Hand-forged claw hammer by C. Hammond, Boston

Description

A real old-timer, with what appears to be the original (and pretty crude) handle.   There are some imperfections in the claw, likely places where the lamination resulted in chips (I get the feeling that hammer claws are not easy to forge).  The head has the octagonal cross-section typical of hand-wrought hammers.

It’s not clear who C. Hammond of Boston actually was; he may be the C. Hammond who later surfaced as a maker of hammers in the Philadelphia area. This one appears to be of much earlier manufacture than those that came out of Philadelphia, and clearly preceded the invention of the adze-eye hammer.