Has anybody broken a solid steel Estwing Handle?

shunsui said:
Yeah those Camper Axe's handles can flex. I was trying to pry apart some 4x4s someone nailed together, and was surprised at the handle flex I got while the 4x4s just laughed at me. I backed off before there was any damage though.
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Because you were smart and realized you were using it in a way that it wasn't designed for. ;)

The thing with Estwings is that they're so hardcore, people begin to forget that they are not made of Graphene.
So, they go ape with it and try to take out dams and retaining walls and think it could chop through Mount Rushmore.
I've been guilty of this with my larger Estwing framers. You kind of get into the demo and just begin to look for things
you can destroy.

:p
 
garry3 said:
Yes Estwings. One broke from strikeing, two others that I can remember from prying. And not sideways either. If memory is correct all broke two or three inches below the head.
Have you used steel handles all these years?
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What were you striking and prying?
Just nails out of wood?

(and yes...all steel hammers all that time)
 
I used an all steel Plumb hammer for a couple years. It seemed just as tough as the Estwings with better ergonomics. I don't remember thinking that the all steel construction seemed any harsher on my swinging arm than a wood handle. Of course, I was in high school at the time so I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference being that young.
 
M3mphis said:
I used an all steel Plumb hammer for a couple years. It seemed just as tough as the Estwings with better ergonomics. I don't remember thinking that the all steel construction seemed any harsher on my swinging arm than a wood handle. Of course, I was in high school at the time so I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference being that young.
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I've never had a problem with my Estwing being anymore hurtful to my arm.
And some seem to forget that the Estwing is wrapped in a significant rubber
handle that really isolates the arm from shock.
 
Broke the handle of an Estwing hammer on the first swing one morning when the the thermometer was showing -38F. Estwing said it shouldn't have happened at that "high" a temperature and replaced it. Also found a broken one on another job site where it never got below 70F that same year (1968 or 1969 if anyone cares.) Oddly enough, Estwing did not replace that one because, they said, it had been "abused." It had looked like a clean break to me. I've never seen one of their axes or hatchets break.
 
rickschunke said:
Broke the handle of an Estwing hammer on the first swing one morning when the the thermometer was showing -38F. Estwing said it shouldn't have happened at that "high" a temperature and replaced it. Also found a broken one on another job site where it never got below 70F that same year (1968 or 1969 if anyone cares.) Oddly enough, Estwing did not replace that one because, they said, it had been "abused." It had looked like a clean break to me. I've never seen one of their axes or hatchets break.
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I guess these two job sites must have been VERY far apart!!??
 
Estwing made a 32oz framer? When was this? I have never seen a 28oz roofing hatchet either. Roofing hatchets have square heads and holes in them to attach cutters for cutting tar paper. I think I am about to get educated.
 
I can provide names for you. The young man that broke the handle by strikeing as intended. Was still in this area 6 years ago running a framing crew. The man he worked for when it happened still lives here. I was the third man on that crew.
Are you a Estwing rep? I see what you are talking about with the shingling hatchet. Must be Estwings answer to a rigin axe. Never seen one.
 
garry3 said:
I can provide names for you. The young man that broke the handle by strikeing as intended. Was still in this area 6 years ago running a framing crew. The man he worked for when it happened still lives here. I was the third man on that crew.
Are you a Estwing rep? I see what you are talking about with the shingling hatchet. Must be Estwings answer to a rigin axe. Never seen one.
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Estwing makes a rigging axe. I have one. Shingling hatchets are totally different.
 
garry3 said:
Estwing made a 32oz framer? When was this? I have never seen a 28oz roofing hatchet either. Roofing hatchets have square heads and holes in them to attach cutters for cutting tar paper. I think I am about to get educated.
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This was back in the 90's. Could've been a 30oz.
They still make a 30oz Framing Hammer Model# E3-30SM
Their E3-S Shingler's Hatchet is 28oz.

Edit: Actually, the E3-CA Roofing Hatchet I used back then was 32oz.

[Next on my Estwing hitlist after the hatchet is a Buillder's Hammer.
I don't like doing demo with my wooden handled Stilettos.]
 
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I bent the neck of a 22 oz framing hammer once. I was working off the top of an extension ladder and the bottom slipped out from under me. I slid down the ladder till my hammer handle got caught between the two ladder halves. The hammer was still attached to my bags though the bags were under my arm pits. I used that bent hammer for a couple of years till somebody thoughtfully straightened it out on a vice for me. Never could hit a nail squarely after that. LOL
 
I bought one when I was interested in blacksmithing, ripped the rubber off, angle ground one claw off, and tried to heat it up in a wood fire and make my own RMJ forge hawk.
Needless to say it didn't work, and my dad, a lifelong woodworker, almost cried when he saw it.
I still have it though so that project will still happen someday, with the right preparation.
Bought one a couple of years ago to build my cabin and it was stolen last winter, along with a lot of other tools. :(
 
I actually HAVE seen a broken Estwing Axe!

Back in my Boy Scout days, the troop had a long handled campers axe that was nicknamed "Baby Blue". It was perfect size for the younger, smaller scouts to manage and was probably very much abused over it's lifetime- I'll bet the thing was 20 years old when I joined the troop... It was the designated axe all the 11 year old boys used when earning their Totin-Chip and every scout learned how to sharpen an axe by practicing on "Baby Blue". As a consequence, I'm sure you can imagine that the edge was usually in a less than ideal state. I'm sure the handle suffered quite a bit of impact damage from Scouts hitting logs with the handle rather than the head as well. On the rare occasions when the adults weren't around (at the showers, in the "Kybo", etc.) "Baby Blue" was occasionally pressed into service as a "throwing axe" (which really did SEEM like a good idea 20 years ago...).

My last memory of "baby blue" was seeing it laying on the floor of the troops gear trailer in 2 pieces, the handle snapped off 2-3" below the head. I'm not really sure who broke it or what they were doing when it happened, but the thing snapped CLEAN off... The Troop replaced "Baby Blue" with another Estwing long handled campers axe. I really don't know how long the new one lasted, but given the abuse I witnessed the first one take, and the abuse I assume it survived before I got there, I'd say the durability of the product is pretty impressive!
 
This does and doesn't pertain to this subject. I framed with an Estwing hammer not the ax, basically the same components though! This experience spans about 20+years of day in and day out use! They were used and abused day in and day out. I personally have broken three. All broke usually behind the head an inch or so. All broke either driving concrete nails, (requires a lot of force on you and the hammer) or had one snap pulling a concrete nail.
All could have been subjected to side force, although none had been bent knowingly. All had sign of a prior fracture at the break. In other words, when examining the break I found that there was sign of rust, at some point of the fracture. The the fracture had been microscopic to that point and then catastrophically failed.

Were they way from day one. I don't know for sure but figured that was more than plausible.
The thing that impressed me the most was the amount of use and abuse all had except for one. Two of them that broke had been used for several years before breaking one of them was less than 30 days old.

All broke while driving or pulling a concrete nail. Most concrete nails especially the square kind require a direct square blow as hard as you can swing a hammer to get the nail to drive in without bending and loosening itself in the driving process. So others may get different mileage but that is from direct use.

As for large wooden handled framing hammers when it came to every day framing I quit even buying them. The wooden handle elevates some of the blow-back to the operator but driving concrete nails and pulling nails of any kind are their worst enemy. Snapped many of them right behind the head!
 
I rehandled one several years ago. My black lab decided it would make a good chew toy...

I had to use a die grinder with a tool steel bit to drill a hole for the brass pin. They are tough, I can't imagine anyone breaking the handle on one.
 
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