Sledgehammers make great gifts

[Midwestern Ranger]

Back in early December I casually mentioned to my mother on a couple of occasions that I was thinking of upgrading to a 16 pound sledge for my shovelgloving within a couple of months. She's often late with Christmas gifts so I wasn't surprised when a shiny new 16 pounder materialized yesterday.

I haven't used it yet, I spent an hour and a half shoveling 8 inches of snow at her place and also mine in subzero temperatures as my workout. But it just goes to show an explicit hint for a birthday or Christmas may be noted if it's repeated a couple of times. Give it a try if you're thinking of upgrading this year.

Sadly neither she, nor any friends, have taken up shovelgloving on my recommendation. Maybe I should give the gift of a hammer, although they'd most likely think me a nutter.

[reinhard]

Sledgehammers make great gifts

Yes!

For distant loved ones have a look at amazon's free shipping offerings (I feel like this must be some kind of bug, the shipping should cost more than the sledgehammer -- and often does when there's not free shipping for whatever reason).

it just goes to show an explicit hint for a birthday or Christmas may be noted if it's repeated a couple of times.

You've got an excellent mom!

Sadly neither she, nor any friends, have taken up shovelgloving on my recommendation. Maybe I should give the gift of a hammer, although they'd most likely think me a nutter.

Here's an idea: when you're 100% comfortable with your 16 pounder, consider gifting your old hammer. The fact that you've used it long enough to upgrade will be an impressive testimonial to its efficacy. Plus you get the benefit of feeling like your obsolete hammer is serving a good cause. And if worse comes to worst, the recipient has a useful tool lying around the house (or an interesting conversation piece).

Don't worry about the gifted sledge not being new. Shovelgloves are like cast iron pans, they improve with use. They develop a spiritual patina of awesomeness that increases from generation to generation.

Reinhard

[gratefuldeb67]

You have a Spiritual Patina of awesomeness Reinhard for being so inspirational and great!

[DaveG]

be sure the recipient knows that it needs to be a hardware-store sledgehammer, not some fancy designer sledgehammer. My wife nearly got me an intensely ridiculous polyurethane-coated hammer before I gently set her straight.

[sheri]

I just went out shopping for my first sledgehammer, all the while musing about how nice it would have been to receive one for Christmas rather than <insert useless gift>.

Upon returning home, I looked at the forum for the first time and this thread jumped right out into my eyeballs.

Great bellylaugh!

[reinhard]

Welcome, sheri!

Upon returning home, I looked at the forum for the first time and this thread jumped right out into my eyeballs.

Coincidence, or providential sign?

In hoc signo you will exercise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_hoc_signo_vinces

Reinhard

[bluebunny27]

I've made my own 'sledgehammer' actually ... I only had an old rusted sledgehammer in the shed out back ... but it was too heavy to use anyway, about 18 pounds,

I decided that since this was a DIY (Do it yourself) type of program, I'd use a DIY sledgehammer as well. I took an old handle made of wood, I think it used to belong to a gardening tool.

Cut it to the right lenght, 36 inches, then I cut the top part a lil' bit so I could fit some weights on there. The handle was slightly bigger than the weights' round center hole. They fight tightly, no wiggling at all, I had to push on the weights so they would fit on there ...

I used small round iron Barbell weights I already had. The handle is quite thick and strong though, no problem handling the weight at all. (I even added a steel rod to the front part, making it really strong, this was probably not even necessary but it's just a safety precaution.)

I used 4 X 2.5LB, they are all tied together and secured to the handle as well for safety reasons. There's no way they can get loose ... been using it for weeks now ... it works just fine.

This way I have an 11 pound 'sledgehammer' for free. (10 pounds , + about 1 pound for the handle) I can upgrade it at will too, adding some weight to it later, as I get more used to the exercises, maybe even adding only one pound at a time if I want to.)

This is the way to go if you're a Do-it-yourself-er. I like the idea of working out with something I made myself, even if it took me an hour to do that.

[shadowfaux]

I've made my own 'sledgehammer' actually

Ha! sounds awesome -- I'd love to see a picture of how it turned out if you've got a few minutes to get one.

[bluebunny27]

I had a digital camera but I accidentally dropped it a couple of months ago and now it's DOA.

I was just looking into getting another one actually since the one I had was at least 5 years old. It'll have to wait a lil' bit for a picture but I'll try to post something in the future.

Plus I'm one of the few people who does't have a cell phone, so no pic for the moment unfortunately

The basic idea is to have a handle with some weight near the end of it. This has to be strong of course, not flimsy or else you could cause damages and/or injuries.

I like the idea of making it myself though, reminded me of high school dayz when I had made myself training equipment using empty plastic containers, cement mix, an old baseball bat, a couple of sticks, etc.

That's before I bought myself some proper weights, but they were doing the job just fine, especially for a beginner.

[reinhard]

I decided that since this was a DIY (Do it yourself) type of program, I'd use a DIY sledgehammer as well.

Nice!

And there actually is some precedent for this, let me see if I can dig up the post...

Well, here's fungus's DIY "upgrade:"

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=21559

Pretty sure there's more, but the search box isn't being cooperative...

Ah, here's something:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=45329

Plus I'm one of the few people who does't have a cell phone

Very luddite! You get props for that around here.

It'll have to wait a lil' bit for a picture but I'll try to post something in the future.

Looking forward to it!

Reinhard

[bluebunny27]

Thanks for the links, Reinhard, this was very interesting to read for DIY'ers ... I didn't think of just using a regular iron bar (would have been much easier !) but then I don't have short iron bars, 36 to 48 inches ... i only have longer ones ... or else I would have tried this out, but I like the handle made of wood i'm using now, it has a larger diameter, easier to hold in your hands and it's lighter than an iron bar, feels more like a real sledgehammer with the bulk of the weight at the very end.

http://biggerhammer.bravehost.com/

Good idea to add weight to a real sledgehammer as well as seen in that other link, but I wouldn't bother with the glue. I used zip ties (tie wraps) as well on my gear and it's super strong and the weights don't budge at all, the glue was really not necessary there imho. Diver's weight, good idea though, I'll have to remember that nice tip. They are flat and easy to add as seen in the pictures.

Marc

[twa2w]

Be carefull with zip ties. over time they have a tendency to weaken where they lock together especially if under tension as they would be as yu flig the weight down and stop it. i would checkthe zip ties every couple of weeks and likely replace they every month or so. Check where the zip tie feeds into itself. if the zip tie is starting to lighten in colour or whiten then replace them. I doubt 2 would go at once but ...

Cheers
J