Hammers
Hi all, what is the common hammer in Viet Nam?
Here in US, since we started building balloon-frame houses, the hammer
you see around is the claw hammer. One end is the round, flat head
tempered for driving nails and the other is a curved claw to grasp the
head of a driven nail to lever out with the hammer handle.
We have ball-peen hammers, mallets, shingle hammers, machinist's and
rock and masonry hammers, but the hammer you see on a worksite or grab
in the household is the claw hammer.
In Paris the ubiquitous hammer is the masonry hammer, for edging and
blunting stone. One end is a square flattish striking head and the
other a wedge at ninety degrees to the handle, to swing into a crack and
lever it wide, tempered for strength without brittleness.
What hammer do you see on a worksite in Viet Nam? A mallet for pounding
sand on a worksite? A machinist's hammer in a factory? Do people have
a hammer around the house?
Dan
What an interesting and esoteric question!
In my experience in VN, the claw hammer is the most common. However, it is
designed subtly differently than what I am used to here in the US. It is
often smaller and lighter than our common hammer, and the angle between
the handle and the head seems very slightly different. I noticed that
Vietnamese workmen do not bang in the nails with the big swinging,
wrist-snapping power that their American carpenter counterparts do. (I did
a little framing when I was young and was taught the "proper" profesional
way to hit a nail. Not that I ever got it right, but that's another
story...)
Hammers were not uncommon in households, like here -- urbanites masy or
may not have one, rural folks could almost always get ahold of one
immediately, either their own or a neighbor's.
I have seen a full array of hammers for sale in hardware stores in both
Hanoi and HCMC, from large and small sledges to wooden mallets to many
sizes of ball-peen to claw hammers. Sledges are very common on building
sites where existing brick walls need to be razed.
So, why do you ask???
Joe Hannah
Thanks for all the great answers, exactly what I needed. I was editing
a translation into English by someone in France. It mentioned a hammer
and I wondered what that could mean.
Dan
In addition, I think there is very interesting work to be done on the
technology produced in the north during the 1980s - for example, the
sideline production of light manufactures and electronics from within
military factories for sale on the free market.
Adam
Dan's question about hammers reminds me that as
far as I know, no international text on the
history of technology in Vietnam exists ࠬa
Joseph Needham for China. I think that this is a
gaping hoel in our understanding of material
culture in Vietnam.
David Del Testa
I saw David DelTesta's posting and want to point out that David Biggs is working on a history of technology. He will present a paper at the AAS on motors.
Best,
Christina