Non-sparking brass, bronze and dead blow hammers made in the USA since 1956
✅ American Manufacturing
Where ABC Hammers products are made
Casts its own heads
ABC grew out of ABC Foundry and American Precision Castings, which developed the original brass hammers for their own foundry, pattern-making and machining operations before outside demand created a market.
Brass, bronze and beyond
Brass and bronze are standard, with Babbitt, copper and zinc available. Because ABC owns the manufacturing it takes custom and OEM work down to single-unit minimums, including special alloys and corporate logos.
Dead blow construction
Dead blow heads are one-piece hot-cast polyurethane over a steel-shot canister on a heat-treated steel-reinforced rod. Brass heads are wedged onto Tennessee grade-A hickory or fiberglass handles.
This one needs a carve-out, and it comes from ABC’s own product pages. The brass, bronze and dead blow lines are labelled Made in the USA. The Stryker steel series — the company’s loudest marketing line — is labelled Made in South Africa on both the steel hammer category page and the company’s own homepage carousel. ABC’s FAQ separately states that its hammers are completely manufactured and assembled in the USA, which its Stryker pages contradict. We have labelled the company American Manufacturing rather than Made in USA for that reason, and we would encourage buyers who want US-made to stay with the brass, bronze and dead blow lines. We have asked ABC to clarify the FAQ language and will update this page with their answer.
The story
ABC Hammers did not start as a product company. The original brass hammers were developed by two parent operations — ABC Foundry and American Precision Castings — as tools for their own foundry, pattern making, machining and tooling work. They were made because the shop needed them.
Demand came from outside. As the company tells it, through exposure to customers, suppliers, industry trade associations and word of mouth, a market developed for the hammers, and that growing demand led to the formation of ABC Hammers, Inc. The company dates its hammer manufacturing to 1956.
The through-line has always been safety rather than force. Brass and bronze do not spark and do not mar, which is why these hammers go to mines, oil rigs, refineries and grain handling operations — places where a single spark is a catastrophe and a steel hammer is the wrong tool.
ABC remains family owned, carries a lifetime warranty, publishes full Spanish-language catalogs, and holds memberships in the American Foundry Society, HTI, SEMA, ISA and STAFDA. It is now headquartered in Sarasota, Florida.
Why they matter
Hand tools are one of the most completely offshored categories in American industry, and striking tools in particular are commodity goods where price wins almost every time. A company that still casts hammer heads in the United States after seventy years is doing something the market did not require of it.
ABC Hammers is also a useful case study in reading origin claims carefully. The site-wide banner says proudly made in the USA, and for the brass, bronze and dead blow lines that is accurate. But the Stryker steel series says Made in South Africa in the company’s own product copy. Both things are true at once, and a buyer who reads only the banner would get it wrong.
We think that is worth stating plainly rather than smoothing over. ABC Hammers deserves credit for genuine domestic manufacturing in a category that has largely left, and buyers deserve to know which lines carry it. Choosing the brass or dead blow hammer over the imported steel one is the purchase that actually keeps American casting work in the building.
Featured products
Browse ABC Hammers brass, bronze and dead blow hammers available now in the Buy American store.
Frequently asked questions
Are ABC Hammers made in the USA?
The brass, bronze and dead blow lines are — those product pages carry an explicit Made in the USA label. The Stryker steel series is labelled Made in South Africa on ABC’s own site. We have labelled the company American Manufacturing for that reason.
How long has ABC Hammers been in business?
The company states it has been manufacturing non-marring, non-sparking hammers in the USA since 1956. ABC Hammers, Inc. was formed later, after demand from outside customers grew for hammers its parent foundries had made for their own use.
Where is ABC Hammers located?
Sarasota, Florida. The address published on every page of the company’s site is 7216 21st Street East, Sarasota, FL 34243.
Why use a brass or bronze hammer instead of steel?
Because brass and bronze are non-sparking and non-marring. ABC recommends them in place of steel hammers for any metalworking application, and they are standard equipment in mines, oil rigs, refineries and grain handling, where a spark is a serious hazard.