Titanium hammer issues

[Foragefarmer]

I own a Stiletto TBII15 framing hammer. It was a gift from my ex-BIL a number of years ago. I use it daily for my business. And it was given to me because at the time I had tennis elbow issues which the new hammer helped to solve.

Although the hammer is Titanium, the head is steel and replaceable. So about 1.5 years ago I replaced the head. It wore out mighty fast and I had to replace the head again about 3 months ago this head has shown almost no wear. I believe inferior steel was used in the old head.



As a result, I have contacted the company. Note a new head is $37 which is more than I paid for my backup framing hammer. The hammer new is $270. Although I am past any warranty claim, I felt the company should know about the poor quality of steel in the older head.

Am I right?

 

[ScotO]

At $270.00 per hammer, I think you are ABSOLUTELY justified in a complaint to the company. And at $37.00 per face, I'd be on them for a free replacement. You may not get anywhere, but who knows. Maybe they'll send a free replacement face for it.

I'm guessing they subcontracted the heads out to different companies, maybe......and one of those companies used a cheap alloy to make their faces. Most likely made in China......

 

[PapaDave]

Saw one of those at a local place, and thought "ooooh, I want one of those".
Then, I saw the price.
I don't frame for a living though.

 

[JoeyD]

Do you buy hammers for the government?

Just kidding, I believe a tool that works can be priceless. I would complain without expecting to get anything but at the same time hoping the company might do the right thing.

 

[DanCorcoran]

You'll have a much better chance if you can send them the faulty head, but I doubt you still have it.

 

[blwncrewchief]

I know quite a few framers with Stiletto's and I have not heard a complaint about the faces so I would say yes it was a defect. Most likely it was not heat treated correctly after machining. I would contact them and being a professional quality tool I would expect a replacement if it only lasted 3 months.

 

[fossil]

...Am I right?

How is anybody here going to decide that either way?

 

[Foragefarmer]

How is anybody here going to decide that either way?

I have been on a river trip catching many smallmouth bass the last few days.

I thought a photo was worth a thousand words. The photo contains the old worn out face and the new face that has been seeing the same daily use and is showing nearly no wear.

It wasn't so much the the fact that the face wore flat, although it did, it was the threads in the face stripped out.

I sent the above photo to Stiletto as part of the email.

Note in the above post the hammer was a gift, I would not have bought the hammer myself. Now that I own it though it is fantastic. Maybe not $270 fantastic though.

Sort of surprised this thread got moved from the inglenook since it isn't woodcutting gear related.