like a heel, and a good number of other usefull shapes. The egg shaped dolly has good weight, and good crowns that are usefull for 30s-50s shaped panels. Unless you're going to go for metalfinishing your repairs (not a bad direction at all) you really don't need many body and fender tools. I'm completly amazed every time I see "big name builders" metal work,Sheesh! it's a good thing their good with plastic filler! Swankey Devils C.c. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
Wooden hammerheads can be formed from broken softball bats. Works good on 20ga. steel. Although I use my Snap-on crosspeen/dinging hammer a lot, another hammer that sees a lot of use is also homemade from discarded stuff. Grind the hex corners off a 3/4" bolt, polish the face, cut the shaft of the bolt to within 1" of the head. take a 3/4" nut, rat-tail file the threads, oval shape the nut in a hydraulic press (this is where the handle will fit). Cut a 3" strip of 3/8" by 1" cold rolled (hot rolled will work too) steel, bend a slight curve in it. Grind a nice radius on the one end to form a crosspeen blunt surface. Weld this to the ovaled nut. Weld the head (shaft part) to the other side of the ovaled nut. Realize the position of the oval so that the handle will fit correctly. It is the ugliest hammer I own, been using it almost 20 years. Main thing is: it does what I want it to do.
Von Dyke, can you take a picture of the homemade hammer? So, I think my next purchases are toe and heel dollies, a general purpose, and a medium point pick hammer? Maybe the egg dollie next?
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