Does a real man need a sledge hammer?

Storm Hector has made one of my trees lean over at about 20 degrees, grrr!

I have bought some tree stakes and tree ties and I intend to make the tree upright over the weekend and then secure it to the stakes with the ties.

I have a lump hammer that I inherited from my grandfather a good few years ago and that would probably be enough to knock the stakes in.

However, I have a hankering for a sledge hammer, but after knocking the stakes in I don’t know what other jobs I could do with it.

Should I buy one or will my lump hammer be up to the job?  Hmmm.

I have sledge hammer and a splitting maul with sledge on reverse of head.

Tools = n+1.

Twice the man.

Yes.

No. Just thump them in with your fists.

Just get a maul. Sledge side for securing the stakes. Maul side for splitting it all up once it finally falls over.

Does the tin man have a sheet metal cock?

yes, yes you do, just dont by silverline as i once saw a very angry man returning  one which the head had snapped off and hit him in the face… his response to the offer of a replacement was to say the least a bit controversial and i doubt it would  have fit….

No, a real man would drive them in with a devastating stare.

my 6 yr old son appeared round the corner in a DIY store last week wielding a 3lb short handle sledge hammer above his head asking if he could buy one with his pocket money.

so yes.

#prouddad

You have to ask?

Sledge Hammer and an Axe are the only tools you need.

A real man would pull the inadequate tree out of the ground and burn it.

Mercy is for the weak

I have never heard of a “maul”, so I will have to go and have a look for one.

I don’t have an Axe funkmasterp, so I will have to look for one of those as well, ha ha!

I have never heard of a “maul”

You sir have just lost 100 man points.

Stick with your lump hammer, anyone even asking the question probably won’t be able to aim straight enough to hit the stake anyway 😉

You sir have just lost 100 man points.

And another -100 for no axe. Today is not turning into a good day for you Sonny-Jim!

What you need is a fence post driver thingy 😉

I have never heard of a “maul”, so I will have to go and have a look for one.

Dear Lord, we pray for the weak among us, may they find The Way.

What you need is a fence post driver thingy

That’s just a toy.

I spent my trailbuilding years mostly building on the side of very steep slopes which required extensive shoring of the outside edge of the trail with fallen logs, to stop it all disappearing down the slope!

A sledgehammer was a gamechanger, instead of having to hew perfect little stakes to support the logs and tap them in with the backside of the hatchet, I could just mash any vaguely cylindrical lump of wood into the ground with the sledgehammer, and call it a stake 😀

Maul….

Axe….

Mattocks are good too! very satisfying kit to use. However my fave “big job” bit of kit is my persuading chisel. I don’t know what the proper name is for it, I bought it from screwfix to break up some concrete that had been holding in some fence posts. It basically is a 6 foot long solid inch diameter steel bar hammered into a chisel shape at one and and flattened at the other (presumably so you could hit it with something). It weighs about 15kg and will literally mash through anything, concrete, tree roots the lot. For delicate jobs I have a Makita SDS with chisel. 🙂

persuading chisel

I think that is actually intended for digging post holes and a brilliant job they do too in ground you can barely get a spade in.  Flints and assorted buried rubbish is no match, I suspect it would remove toes with ease if anyone strays too close

Sledgehammer:

Sledge Hammer:

+1 for mattock.

I have a grubbing mattock and one of those persuading chisel, so can I get some of the man points back that I lost for not knowing what a maul is please?

A real man never begs for man points.

He just takes them.

Hammer of any shape and size = Yorkshire screwdriver.

Maul

Pah, sledgehammers are for girls. My post knocker weighs 300 kgs and sits on the end of my digger 🙂

Great for gate posts and strainers but you need to go easy on stakes as 1 hit can sometimes be too much and you have to lift it back out again!

Regarding a proper sledgehammer, a real man can hold one by the end of the shaft at arms length, then lower the head slowly down til it touches his nose, then raise it back to vertical. All without bending his elbow. Try it 🙂

What you need is a fence post driver thingy

I think the correct nomenclature is a Post Bonker.

What you need is a fence post driver thingy

mate of mine knocked himself out with one of them. lifted it up to drive a post, lost control of it and dropped it on the back of his head. sparked clean out.

Welshfarmer, the 7 pounder on to the nose was one of the challenges between apprentices when I was a lad. I could do it then, but I’m not so sure now, 40 years later.

OP, if you’ve a hankering and can afford it, you may as well get one now, it’ll certainly knock the stakes in more easily.

^^That’s the OP when he asked what a strainer was 🙂

No.  A real man already has a sledgehammer.

 I bought it from screwfix to break up some concrete that had been holding in some fence posts. It basically is a 6 foot long solid inch diameter steel bar hammered into a chisel shape at one and and flattened at the other (presumably so you could hit it with something).

Wrecking bar.

A most satisfying tool. Fnaar.

I’ve got two sledgehammers! Well, I’ve actually got one out in the garden that could do with a new handle, the other is just a head that I *ahem* ‘aquired’ some time back that was pretty rusty so I went at it with a wire brush on my angle-grinder, which revealed traces of red paint and ‘GPO’ stamped into it. Makes a good anvil for hammering small things on. I’ll get new handles for both of them some time soon.

However, I have a hankering for a sledge hammer, but after knocking the stakes in I don’t know what other jobs I could do with it.

You could play croquet

(Although that also requires some balls.)