The object of this booklet is not only to assist you in picking out the tools most suited for your requirements, but to convince all that the personality of Henry Cheney is behind every Cheney tool and that no time or expense has been spared in maintaining the standard of quality of the hammer which was invented for you and is yours today.
[missing pages 1 and 2]
…respect, but a better job than could be turned out elsewhere.
Under the existing conditions, it would have taken years to have obtained sufficient capital to expand. Therefore, a scheme must be devised, whereby cash could be obtained for the work done. Mr. Cheney decided to devote his energy to making tools for carpenters, wheelwrights, carriage makers, farriers and other blacksmiths. These people had nothing to barter and paid cash for their work.
The hammer used by the carpenter at that time was a very crude affair made of cast iron, resembling the riveting hammer of today, some being cast with a crude split, used for pulling cut nails, the only nails manufactured. (See cut page 13). One day Cheney, working on the idea of a local contractor, forged a hammer from steel, the claws of which were bent back, exactly as are the claws of our hammers today, but without the adz-eye. All the steel manufactured in those days was cast in crucibles, about eighty pounds to a crucible, as is the crucible steel of today. It is the best tool steel ever manufactured, but it is exceedingly difficult to temper. A hammer made with bent claws gives the mechanic an opportunity to apply so much leverage, that if tempered in water the claws might break, and if not tempered at all they would be too soft.
After exhaustive experiments in heat treating, a method of tempering was discovered which enabled Henry Cheney to guarantee any tool at any time, should it prove defective. The Cheney hammer, forged from the best steel manufactured, tempered in two heats, the face being hardened in water, the claws in fish oil, was put on the market. This was in 1823 a century ago, and the hammer we are making for you today is forged from the best tool steel obtainable, is tempered in two heats, the face in water and the claws in fish oil.
Although we have tried numberless experiments on both the steel and the tempering, and have subjected the results to rigid test in our own laboratory as well as the greatest testing laboratories in the world, we find that the method of manufacture discovered by Henry Cheney, a century ago, has not to date been greatly improved upon, and is the method which not only enables us to make the best hammer manufactured, but to cover it with a broader guarantee than any other on the market. We say to you, as Henry Cheney said to the carpenters who were laying the foundations of the great Republic, “If a Cheney hammer proves defective, it will be replaced at any time.”
The fame of Cheney hammers spread rapidly and users from miles around sent in to purchase them. There was no wholesaler in this vicinity and as the retailers wanted to pay in merchandise, the tools were sold direct to the user. Then one day in the spring of 1830 a representative of a firm whose good name is still on our books, placed an order for one gross Cheney Nail Hammers. This represented practically six weeks’ work. The contract was filled and other orders followed. Cash was paid, instead of merchandise, and in the summer of 1836, on the day that the first trip-hammer ever seen in the Mohawk Valley arrived, notice was given that it would be impossible to shoe any more horses, or repair any more wagons or plows, as the remainder of the summer would be taken up with the building of a water wheel to furnish power for the new equipment, and that in the future, the business would be devoted exclusively to the manufacture of hammers. A sign was painted which greatly amused his townsmen. It read: “Henry Cheney’s Hammer Factory.”
Let us get way from the subject for a moment and think of some of the things that we deem absolute necessities today. Turn back and look at the print of our office building. Try to put in its place a crude wooden blacksmith’s shop, and instead of our sign, “H. Cheney Hammer Corporation,” imagine a roughly painted sign, “Henry Cheney’s Hammer Factory.”
It is hard to realize that when, in 1830, the order for the first gross of Cheney Hammers was placed, neither the telegraph, telephone or trolley car had been thought of; the first steamboat had not yet crossed the Atlantic, nor had the first locomotive whistle sounded in the United States. The only firearm in use at that time was the muzzle loader with its crude flint lock.
In the greater development of more important things, the smaller conveniences which was use every day in our work are sometimes lost sight of, or taken for granted. Did you ever stop to think what you would do today without the Adz-Eye Nail Hammer or the Machinists Ball Pein? Yet, did you ever consider the difficulties which had to be overcome, the exhaustive experiments which were made, failed, and had to be repeated, before these tools were brought to the state of efficiency they have today?
Henry Cheney started the hammer industry by making the use of steel in these tools commercially practical in the shape of the forged steel, curved claw hammer; but no matter how careful a thing is worked out, or how great an improvement it is over what has been used before, there is always some criticism. Since the beginning of time workmen had been faced with the danger of having hamer heads fly off the handle, often causing serious injury to themselves or fellow workmen.
The adz-eye hammer had been experimented with, and some of them were being made in a nearby town, but the method of manufacture consisted of taking a large piece of steel, hammering it out in the shape of a “T” and punching the eye by hand. With the difficulties of working crucible steel it can be well imagined that this method made a pretty expensive tool, far beyond the reach of the average carpenter or farmer.
Henry Cheney saw that future of the adz-eye nail hammer, but it had first to made a commercial success and be produced at a reasonable price. After years of unsuccessful experiments, he had cast, in the year 1842, some hollow squares at a local foundry, which were jokingly referred to as “Cheney’s iron holes.” These welded to the plain eye hammer made the adz-eye tool that would not fly off the handle, and at a price within reach of all. (See cut page 14).
Shortly after this the first press ever designed for the forging of hammers was built by Henry Cheney and one Anderson. On that press experiments were made that resulted in the adz-eye nail hammer being forged from one piece of steel, thus eliminating the brazing on of the cast iron eye.
Competition sprang up. Other manufacturers went into the hammer business, but the demand for Cheney hammers continually increased. A well known exporter, founder of one of the largest firms in America and which today bears his name, made a trip around the world taking with him samples of the Cheney product. The mails brought back such large orders, it was decided that expansion of business would have to go slower in order that the quality of the product might be maintained.
The old customers were taken care of and as many new ones as could be handled, but any old-time hardware buyer who had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Cheney will well remember that when the old gentleman was forced, because of the pressure of business, to turn down an order, he would in his quiet way advise where it could be placed and would always end with his favorite phrase, “I cannot make all the hammers, so I must be content to make only the best.”
Henry Cheney has gone, but the little blacksmith shop which he built upon the foundation of quality when this great United States was still a struggling Republic, has grown into an enormous factory. The hours that he spent at night experimenting on tools, that you might have the best hammer manufactured, even though his personal property was sacrificed and his credit stretched to the limit to obtain the money to carry on these experiments, have borne fruit ten thousand fold.
This factory today is not solely confined to the manufacture of hammers, but is a large drop forging plant as well, making high class parts for bicycles, automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, guns and typewriters. There are long lines of presses and drop hammers which have grown from the trip hammer that arrived in this city in 1836. The two stone grind wheels worked by foot power have for many years been replaced by heavy wet grind stones, 8 ft. in diameter, assisted in their work by our well lighted, modern, dry grinding room. The blacksmith’s fire which used to serve Henry Cheney as a source of heat to temper his hammers, has given place to a large artificially-lighted tempering room equipped with the most up-to-date oil burning furnaces, the heat of which is kept regulated by electric pyrometers, check in their work by practiced eyes accustomed to judging heat colors in a room the light of which never varies. The single cloth wheel with shish they used to polish has been discarded and in its place are long lines of pressed leather wheels, every atom of dust being removed from them by powerful blowers.
In that room today every Cheney hammer goes through four operations: those of roughing, fineing, oiling and buffing. The lathe which turned the rough hickory into handles has long since been thrown into the discard and in its stead the making of handles is a separate industry. The cut of the clean, well lighted handling room bears mute witness that no facility to assist the men who examine the hang of every Cheney hammer is lacking. The long rows of tables, partly showing in our finishing room, are so arranged that every tool before it is packed can be easily inspected as to finish and appearance. The bench and vise which were used in connection with the blacksmith’s fire to aid in the manufacture of hammers have given place to our present tool room equipped with the most up-to-date machines which can be purchased, where skilled die sinkers and tool makers devote their undivided attention to making improvements that will assist the management in bringing forth hitherto undeveloped possibilities.
We have today the benefit of the experience of the founder of this institution, the man who discovered how to properly heat and treat the steel claw hammer; who made it possible for the adz-eye nail hammer to be made a commercial success and who design the first press for the forging of hammers, but we are not content to rest there. We are working continually to make improvements which will assist you in your daily work. Although our plant and business methods are modern in every sense of the word, we know that all of the old ideas are not old fashioned and out of date, for by following the golden rule of business and in dealing with others as we would be dealt by, we have not only been able to retain the services of the men who have spent years in this plant and know more about the manufacture of hammers than anyone else in the world, but have made the Cheney name the standard of high quality and fair dealing from the northern-most point of Alaska to Cape Horn, and from the mines of Siberia to Cape Town.
We agree with Henry Cheney we cannot make all of the hammers but we can make the best and are giving you today a dollar’s worth of goods for every dollar expended.
During our 86 years of business we have retained 98% of all customers who have placed initial orders, and only one Cheney Hammer out of every 50,000 has been reported as defective. We are justly proud of this record.
All handles of Blue Ridge, second growth, pure white hickory, free from knots or other imperfection.
Tools finished with either waxed, varnished or ebonized handles.
Weights as given do not include handles.
Hammers are shipped one-half dozen to the box, size number stamped on the end of each handle.
All hammer head either full polished or finished with Cheney’s beautiful blue-black, gun-metal finish which is non-rusting and are furnished with waxed or ebonized hickory handles.
[missing pages 13 and 14]
While certainly entertaining, and possibly enlightening, there are an alarming number of incongruities with this history compared to that drawn from multiple sources, e.g. according to this:
Henry developed his method of tempering hammers, “the face in water and the claws in fish oil,” when he was two years old. “After exhaustive experiments in heat treating.” That's one busy toddler!
At age nine he took an order requiring six weeks work.
At age fifteen he is supposed to have brought the first trip-hammer to the Mohawk Valley — even though he lived and worked, well outside the Mohawk Valley, 30 miles south, in Otsego County, until he was thirty-three years old. While both Herkimer and Otsego were once part of a much larger Montgomery County, Otsego is not part of the Mohawk Valley.
In 1842 Henry is supposed to have created a process of brazing or welding a malleable iron socket to a wrought-iron or steel hammer head — for which he received U.S. Patent 66,298 on 2 Jul 1867. This 25 year gap seems unlikely, but it does conveniently give Henry credit for inventing the Adz-Eye, a.k.a. “Cheney’s iron holes,” before David Maydole’s claimed date of 1843. Maydole’s first adz-eye related patent was for a forging die which was issued 06 Nov 1877 — a 34 year gap.
During 86 years of business the company retained 98% of all customers. That would put the start of the company at 1836 — when Henry was fifteen years old. And how many hammers does the average customer purchase? What does it take to count as a retained customer?
Lastly, that only one Cheney Hammer out of every 50,000 has been reported as defective. That is a defect rate of 0.002% — in other words 99.998% defect-free. What ISO standard is that?
While intriguing this must obviously be taken with a grain of salt. Rather than a factual history it provides a record of the lengths to which the company was willing to spin a tall tale. This was undoubtedly influenced by the company’s rivalry with the David Maydole hammer company.
This page was made possible by the generosity of Don Gregory and David Stahl — first cousins and grandsons of Frank Bostner, the last Superintendent of the company. David’s mother, Mary, worked as a live-in maid for the Mulford family — owners of the company — before she got married.
It was also inspired by Elmer Mulford’s daughter, Katharine, and his daughter-in-law, Nan Mulford.