*
Reinhard has a good point. It’s not the hammer, it’s the
combination of hammer and hammerer.
But asking which hammer is the best is like asking which
woman is the best. Get one that you’re comfortable with,
feels good in your hand, and hits really hard…
I like Vaughn. One I use now cost 10.95 new. Would pay $60
for Hart if I knew I’d like it this much. Then again, I’d
be hiding it everytime a carpenter with more experience than
I have showed up.
How about this one? Waffle vs. smooth. I started framing
with smooth, went to waffle because others said to, got
tired of hacked up marks on framing, went back to smooth.
Now I don’t miss that waffle one bit. Guess which hammer
does the demo work?
Dog
xxxx
Replies
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OK, OK , I'll admit it, I've had a 22 oz smooth face estwing framer for 16 years and it's the only one I use for everything - 'cept I use a nail gun most of the time now.
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vaughn 20oz. 16'' handle. wood no problem in demo if you use it right. rock handle sideways on a nail or a pc. of nailed up wood. regrip it, go at it again, nothing to it. wood for 20 of the 27 yrs. no carpel yet. course, you should probably stay close to finish work too. the waffle face nick used to heal faster. must have been the serrated edge.
*I've used a 20 oz Estwing over 20 yrs, for everything. No handles to break, good balance and I can burry a 16D in 3 blows. I use to like Rocket, but couldn't keep the rubber handles on. Tried the new hatchet handle hammer, but frankly... after a month, I'm back to my baby ;-) John Hebert
*22 oz vaughn with hickory. My hands & arms feel alot better with tyhe hickory. Ever wonder why you see wood handles on sledges? Think how a solid hit with a big sledge & steel handle would feel. For demo it is the sawzall & bars
*Can't stand the ring, will not swing an Estwing. I use plumb or Vaughn , glass handle smooth face. I ground the peaks off of my waffle face .
*Various weights for various jobs, but I'm with Don Papenburg, fiberglass is where it's at. (have to use a lot of Bag Balm in winter though) - jb
*I use a 20oz. straight claw that I put on a hachet handle about 20 years ago. If I lost it, I'd probably replace it with a Hart. Or.......a Titanium on a hatchet handle...Hmmmmmm.
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Joseph Fusco View Image
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Own wood handled Vaughns(long and short ,from 32 oz. down to 16 oz). Estwings ( leather handled, rubber handled. No balance at all ) The only hammer that ever really fits perfectly is Stanley Steelmaster, 20 oz, straight claw. Been using continuously for 25 years.
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Joe H.,
Plumb brand - 16 oz. curved claw......that's my favorite.
Ed. Williams
*reinhard I share a similar condition to You so the long handle is out. Banged the hell out of my knees to. I use a 16 oz. plumb most of the time. Have a 22 oz. straight claw from Sears and a 12lb. mall for heavy work.
*Time for a physics vent. Hear about those titanium head hammers? Tell me if I'm off base here, but I can't figure how they're anything but offensive marketing hype. It's simple physics. Mass x speed = impact force. The head is a compact hunk of metal. I don't think that modulus of elasticity or any other dynamic material property plays a significant role here. Some people, the last FHB included, say titanium hammers drive nails harder, but I think they're imaging it. The lighter heads accelerate faster, which helps, but you could accomplish the same result by swinging a light steel head faster.If I had just blown $60 on a hunk of surplus space metal, I'd probably convince myself it worked better. Or at least that's what I'd tell my wife if she saw the receipt.Here's my theory. Titanium is less dense than steel, so a head that had the proper mass would look like a cartoon hammer. Carpenters wouldn't be caught dead with them. They'd feel like children with big crayons and stupid puffy hollow plastic wiffle bats. All that titanium would raise the hammer price to around $100 anyway - too rich for almost anyone's taste. Enter the marketing gurus with copy about how the magic metal makes lighter hammers hit harder, vibrate less, and solve world hunger.Then again, they could be right. Maybe they'll send me a demo to test personally. ;-)
*I agree with David. A lumber yard lent me a titanium and I think it is a joke, however friends of mine love it. I swing a 25 oz california framer (hart) love the long curved handle and easy on my elbow. Use an Estwing for demo. tried the woody for a while but went back to the framer.
*Love Hammers, My first was an estwing rock hammer that I was given when I was 6 or 7 (still have it). Currently own around 40 hammers; knives and hammers are the only tools I permit myself to accuire in excess. Truthfully I've never been a nail beater, sure I've pounded some nails in twenty years in the construction industry, but not the massize quanities of alot of guys. My traveling tool box has a 20 oz straight claw estwing for hard use, and 16 oz Hart trimmer for pounding nails. For actual sustained framing prefer the hatchet handled waffle faced Hart.Joe
*Actually, energy is mass x velocity squared. The less mass translates into higher velocities and more energy. This is the reason rockets use hydrogen as a fuel - especially ion driven rockets for deep space probes. That said, haven't tried the titanium.Dennis
*Dennis, I'm no physicist, and prove it often. ;-) You refer to the force related to acceleration, right? I was figuring a hammer blow as a transfer of momentum energy (constant velocity right before impact), which I don't recall as a squared factor, and misnamed it as "force". I would guess that the actual energy passed between the hammer and the nail is complex. Elastic versus inelastic collisions, heat generated, and other stuff that I left behind decades ago. It also seems that a big titanium head (proper mass) would make toenailing difficult. You could spread out the mass by stretching the head, but then it would look like a huge stonemason's hammer and be prone to twisting. The bigger head would have more wind resistance too, which would slow it down, though maybe too little to matter. My guess is that a trip to the periodic table would uncover a better metal than titanium, though maybe not a better one than iron (with other materials to make steel) when you consider all the factors. Sorry about the arcane and probably incorrect rambing. Take Care, Dave
*16 oz wood handled craftsman . They can brake but there balence is excelent. Tried the 20 oz stanly I beam hated it. Tried the 20 oz leather handled estwing not to bad it needs a longer handle.
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Dave Wright:
All physics quotations and formulas point to only one
possible best solution:
Use a steel head hammer (any handle you want)
to drive Titanium Nails! (with, uh, I think, square heads)
Dog
xxx
*
Good one. Sell more Ti that way too.
*Kinger,The 16 oz. craftsman wood handle hammer will always have a place in my heart. It was the best I ever had. Finally gave in to the Plumb 16 oz. because the handle wouldn't break. The problem with the Plumb is that you can't drill a hole in the bottom of the handle for a wax well.Sure miss my craftsman though. The last one I had still hangs on the wall in my garage.Ed. Williams
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I'm with you. I beat the hell out of my 20 oz and my 28 oz Estwings and I can't even imagine using anything else. A hammer with a wooden handle I would only use to build shoes.
*Wow - wish I still had elbows and wrists after 20 years of carpentry! Now i have tennis elbow in the hammer arm and carpal tunnel in both wrists. The only hammer for me is a 14 oz hickory hammer. Takes more blows to drive the nail, but my elbow doesn't scream with pain either. Most of the time, I try to see how I can use a screw instead of a hammer. Holds better and doesn't whale on my elbow.
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Come to think of it, the military used depleted uranium in some of its armor piercing ammunition. Maybe the Japanese would be interested in selling some of theirs cheap.
Dennis
*Hey joe, where you gone with that hammer in your hand? I've been using a vaughn 24 oz for the last 12 years or so.I've pounded more cats into place, then you could shake a tale at, and beat more concrete out of my way then the last man who fell into a bridge form, and it still fits into my hand better than any glove I ever owned, and drives a 60Dupside down harder than your... well I don't want to go there, anyway, real hard. I also use a plumb 20 oz and 16 oz for lighter duty work. All three are great hammers. As far as a wooden handled hammer holding up for more than a week on your jobsite Joe H, I have $10,000 in cash that says my Vaughn will be around long after your gone.TC
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Thats the whole idea behind the titanium hammer. Titanium is stronger than steel, so theres no recoil when you hit the nail.....no recoil, no tennis elbow. So the recoil goes the other way....And translates force into the nail. plus the lighter weight...you can swing it faster. More speed = more force.
*oog use 5 pound sledge...broke handle...went back to trusty rock
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HEART WOODY!
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HITACHI NR 83A full head strip nailer
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For my money, the old California Framer is the only framing club. But, since I don't build alot of cabinets with a framing hammer, I recommend the HART WOODY17. Great finishing hammer. One word of caution, it's got a hell of a ring to it. That shrink wrap trick in the new FHB issue handles it though.
*Scott,I don't know if you've read my 2 posts above, but I'm skeptical of these titanium (Ti) hammer claims. Facts first. I don't know specific alloys used, but here are some likely stats. Steel and Ti have similar yield strength on a psi basis. If anything, the Ti is weaker. Steel weighs 50% more than Ti. Steel is about twice as stiff (modulus of elasticity) as Ti.These figures make it hard to make a responsible claim that Ti is stronger, though it probably is on a pound-for-pound basis. That's irrelevant because the Ti hammer physically models a typical steel hammer, so psi comparisons are more appropriate.You might argue that steel's greater stiffness means that it translates more shock to the hammer handle, but head compression is negligible in use. In any case, if steel deflects less then it transmits more power to the nail. Neither arguement bears much fruit for the Ti marketing team if they are accurate and honest.Much bigger factors in picking a hammer are weight, head shape, and handle. Intelligent head shape and handle design are probably the Ti hammer's strongest suit. You're right than lighter hammers swing faster, which somewhat offsets their light weight disadvantage. Here's the real bottom line with weight, though: more helps when you swing down, is neutral when swinging sideways, and hurts when swinging up. Your strength level is an important factor, and handle length plays a part. Anyone who's driven 12" x 3/8" diameter spikes can assure you that weight is extremely important. For those times, I predrill to 1/4" and use a 3 pound short handle sledge.I think the Ti hammer is right for wealthy DIY use or inexperienced carpenters who drive lots of nails horizontally or upward. The DIY reason: the Ti's larger head is more forgiving of mishits. IMHO, other people would be best staying with hickory handled standard hammers. One last concern - Ti has a history of fatigue failure and crack propagation susceptibility. Fine tuning of the alloys have cured most of these concerns, but I wouldn't be surprised if some hard-used Ti hammers had cracked head problems down the road.Thumbs clear,Dave
*Purpose: Driving NailsBest tool: PC FR350Next Best: Stanley Graphite handled 20oz roughened smooth faced hammer.Of course, I've already done in my joints with the others and am trying to keep what I have left. Y'all are welcome to ruin your joints at your leisure. After all they are yours.
*I currently pound my ten nails per day with a heavy (never weighed it) estwing. I found this hammer several years ago and threw it in my box. I was a rocket man then; 20 0z, with a ground waffle head.I know like the heavier blow that the estwing delivers, but the curved claws don't allow me to rip out spikes like the original rockets did. The newfangles rockets don't even come close to the precise claws of the past. We never used to bother to use nail pullers back then, we would simply drive the claws inder the head and rip it out. That's not possibel with the poor claws that are on most tools today.I recently tried my first wood handled hammer. I had to try it because of the cool name; the "Deathstick"! I tried both the curved handle (couldn't get it into the holder), and the straight 28 oz. It works fine, but the head is now loose. The estwing is back swinging.One tip: try the deathstick sytyle nail puller. They have a cool insignia on it that falls off is you beat it on the side. It's cool until it fall off. But the nail puller is by far the best nail puller that I have ever used.And I rarely give such a high rating without reservation to anything!!!blue
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I have to know. I use an estwing. She's my baby. Never failed me. I read the recent issue of FHB and they compared different hammers. They thought steel shank hammers were bad for you because of the vibrations. Vibrations? Has anyone out there ever used a recip saw for demo work? Cut out some existing studs in a 100yr old house for some good vibes. A wooden handled hammer wouldn't last a week at our jobsite. I personally think anyone who uses anything like Stanleys "anti-vibe" is just a wimp who doesn't know how to swing a man's hammer...The estwing. Anyone else have opinions?
*I don't have that issue yet, but how many years have you been swinging that Estwing? Third time I've seen a comment about the "I don't have it yet" issue! Joe H
*The same FHB issue has a Tips & Techniques item by Larry Haun about using electrical shrink wrap tubing to add enormous strength and protection to hickory hammer handles. Might be worth a try. I prefer the feel of my hickory Vaughn, and have used steel Estwings, but my opinion is close to worthless on this issue since I'm not a pro.
*We all have opinions, here's mine; a wooden handle hammer is for driving nails with speed and precision, steel shank is clumsy and raw. I once entered a nail driving contest and sunk twelve (12d gv sinker) nails into a pine 4x4 in fifteen seconds. I didn't even place. An eleven year old kid (boss's son) drove thirteen. He didn't place either. His dad sunk eighteen and won a new hitachi framing gun. Over twenty people entered and not one chose a steel shank hammer. Is this coincidence? My Estwing is a great, multi-purpose, nearly indestructible tool to to loan to my laborers. For serious demo, I pull out the sledges and bars. --- JRNicholson
*I use a 16 oz hart on a short handle. I almost fell off a roof when my old craftmen framer would get hung up on my short legs.My boss at the time ordeered me to get a smaller hammer before I killed myself or a crew member.He did all his framing with a 16 oz hammer and could drive a spike in two blows. My point? Bigger is not always better.
*Reinhard has a good point. It's not the hammer, it's the combination of hammer and hammerer.But asking which hammer is the best is like asking which woman is the best. Get one that you're comfortable with, feels good in your hand, and hits really hard...I like Vaughn. One I use now cost 10.95 new. Would pay $60 for Hart if I knew I'd like it this much. Then again, I'd be hiding it everytime a carpenter with more experience than I have showed up.How about this one? Waffle vs. smooth. I started framing with smooth, went to waffle because others said to, got tired of hacked up marks on framing, went back to smooth. Now I don't miss that waffle one bit. Guess which hammer does the demo work?Dogxxxx
*IMHO, the one I have in my hand. The one I left in my car or down on the ground is worthless.
*Dog, man, "...which woman is best...and hits really hard." You belong over in the perverts corner with Patrick M! - jb