The new hammer

[Kittyhawk]

At our place a fairly large kitchen renovation is proceeding apace and prior to its commencement I bought myself a nice new Eastwing hammer.
To be honest I didn't actually need it - I bought my original 20oz hammer second hand 50 odd years ago. It is of unknown provenance, the claw I think a little more curved than its modern counterparts, the wooden handle stained with paint and sweaty palms and with a few chips in it here and there. Doing this renovation is not something I have much enthusiasm for and I know that some people when faced with an unpleasant situation resort to their favorite food - comfort food I believe it's called. Well I have comfort tools, hence the hammer. The Child Bride is very parsimonious when it comes to tool expenditure but renovations can be worked to your advantage if you desire some shiny new tool, and especially so if you are old. I know she feels ever so slightly uncomfortable in asking an 80 year old man to start demolishing walls and dangle off ladders and so on, and the trick is to grunt softly and moan now and then for attention and when you consider it to be the appropriate moment, say something like 'of course, if I had a so and so, this would be so much easier on me..' It usually works. A year or so ago we rebuilt a room at the back of the house and I scored a nice 18v cordless drill on that one.
But back to the hammer. I'm afraid the Eastwing and I don't get along. I'm sure it's a perfectly good hammer but there is something about it that just doesn't feel right and I had to wait until the wife was well out of earshot before I told the Eastwing what I thought of it.
Doing a renovation means that you must bring the neccessary tools from the workshop to the house and looking in my carry bag at the planes, chisels, levels, squares etc needed for the job I note that with the exception of a block plane I have unwittingly chosen tools that I've had since my youth and left the new stuff in the shed. Either I'm an old stick-in-the-mud, set in my ways or the old tools are just... better? I think I'm done with comfort tools.

 

[flying haggis]

Strange, I have four estwings, admittedly all bought second hand, and I love them. Perhaps the newer ones have different materials used for the handle?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My Estwing is so old it has "pat pending" on it.

 

[JSW]

The Child Bride is very parsimonious when it comes to tool expenditure but renovations can be worked to your advantage if you desire some shiny new tool, and especially so if you are old. I know she feels ever so slightly uncomfortable in asking an 80 year old man to start demolishing walls and dangle off ladders and so on, and the trick is to grunt softly and moan now and then for attention and when you consider it to be the appropriate moment, say something like 'of course, if I had a so and so, this would be so much easier on me..' It usually works. A year or so ago we rebuilt a room at the back of the house and I scored a nice 18v cordless drill on that one.

Mad respect for this one, high five!

 

[AES]

At our place a fairly large kitchen renovation is proceeding apace and prior to its commencement I bought myself a nice new Eastwing hammer.
To be honest I didn't actually need it - I bought my original 20oz hammer second hand 50 odd years ago. It is of unknown provenance, the claw I think a little more curved than its modern counterparts, the wooden handle stained with paint and sweaty palms and with a few chips in it here and there. Doing this renovation is not something I have much enthusiasm for and I know that some people when faced with an unpleasant situation resort to their favorite food - comfort food I believe it's called. Well I have comfort tools, hence the hammer. The Child Bride is very parsimonious when it comes to tool expenditure but renovations can be worked to your advantage if you desire some shiny new tool, and especially so if you are old. I know she feels ever so slightly uncomfortable in asking an 80 year old man to start demolishing walls and dangle off ladders and so on, and the trick is to grunt softly and moan now and then for attention and when you consider it to be the appropriate moment, say something like 'of course, if I had a so and so, this would be so much easier on me..' It usually works. A year or so ago we rebuilt a room at the back of the house and I scored a nice 18v cordless drill on that one.
But back to the hammer. I'm afraid the Eastwing and I don't get along. I'm sure it's a perfectly good hammer but there is something about it that just doesn't feel right and I had to wait until the wife was well out of earshot before I told the Eastwing what I thought of it.
Doing a renovation means that you must bring the neccessary tools from the workshop to the house and looking in my carry bag at the planes, chisels, levels, squares etc needed for the job I note that with the exception of a block plane I have unwittingly chosen tools that I've had since my youth and left the new stuff in the shed. Either I'm an old stick-in-the-mud, set in my ways or the old tools are just... better? I think I'm done with comfort tools.

I echos them sentiments mate.

 

[Doug71]

I've used metal shafted Estwings for years, bought my first one about 35 years ago, expensive at the time but it was the hammer to be seen with so had to get one. I initially got a 16oz leather handled but soon added a couple of heavier rubber handled ones to the collection. I used them daily until the middle of last year when my recurring tennis elbow stopped recurring and became constant. I was advised to try a wooden handled hammer and found I actually prefer them, I don't think the wooden handles would survive the abuse that the Estwings used to get on site but my work rate is a bit more sedate these days. Could be coincidence but the tennis elbow has been much better.

 

[niall Y]

I've had Estwing hammers for years. My present one - a leather handled version- has the rather annoying habit of ringing when being used, The claw seems to be acting like a tuning fork.

 

[mcostello]

Is a hammer missing the nail a manufacturing defect? Just asking...........

 

[Kittyhawk]

Is a hammer missing the nail a manufacturing defect? Just asking...........

Actually, yes.
Having denigrated the Eastwing, I thought I should find what it is that I actively dislike about it.
Here is a picture of the Eastwing together with Old Faithful.

Firstly I like a wooden handle. This is not a bad point against the Eastwing, just a personal preference.
Secondly, much of the current kitchen renovation is in relatively tight spaces. As mentioned in the original post the curve of the claw is tighter on my old hammer. Face to claw tip on it is 116mm, 128mm on the Eastwing. It doesn't sound much but it makes a big difference in confined areas, and lastly I don't like the chamfered edge on the striking face of the Eastwing. Part of the kitchen work involved the erection of a new wall. Nogs between studs require skew nailing with the final setting of the nail done with the edge of the face - difficult if it's got a chamfer on it so I will call it a manufacturing or design defect.
Part of the reno involved the dismantling of a wall and the Eastwing is great for demolishing and smashing things to bits although I am surprised at how quickly the steel marked. My old faithful is also a bit beaten up but it is at least 50 years old after all. So the Eastwing has its uses but the old one remains the hammer of choice.

 

[TRITON]

You can't be a real joiner unless you own a leather handled Estwing

 

[Bingy man]

A few weeks back I found a leather handled eastwing online and somewhat reduced in price so although I have several hammers for rough work I had always wanted one so click - buy now . Love it , feels good in the hand- just need to find something to hammer now ..

 

[pe2dave]

New project extra tool? I've used that bargaining chip for a while ;-)

 

[Sideways]

My sister and husband gifted my dad an Estwing one birthday.
Funky modern thing with glass fibre and strange modern design of head.
I believe it's a framing nailer design.
I had a few swings with it and that one didn't work for me either.
Likewise I find steel hafted hammers feel off.
I much prefer the weight and resilience of a traditional hammer with a nicely shaped ash or hickory shaft.

 

[mondo]

I've used metal shafted Estwings for years, bought my first one about 35 years ago, expensive at the time but it was the hammer to be seen with so had to get one. I initially got a 16oz leather handled but soon added a couple of heavier rubber handled ones to the collection. I used them daily until the middle of last year when my recurring tennis elbow stopped recurring and became constant. I was advised to try a wooden handled hammer and found I actually prefer them, I don't think the wooden handles would survive the abuse that the Estwings used to get on site but my work rate is a bit more sedate these days. Could be coincidence but the tennis elbow has been much better.

A long, long time ago in a land far away when I actually had a job, I had the same problem. I bought a Stanley Graphite hammer with the tuning fork in it, solved the problem immediately. I don't know if the present iteration of that hammer still has the tuning fork in it but if it does i highly recommend it.

 

[Doug71]

My sister and husband gifted my dad an Estwing one birthday.
Funky modern thing with glass fibre and strange modern design of head.
I believe it's a framing nailer design.
I had a few swings with it and that one didn't work for me either.
Likewise I find steel hafted hammers feel off.
I much prefer the weight and resilience of a traditional hammer with a nicely shaped ash or hickory shaft.

I had one of those, they called it their Weight Forward hammer, I never got on with it. The handle was slightly curved and to me the striking face felt to be at the wrong angle.

I actually broke a bone in the back of my hand with it. I was using it with a chisel, didn't hit the chisel squarely and the hammer glanced off hitting the back of the hand holding the chisel, it was made worse by the fact that the striking face on that hammer is square with quite sharp corners

 

[TRITON]

A few weeks back I found a leather handled eastwing online and somewhat reduced in price so although I have several hammers for rough work I had always wanted one so click - buy now . Love it , feels good in the hand- just need to find something to hammer now ..

A couple of years ago i found one of the weight forward Estwings in a local hardware shop, priced as its original price of £29.99.
Being an Ebayer I knew these are extremely sought after and popped it on my ebay page for £120 buy it now.
It sold literally an hour after listing it.

Any time im in a small hardware store I keep my eyes open in case I spot another.
Thing about these small shops is they get things like this that then sit on the shelf for years unsold. If you keep your eyes open, be surprised what they have gathering dust..

I'm sure out there somewhere, probably in some small village, theres a new Stanley No51 and No52 shooting board and plane with my name on them

 

[Terrytpot]

New project extra tool? I've used that bargaining chip for a while ;-)

Funnily enough, last week I finished off doing some trim work after doing some flooring which I was only able to complete after scoring myself this bad boy

 

[mondo]

I had one of those, they called it their Weight Forward hammer, I never got on with it. The handle was slightly curved and to me the striking face felt to be at the wrong angle.

I actually broke a bone in the back of my hand with it. I was using it with a chisel, didn't hit the chisel squarely and the hammer glanced off hitting the back of the hand holding the chisel, it was made worse by the fact that the striking face on that hammer is square with quite sharp corners

 

[mondo]

Judging by your description, that's not the same hammer. The one i have has a straight graphite handle with a knob on the end, the face is crowned with an 1/8" chamfer on it and does not say Weight Forward on it.

 

[Doug71]

Judging by your description, that's not the same hammer. The one i have has a straight graphite handle with a knob on the end, the face is crowned with an 1/8" chamfer on it and does not say Weight Forward on it.

@mondo my reply was to Sideways post about the Estwing hammer that his dad received one birthday.