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Hammering out part of market
By Hillary Gavan
Daily News staff writer
Hammer maker's business growing
ROSCOE - American Hammer President Ted Leitter wants to pound out the good news about his company.
American Hammer, 5409 Swanson Road, just got recognized by Fastenal, the leading fastener and tool distributor in North America. Now its hammers will be distributed across the country and throughout the world.
Leitter said for many years Fastenal specialized in fasteners, but now it has broken into the industrial hand tool market and is one of the largest tool suppliers in the world. Leitter expects that American Hammer's relationship with Fastenal as well as MSC and Granger, will propel it to a new level of success.
“Fastenal is going to be a big deal for us. Our hammers will be available to the masses as opposed to a few. For many years, machine shops bought direct from us. I made a decision to make our hammers available to thousands of machine shops through mass distribution,” Leitter said.
American Hammer provides specialized hammers to machine shops and large scale manufacturers as well as private shops. It has more than 900 customers nationally and around 300 customers in the local area.
Leitter started out in the hammer business as an employee of Imperial Hammer in Machesney Park. He loved the business so much he decided to purchase it in 1988, renaming it American Hammer.
He moved it to Roscoe in 1995.
“The business has grown quite a bit over the years, but never so much as it has in the past five years,” Leitter said. “It's a well kept secret.”
American Hammer is building an incredible industry reputation, with local customers such as K1 Machine, Scot Forge, Ingersoll, Rockford Toolcraft, Fairbanks Morse, Cotta Transmission, Beloit Special Machine and many more.
Its hammer is the standard for hammers used on assembly lines and drive train facilities in Ford, Chrysler, General Motors and Mazda. American Hammer has expanded its product line to over 125 different hammers to provide a tool for every metal working application.
American Hammer employs about 10 workers in Roscoe. Leitter draws on his many years of experience to design new types of hammers. The hammers are then made out of patterns in American Hammer's foundry in Chicago. American Hammer uses five different alloys including lead, copper, zinc and aluminum.
“The head will never get loose and will never come off,” Leitter said
Leitter is very passionate about hammers - some in the industry have even called him the hammer man. With his years of experience and borderline obsession with hammers, Leitter figures he has perfected the product to make a hammer for every need. Even the grips are designed to be ergonomic to prevent repetitive motion injuries.
To help get the business in the public eye, Leitter is going to start sponsoring a race car in the vintage racing scene.
“Our hammers are used in old Jaguars, Cobras and Fiats because they don't marr wheels when are they are removed,” Leitter said.
ROSCOE - American Hammer President Ted Leitter wants to pound out the good news about his company.
American Hammer, 5409 Swanson Road, just got recognized by Fastenal, the leading fastener and tool distributor in North America. Now its hammers will be distributed across the country and throughout the world.
Leitter said for many years Fastenal specialized in fasteners, but now it has broken into the industrial hand tool market and is one of the largest tool suppliers in the world. Leitter expects that American Hammer's relationship with Fastenal as well as MSC and Granger, will propel it to a new level of success.
“Fastenal is going to be a big deal for us. Our hammers will be available to the masses as opposed to a few. For many years, machine shops bought direct from us. I made a decision to make our hammers available to thousands of machine shops through mass distribution,” Leitter said.
American Hammer provides specialized hammers to machine shops and large scale manufacturers as well as private shops. It has more than 900 customers nationally and around 300 customers in the local area.
Leitter started out in the hammer business as an employee of Imperial Hammer in Machesney Park. He loved the business so much he decided to purchase it in 1988, renaming it American Hammer.
He moved it to Roscoe in 1995.
“The business has grown quite a bit over the years, but never so much as it has in the past five years,” Leitter said. “It's a well kept secret.”
American Hammer is building an incredible industry reputation, with local customers such as K1 Machine, Scot Forge, Ingersoll, Rockford Toolcraft, Fairbanks Morse, Cotta Transmission, Beloit Special Machine and many more.
Its hammer is the standard for hammers used on assembly lines and drive train facilities in Ford, Chrysler, General Motors and Mazda. American Hammer has expanded its product line to over 125 different hammers to provide a tool for every metal working application.
American Hammer employs about 10 workers in Roscoe. Leitter draws on his many years of experience to design new types of hammers. The hammers are then made out of patterns in American Hammer's foundry in Chicago. American Hammer uses five different alloys including lead, copper, zinc and aluminum.
“The head will never get loose and will never come off,” Leitter said
Leitter is very passionate about hammers - some in the industry have even called him the hammer man. With his years of experience and borderline obsession with hammers, Leitter figures he has perfected the product to make a hammer for every need. Even the grips are designed to be ergonomic to prevent repetitive motion injuries.
To help get the business in the public eye, Leitter is going to start sponsoring a race car in the vintage racing scene.
“Our hammers are used in old Jaguars, Cobras and Fiats because they don't marr wheels when are they are removed,” Leitter said.
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