The hammer thread

All hail the Estwing, king of all hammers, ripping, framing and otherwise.

In other news I recently picked up a brick hammer at the pawn shop. And while it's no Estwing or Stanley, it's proven itself utterly perfect in use as a digging tool. It seriously helps break up tightly packed soil with ease, and makes it a lot easier to dig the dirt out.
 
the best hammer I own is a old Vaughan, I want an Estwing hammer tho.

I also think the Council Tool sledge hammers might be good.
 
Charlie_K said:
All hail the Estwing, king of all hammers, ripping, framing and otherwise.

In other news I recently picked up a brick hammer at the pawn shop. And while it's no Estwing or Stanley, it's proven itself utterly perfect in use as a digging tool. It seriously helps break up tightly packed soil with ease, and makes it a lot easier to dig the dirt out.
Click to expand...
You must enjoy being down on your knees! Picks and Mattocks were invented for that purpose and even a Pulaski will churn up hardpan faster than a masonry hammer. But if it's a hammer you've got to have for this seek out a geologist's rock hammer, they're pointed.
 
My Vaughan 16 oz. Pro straight-claw wood-handle is my favorite hammer. I also liked their 20oz rip hammer and 24oz framer. For repetitive tasks wood handles are easiest on the joints.

Estwing's 20oz straight claw is iconic on construction sites. Nearly every commercial carpenter in the NW owns one. Good hammer. Indestructible. Estwing's geology hammer is also an icon. Every geologist has one. Makes a decent one-hand pick, too, as does the aforementioned mason's hammer or brick hammer. But for a one-hand pick your best bet is still a WWII army pick. Great for planting work.

Hofi! Now there's a hammer! I don't have an actual Hofi but I have a Hofi-styled straight peen that a fellow blacksmith (Larry @ Quick n Dirty Tools) made for me. It's my favorite hammer at the anvil.

Hammers are probably the only tool which I have more of than axes. So many different uses for hammers. A white rubber mallet is best for seating an axe head on its new haft (pound on the haft to draw the head up onto the haft). A wide-faced wooden mallet is best for driving wood wedges into an axe. Full contact across the wedge is key.

A beetle hammer or maul is on my list of things to make.
 
honeysucklehammer.jpg.jpg

This is my favorite medium weight hammer, a six lb. with the name of some long gone feed & seed company. It was my grandfathers and my dad dragged it out of a shed at some point, but never put a handle on it that I know of, probably because it was too light for much as a long handled sledge. Years later, he gave it to me when my parents moved to town. One day I was wearing myself out driving spiral nails through oak rails into tough posts with a claw hammer or some similar task, so I put the 6# head on the nearest piece of wood -- a trunk of bush honeysuckle from clearing fence line to give it a try, thinking I'd put a better handle on it later. Approx. 10 years later, the handle is nice and smooth from use, as the hammer is useful for many more things that require some weight but not long reach. It is a real luxury for starting wedges. I could say the handle is bent/offset ergonomically, but really it just looked "straight enough" at the time and doesn't seem to affect usage adversely...organic, I guess!
 
300Six said:
You must enjoy being down on your knees! Picks and Mattocks were invented for that purpose and even a Pulaski will churn up hardpan faster than a masonry hammer. But if it's a hammer you've got to have for this seek out a geologist's rock hammer, they're pointed.
Click to expand...

A pick or a mattock would certainly be a better option in most cases. But when you need to get down into a hole and chip away at the dirt around the main sewer line in a client's yard, you have to improvise. In such situations a mattock would be far too cumbersome, and you'd more likely than not wind up handling the head directly to try and scrape away the dirt underneath.
 
HOFI! There are those that swing a HOFI and then there are those that wish they did.

















I wish I did.
 
10406757_10152262557858231_60110542338875173_n.jpg


This little peening hammer belonged to my wife's paternal grandfather. It's nice to have around the house when I need to hang something but don't need my framing hammer. It was originally on a longer handle and the head was held on by six or seven nails. I cut it down, refinished it, and wedged it up again. It's nice and solid, it's small enough for her to use comfortably, and it's a good hand-me-down for my firstborn.
 
/\ the original nail gun lol. You still see framing hammers with a magnetic nail set notch made today, bet this is where they got the idea from.

Here's and old picture of a hand made ball peen that I made an Osage handle for. Next to it is my 25¢ ball peen from a garage sale.

15736215253_cfbc84b53f_h.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top