Make one ? Pour lead into a vessel to cast a head. Machine from copper or nylon bar. Just a thought. Small THOR hammers are available with hide/copper faces for about £10. Noel.

Edited By noel shelley on 01/03/2023 11:54:01

I have a small Thor copper hammer, works well for that purpose. As Brian just said, block of wood. When I was using machines in a factory many years ago, I had a large block of copper for that use. Think it was about 2 ins. sq. x about 4 ins. long with a mass of burrs on each end.

John

lookup Nylon Hammer on any of the internet sites.

I can see why a no-bounce hammer might be better. If the work is on parallels, however, it should be possible to check that they are trapped – QED.

How many of the posters who have suggested nylon hammers, screwdrivers, lumps of lead, politicians' noddles and so on have actually twigged that none of these is actually a dead-blow device?

How many know but have chosen to ignore the difference and thereby the OP's question?

How many of the readers who come here to learn will go away thinking that there is no difference?

I think we should be told.

George

For small work you can get dead blow drifts, basically a dead blow hammer without a handle and in smaller weights.

Not tried one as a Thor copper/hide jobbie has always worked for me on the odd occasions that I bother to knock the work down. Most of the time I don't bother but the engines all seem to run OK.

The lump of lead or other softer metal and the copper/hide hammers have been used for years and obviously work, the plastic lead shot dead blow hammers are just something new.

But you just said yours was aluminium

I suspect it is not only the item used to ‘tap-down’ for seating on parallels that causes issues. Many expect the parts to be already parallel between the vise jaws and that the vise jaws are perfectly parallel, too. Often neither one nor both may conform.

Omitting a soft insert between the movable jaw and the work may well cause a problem, particularly if the tapping merely lowers the movable jaw – which then moves up again on tightening.🙂

I use what is at hand. I did buy a couple of dead-blow hammers a couple years ago – by one of the really cheap chinese suppliers – and often use one of them- but not always. The Thor leather/white metal mallets likely get most use.

Look again; the first answer(mine) asked why a dead blow hammer is 'necessary' for this job.