November 20, 20169 yr One of my sons-in-law has asked for "a good hammer" for a Christmas present. He does a lot of home remodeling and carpentry project (not so much cabinetmaking). I don't want to be spending $100+ for a titanium luxury hammer. "Something to hammer in and pull out nails," was his request. Force = mass x acceleration, you know. Most of my hammers I've had for 30 or 40 years and many of them are older than that, so I'm not current on the market. Any likes or dislikes with the brands out there? I have a 16 oz leather handle Estwing that I like but heard once some carpentry foremen won't allow them on the job (why, I don't know). I have a couple of Hart Framers and they seem to be pretty good, but I don't do a lot of rough carpentry. Before I this request I was walking out of a Lowe's and amazed there were 30 or so different hammers in their hammer section. Really? Edit: Home Depot has at least 106 hammers available online. Edited November 21, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston tags added
November 20, 20169 yr 1 hour ago, kmealy said: I have a 16 oz leather handle Estwing that I like I'm w/ you there... same brand for utility in a 20oz...
November 20, 20169 yr Hammers are very personal to the person using them. At least mine were. I used a 32oz. Vaughn for framing for years. That hammer was like part of my arm. When we were stacking roofs I used a steel handled 22 oz. Estwing similar to the one you showed,only the Claw was a chisel with a nail pulling slot in it. after using the Estwing for about a year I started getting bumps on the tenon on the back of my hand and the doctor told me to go back to the wooden handle. Which I did and eventually my hand cleared up. When I started the trade we all had the leather handled True Temper in 16oz., But when I went framing I had to go to a heavier longer handle in order to drive 16d nails in one blow. When I did trim work and cabinets I used a 12 oz. Stilletto,or Vaughn, and for form work a 20oz. Vaughn. My advice is to ask him what he likes ,brand,weight, handle length,claw,or rip before you get him one. Not all hammers are the same as you know . Herb
November 20, 20169 yr I keep this hammer in my tool bucket for around the house along with a nail puller. I prefer the leverage of the curved jaws but I would get him both. He'll love the nail puller especially if he has never had one.
November 20, 20169 yr Put me down for the 16 oz. Estwing, preferably leather-handled if they still make them. John
November 20, 20169 yr 10 hours ago, Dadio said: I used a 32oz. Vaughn for framing for years. That hammer was like part of my arm. There ya go Herb!!!!!!! Nice call!!!!! That was my hammer too for years, framing homes, I also alternated to a hatchet same size same make. An extension of your arm is dead on. Do you remember Herb, one tap for a set, one slam to drive it in! 16d's had no chance around a 32 oz. Vaughn. Especially with a hatchet, in the rare instance a nail bent, we didn't pull em out, we cut em off, no time for pulling.
November 20, 20169 yr hehHeh,@John Morris, you must have been a California framer. We were introduced to the framing hatchet in the mid 60's when they entered our housing boom. They were a hatchet with a corrugated face on the hammer end and a straight long slim wooden handle. they felt really light weight and fast. You didn't pull the bent nails because it had to be done sideways and put too much strain on the handle. Most of the guys who used those had a supply of handles in their van. Those guys were fast, they could out nail a pneumatic nail gun. About the same time they introduced the 40 oz. joisting hammer. It had a 30" handle and corrugations on the face like a meat tenderizer. It was made so the guys running floor joist could stand on the joist and didn't have to bend over to drive the nails in the blocking, @HARO50 , You are right on, paying for it now. Herb Edited November 20, 20169 yr by Dadio
November 20, 20169 yr Hammers are a matter of personal choice. If you're a big guy, 24 oz may be your choice but, for most of my working years I weighed about 165 lbs and the 16 oz hammer was my choice for most work. I do have several hammers, and when building my deck a few years ago, I found the 16 oz took a lot of work to drive those longer nails, so I went to the 20 oz which worked well. I do prefer the straight claw .
November 20, 20169 yr 1 hour ago, HARO50 said: Yah, but how are your shoulders TODAY? John Horrible! Got back problems for a lifetime! If we showed up with anything less than a 32 you'd be told to go home.
November 20, 20169 yr Still trying to figure out which is worse.... ONE swing with a 32 oz. hammer, or FOUR swings with a 16 oz. model? There must be some way to figure it out mathematically. kmealy??? John
November 20, 20169 yr 20 minutes ago, HARO50 said: Still trying to figure out which is worse.... ONE swing with a 32 oz. hammer, or FOUR swings with a 16 oz. model? There must be some way to figure it out mathematically. kmealy??? John go w/ 2 swings w/ a 24....
November 20, 20169 yr Author force = mass x acceration I've been told that when you swing a hammer pivot on your shoulder, elbow, and wrist to maximize speed at contact. But then, I'm a furniture guy, not a framer. So I've never understood those $300 titanium 14 oz framing hammers????
November 20, 20169 yr 40 minutes ago, HARO50 said: Still trying to figure out which is worse.... ONE swing with a 32 oz. hammer, or FOUR swings with a 16 oz. model? There must be some way to figure it out mathematically. kmealy??? John it is the time element, framing houses used to be production work, It started out as hourly work then the industry went to piece work, so much a square foot of DECK area. it was broke down into parts. Beams and joist 5 cents/sq.ft. Deck sheathing. 2 cents/sf Wall framing. (no sheathing). 50 cents/sf, stood, aligned and braced, garage free. Wall sheathing.20cnts/sf Stack the trusses ready for sheathing. 35 cents/sf Cut rafter roofs 50 cents/sf Roof sheathing 5 cents /sf There were usually 3-4 man crew, you had to go like blue blazes to make wages. @kmealy force = mass x acceration I think you are correct, not sure about titanium, what the benefits would be. Herb
November 20, 20169 yr 1 hour ago, Dadio said: it is the time element, Exactly, the health element never entered the equation. I still don't like air nailers for framing, seems things are just too loose and racky with those air nailers, you never get to set two pieces of wood together like you can with a hammer. If you use a hammer to assemble a wall, you can stand that wall up and it feels tight, you can still rack it, but over all it just feels tight. When you stand up a wall after using an air nailer, it's way loosey goosey and racky. Nope, don't like the air for framing. For sheething and roofing, the air nailers are awesome although.
November 20, 20169 yr Don't own a pneumatic framing nailer, never even used one, but I love my trim and brad nailers. For that matter, the pin nailer and narrow- guage staplers can really speed up a job too. Just kinda figured the framer would save a lot of sore muscles! And there are a lot of tools I'd get more use out of than a $300 titanium hammer. Besides, if I bring home one more hammer, the LOML will have me committed! I have around 35 of them now. John
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