A tongue-in-cheek name for whatever striking tool gets a press fit, seized pin or stubborn bearing moving: a dead blow, sledge, brass bar or chunk of steel. Reaching for the persuader is the step after gentler methods fail, and the size of hammer chosen says a lot about the user's patience. Brass and dead blow persuaders are chosen when the part must survive.
Pin's not moving, hand me the persuader, the brass one, I don't want to mushroom the end.
Also heard as
- convincer
- big hammer
Related terms
Percussive maintenance
Hitting a machine or part to make it work, dressed up in technical language.
Adjustable hammer
Joke name for an adjustable wrench, after how often it ends up being used to hit things.
Cheater bar
A length of pipe slipped over a wrench handle for extra leverage on a stuck fastener.
Armstrong method
Shop joke for doing a job by muscle power alone, with no power feed, hoist or machine help.