Tire Knockers, Where To Buy

[AzRednek]

Does anybody know where to buy tire knockers without getting gouged at a truck stop?? Harbor Freight quit selling them, the sales clerk said kids were buying them to use as clubs. I've been using tire knockers to cut the sprue on my bullet molds. I wound up buying a ball peen hammer for $3.95, sawed the head off and have been using the wood handle. Seems like a waste of a perfectly good hammer. Last tire knocker I got at Harbor Freight a few years ago I only paid 4 or 5 bux for it.

[Dr.Hess]

I've only seen them at truck stops, but I use cut down axe handles. When I bust an axe handle, I just cut it off and set it aside. Then when I need a whacker for the boolet mold, I use that. Axe handles are only like ten bucks at the co-op or fifteen at tractor supply. I should have saved a chunk of that hickory tree that went down. Oh well, it burned great last winter.

[gun nutty]

Wouldn't a rawhide mallet do the same? Or do you need a harder surface?

[Dr.Hess]

You need a hard surface like an axe handle, tire knocker, etc. I made one once from a chunk of pine and while it worked, the chips went everywhere. Hickory is much better.

[AzRednek]

I had a RCBS brand mold mallet I suspect was made of pine. It was a perfect fit, just the right length, weight etc. Problem with it was the soft wood and didn't last very long. It may not have been genuine RCBS. I got it at a gun show and there is a possibility the vendor put a home made club into a RCBS box.

 

So far the Chinese mfd hammer handle is holding up well, just takes a bit more human oomph to get a clean break on the 1st strike. I'd prefer a tire knocker because it has some meat and just enough weight on the striking end. I usually take my belt sander and sand a flat on one side. It keeps the knocker from rolling off of the bench. The hammer handle with its over all egg shape stays put and doesn't roll off the the bench.

 

Guess it is just part of my cheapskate personality. Salvaging the wood handle from a perfectly good, brand new ball peen hammer just felt sinful to me even though it was a buck and change less than a wood hammer handle from Lowe's. I think back to the days when I started out with family life with a stay-at-home wife. I had married into an instant family. She had two and I had full custody of my twin boys. Money was very tight but the bills were paid and we survived. Back in those days I didn't have much in the way of tools. When I needed a particular tool if I couldn't barrow it from somebody. It was usually purchased used at a flea market or rented. If I was desperate enough and couldn't buy it used. I would buy a cheap import from India, Pakistan or Taiwan at the flea market. Now my wife thinks I'm nuts for having weird guilt feelings by destroying a perfectly good hammer. I guess desperately needing a tool one can not afford is something women will never understand.

[Limpid Lizard]

I save and use broken shovel handles. For some reason I seem to wear out a lot of shovels. Many have said digging is my main hobby. LL

[dindvik]

Icall them tupper ware, try a plastic surgen.