What Forest Hammer Did I just Buy?

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healyje

Trad climber

Portland, Oregon

Nov 20, 2012 - 04:11am PT

That one should definitely go to a collection versus being put to use.

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Nov 20, 2012 - 04:28am PT

I agree, Joseph - the box and unused condition could be appreciated by a collector.
It's not going to be used by us, although Chris Cantwell seemed to like drilling bolts with his Mjollnir last October:

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Nov 20, 2012 - 10:53am PT

I've got one of those, Clint. I actually liked mine for nailing. Yeah, it is lighter, but it works fine.

The ice picks are nigh worthless, or at least I never spoke with anyone who actually used one for an ice tool (and I hung out with a good number of ice climbers).

What I eventuall did was take one of the long picks and put it on a grinder and made it a couple of inches long. Then it was perfect for getting copperheads started. It ruled for that.

I still have it. It has a hatchet handle like yours.

Brian in SLC

Social climber

Salt Lake City, UT

Nov 20, 2012 - 11:02am PT

The ice picks are nigh worthless, or at least I never spoke with anyone who actually used one for an ice tool (and I hung out with a good number of ice climbers).

I used mine a fair bit for ice climbing, with the tube pick. Had the hatchet handle version, but, was stolen in '86 or so. Same handle as the original Lowe Hummingbird. I think I have the straight rubber handle version now. Used it as a third tool for years.

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Nov 20, 2012 - 11:19am PT

I hated the Lowe Hummingbird picks. They were easy to break, for one thing.

I remember owning a Hummingbird Axe, as opposed to a hammer, and it had a normal drooped angle pick. That pick was super good but just never caught on. It stuck without a lot of hacking, and it was super easy to remove.

I dunno why that pick never caught on.

I would use that axe with the straight hammer head on the back instead of that crappy tubular adze, and a Chical in the other. When I got to a belay I would put in one screw and then pound the Chacal in all the way for the other anchor point. Worked great.

Does anyone know of the Lowe pick that I'm talking about?

I need to dig up that Mjaulner that I used for nailing. Cutting that ice pick off and then grinding it flat on the end was perfect for copperheading. It always seems like you need three hands to get a head started. By filing that pick flat on the end (it was about 1/3 inch thick), it was perfect for heading.

The head's of those Forest hammers were of a softer metal than the Chounard wall hammers. Mine is really rounded off at the corners of the hammer face.