Interesting thing happen around here on a pretty frequent basis… Over a year ago I put up this post of Mr. Murl Mitchell of Los Angeles who was shown levering these unusual sledge hammers in an old issue of Strength and Health Magazine. A few months later I was contacted by Marilyn and Marjorie, his two daughters, who informed me that they were still in possession of Murl’s Hammers.

I asked for a recent picture of the hammers and asked if it would be OK to post it (shown on the right.) Marilyn and Marjorie said sure, their Dad would have gotten a kick out of being included among so many strength greats. Murl used to load up these hammers with buckshot until they were the desired weight. He was using well over 20 pounds in each hand back in the 1940s. They were proud of their Pop!

Marjorie informs me that Murl was good friends with many of the York Gang and they used to stop by and visit frequently when on the west coast. In addition to his hammer exploits, Murl won the 1945 California lightweight weightlifting championship and placed second in the 123-pound class in the 1945 senior nationals. Murl also had some heavy axes that he had specially made for levering, which I will feature at a later date.