On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 18:49:44 GMT, Nick Hull wrote:
In article ,
Dave Hinz wrote:

OK, so I needed to make a light, large hammer this weekend (maul for the
"High-striker" used at our firemans' picnic). We went through the
thought process of what kind of wood to use that wouldn't split like the
old one had,

If you shrink a steel band on a wooden maul it won't split.

Well, we thought that too; the old one did go for 50 years, but it
finally gave up in a spectacular manner. We were trying to avoid
splinters, and based on testing, this aluminum deforms and doesn't
fragment at the forces involved.

Besides, it was more fun to make 5 gallons of swarf.

Dave Hinz