Ask Martin Vol. 3: Make your own hammers

Question: I was looking online and asking other throwers where they get their equipment. Because most of us are bargain-looking buyers when it comes to training I was wondering if you could start a thread somewhere where we could all share how/where we get our hammers from. -Freddie Hannie

It’s been a while since I’ve bought a hammer. Hammer prices have gone up so much lately that I usually avoid buying them unless absolutely necessary. Thankfully both the Kamloops Track Club and the University of Washington have had plenty of hammers for me to throw. I’ve also accumulated 20 or so hammers over the past decade through donations, lost and found, and purchases.  If I were to buy a hammer, however, I would definitely recommend Jump Start Athletics for two reasons: they have great Polanik equipment and they are owned by a hammer thrower. You might be able to save a few pennies elsewhere, but everything they sell is of great quality and will last longer than the cheap hammers imported from India. Plus, if they don’t have something you need, they will special order it and can get hammers in any imaginable weight.

But if you are really on a budget, there may be a better solution than buying a new hammer. Over here in Switzerland, hammers are even more expensive. When Dr. B told me I needed to throw the 10-kilogram hammer and do releases with the 16-kilogram hammer, I immediately began to think of how I could get this done since my club doesn’t have many heavy hammers. Well, as shown below, I quickly figured out a solution. To make the 10kg hammer, I went to the store and spent about $10 on some duct tape, a 1.1kg of chain, and parts to fasten it to our 8.9-kilogram hammer. Thankfully the hardware store was attached to a supermarket and I used the produce scale to make sure I purchased the right amount of chain. The 16-kilogram hammer was a bit easier to make; I just put a short wire and handle on a 15-kilogram kettlebell.

I learned my resourcefulness from watching Harold Connolly and perfected it with the help of Dr. B, who can turn anything into a hammer. My new favorite creation of his is the 12-kilogram hammer he fashioned for Kibwé (also shown below), which is a huge upgrade over his last homemade 12-kilogram hammer that looked like a 10-kilogram hammer with a mullett. This one is more like Saturn and its moon Titan. You can see a few some more of his creations about 2 minutes into this video. Wisconsin-Whitewater coach Dave Hahn also posted some of his improvised budget saving training tools last week.

Not only can a homemade hammer save you time, it can also make traveling easier.  Since I often throw 3-4 different hammers each day, it can be a difficult to travel. However, throw in some chain and all of a sudden one hammer becomes adjustable and takes the place of three hammers so you can stay under the baggage weight limits. The only downside is that the hammers obviously don’t fly as far with a kitchen sink attached to them. While this alone is not a big problem, it is more difficult to compare results to past performances when the implement is different.

Feel free to share your own suggestions and stories below in the comments. Freddie sent a few pictures along with his question (also shown below) and I’ll post yours too if you pass them along. It’s always great to hear and see new ideas.

[Show as slideshow]