Hammers for lifting lids off stoves and for mutilating government stamps on sealed cigar boxes are among thousands featured in Dave Pahl’s book, “The Improved Hammer: A Guide to the Identification, History and Evolutions of the Hammer.”
Pahl, founder of the Main Street-based Hammer Museum, said he published the 200-page, large-format book of color photos, text and illustrations because of demand but also as a pay-back of sorts.
“I felt obligated because I have research and information I’ve collected over the years and that other people have collected. Our museum has kind of become a repository for all things hammer.”
He said museum patrons for years told him, “You need to write a book.”
Pahl described the process as educational. He showed an early draft to a friend who told him, “You need a new camera. You need a new computer. And you have to take some lessons.”
Pahl set up a “lightbox” device in his living room to improve his exposures and contacted neighbor Nick Jans about publishing a book. A Juneau editor also helped.
Except for some primitive hammers featured in its introduction, the book focuses on manufactured, North American hammers since colonial times. It does not include stories about hammers – including the hammer-shaped piece of driftwood that a Hoonah man used to rescue Pahl’s pet dog from inside a sinking truck – or much mention of his Haines-based museum.
“It’s a reference book, plain and simple. There’s a big need for this among collectors and tool-history groups and associations,” Pahl said. “There’s a few of us out there.”
Pahl acknowledges he could have written a more comprehensive book. “I’ve already got revisions in my mind but for right now I’ve got one thousand books in my living room I have to deal with.”
Pahl says he has no particular, favorite hammer. He says he’s keen on automatic hammers that are “more than a lump of iron at the end of the stick” but said he has “always been a fan of the whole thing.”
Also, he’s planning to offer a hammer-themed day planner for 2023. “There’s a hammer for every day of the year,” he said.
Pahl’s book is available at the Hammer Museum for $42.