# Favorite hammer(s)?



## gafftapegreenia (Jul 7, 2013)

So, now that I find myself doing more and more carpentry, I want to upgrade from my Home Depot 16oz fiber glass handled curve claw hammer. Curious to know what everyone's favorite hammers are. At the moment I'm leaning towards something Estwing (probably a 20 oz) and I'm not planning on going up to Stiletto level. I'd say I do a health mix of finish work, wood chisels, remodel work and other nailing short of house framing. Really I'm looking for a good general use hammer with a bit more oomph and comfort than my current model. So, wood butchers of CB, thoughts?


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## shiben (Jul 7, 2013)

I had a 20 oz eastwing for the longest time and loved it. Now I tend to use a dead blow or a small sledge more often than anything else (or my DeathStick), so Im probably not the best resource, but yeah, the eastwing was really quite nice.


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## derekleffew (Jul 7, 2013)

[Thread moved from General to Scenic.]

I've always preferred a rip hammer over a claw hammer. Not sure why, maybe I like the sleeker lines.

I've never used one of the fancy hammers with an anit-vibration tuning fork in the handle, but might if I were pounding lots of nails; but let's face it, who is manually pounding lots of nails these days?

One should use a round mallet with a chisel, not a hammer.
.


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## soundlight (Jul 8, 2013)

I have a 22oz Estwing that I use. I like the handle shape and claw angle that the Estwings have. I have one with the rubberized grip handle and not the wooden handle. Really nice hammer, were I to loose it I'd definitely buy the same one again.


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## josh88 (Jul 8, 2013)

I have an setting too that I love and have used for everything from sets to framing houses


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## JLNorthGA (Jul 8, 2013)

Graphite 22 oz framing hammer for nailing. A 2 lb sledge for persuading. A 21 oz dead blow hammer for knocking things together. Of course I do have other hammers also. For fine carpentry and assembly work I have a 12 oz brass tipped dead blow hammer that I got from Grizzly years ago.


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## porkchop (Jul 8, 2013)

Death Sticks are great, but fairly large and more made for framing than finish work. I used to use a headless model from Estwing that was really nice for sinking nails in awkward places, but I'm having trouble finding it on their website.


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## MPowers (Jul 8, 2013)

I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 hammers, all for dfferent jobs. The smallest is 4oz brass head hammer for driving and punching round pins in fire arms when I'm working as a weapons wrangler. The largest is a 16 lb. micrometer fine adjustment tool I use to align rows of stage decks when they need a touch of loving care to match the row next to them, or for driving 36"x1" anchor stakes for large outdoor tents or truss guys and a pneumatic driver is not available. At my age I don't swing the big one any more, I just hand it to one of the kids (someone under 30). Everything else is inbetween from several different upholstry hammers to a nice 40 year old 12oz craftsman and a 50 year old Klien 20oz rip. Got a 22oz and a 24 oz. with 16" wood handle bridge hammers. Of course there's the usual range of 2 lb, 4 lb, 8 & 12 lb mauls for various jobs. I don't think I have one under 25 years old though, so some of the newer versions like the "Death Stick" and such are not in my inventory though I'm sure they're fine hammers. My personal favorite "general" hammer is the Klien 20oz rip with the wood filled tube steel handle.


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## len (Jul 8, 2013)

Speaking of ... is there a name for a hammer with a short handle? Regular hammers are fine, but sometimes I need one with a short hammer to pop the pins out of truss. Yes, I'd rather get plated/bolt end truss but renting this stuff is more convenient in many ways.


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## erosing (Jul 8, 2013)

I've had a Estwing Weight Forward hammer with a fiberglass handle, waffle face, and weighing 21oz for a bit over 3 years now. I believe it comes with a smooth face as well.

I was also fond of the Dead-on line that had the curved wooden handles, went with the Estwing after using one though. 

Other past favorites include most of the curved handle Stanley anti-vibes and an Estwing blue handled claw hammer.


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## derekleffew (Jul 8, 2013)

len said:


> ... but sometimes I need one with a short hammer to pop the pins out of truss. Yes, I'd rather get plated/bolt end truss, but ...


Which leads us to another poll: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/scenery-props-rigging/32673-plated-spigoted-truss.html .
.


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## jwolfkill (Jul 9, 2013)

len said:


> Speaking of ... is there a name for a hammer with a short handle? Regular hammers are fine, but sometimes I need one with a short hammer to pop the pins out of truss. Yes, I'd rather get plated/bolt end truss but renting this stuff is more convenient in many ways.



Google "stubby hammer" - you'll get plenty of links.


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## josh88 (Jul 9, 2013)

I picked one up on clearance when I was working for the depot and have only used it once. It's just worthless. Being stubby, yeah it fits into a tight space but it doesn't have oomph because its so light and there's not enough space to get any momentum. It's like driving a giant tent stake with a tack hammer. I'd rather have something with a bit of mass to it. 


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## len (Jul 9, 2013)

josh88 said:


> I picked one up on clearance when I was working for the depot and have only used it once. It's just worthless. Being stubby, yeah it fits into a tight space but it doesn't have oomph because its so light and there's not enough space to get any momentum. It's like driving a giant tent stake with a tack hammer. I'd rather have something with a bit of mass to it.
> 
> 
> Via tapatalk



That was a concern for me as well. I haven't gotten over to Sears yet, but I found this one. Sears.com


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## gafftapegreenia (Jul 9, 2013)

I find my Nupla Handi Hammer far more usefully than those stubbie claw hammers sold by the cash register in hardware stores. Its essentially a dead blow without a handle. 
HANDI-HAMMER® POWER DRIVE®


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## len (Jul 9, 2013)

Quite a range of prices for the Handi-Hammer.

Dead Blow Hammers - Dead Blow & Non-Marring Hammers | MSCDirect.com

14 oz. Handi-Hammer Handless Dead Blow Hammer on eBay!


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## techieman33 (Jul 9, 2013)

len said:


> Quite a range of prices for the Handi-Hammer.
> 
> Dead Blow Hammers - Dead Blow & Non-Marring Hammers | MSCDirect.com
> 
> 14 oz. Handi-Hammer Handless Dead Blow Hammer on eBay!



Amazon has a model for $10, and one for $15. The $10 model is for larger hands, and the $15 model for smaller hands if that makes any sense.


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## Kelite (Jul 10, 2013)

Having been an Estwing fan since the mid 1980's, I've found the claw angle and comfortable handle a benefit for general purpose work. It was no heavyweight framer but I was pleased to carry it day after day while hanging soffit and fascia. Great hammer! 

The Handi-Hammer would certainly come in handy around the shop though!


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## gafftapegreenia (Jul 15, 2013)

derekleffew said:


> One should use a round mallet with a chisel, not a hammer.
> .



One should, yes, I suppose, but do YOU?

And I thought that's why most chisels these days come with a metal strike cap.


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## techieman33 (Jul 18, 2013)

This could become a future favorite.

The Cole-Bar Hammer by Lance, Brandon, Heather Hyde &mdash; Kickstarter


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## josh88 (Jul 18, 2013)

Wow, call me interested! It could be one of those things trying to do too much, but the utility of it is great. If I was going to work somewhere and don't want to bring a lot of stuff I cold see grabbing this instead of my whole bag. That being said I don't carry my multitool much anymore because I've got all my tools close at hand and they do a better job, so maybe I'd fall for the gimmick and then leave it in a drawer. I'm definitely going to throw a few bucks at it though.


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