Shop Hammers

[Jack Clay]

I have two questions about shop hammers. I am looking for a hammer to use in the shop. I use a 20 oz Estwing hammer and it always seem over kill in the shop. I have looked at cabinet makers hammers has anybody used one of these. I would appreciate any input on this and I would like to hear what hammer you carry in the shop.
The second question is dose anybody knows what kind of dead blow hammer that Norm uses on The New Yankee Workshop. It has a wooden handle and head. It looks like it has screw in mallet faces. Thanks for the help.

[Mike Henderson]

The primary mallet I use is a plastic head "hammer". The plastic is soft and it doesn't mark (color) the wood.

A wooden flat face mallet is often used.

Unless you're going to drive brads, a steel hammer is probably not needed. (I use an air driven 18 gauge brad gun for that.)

Mike

[Don't know much about Norm so I can't help you there.]

[Ron Bontz]

I keep both a rubber coated dead blow hammer (for assembly if needed) and a 16oz claw hammer, for general shop and house things. I keep the 20 oz eastwing around to intimidate, less the wood not behave.:)

[Rick Fisher]

I have a plastic faced Stanley hammer with a metal head and wooden handle..

Great for shop use..

[Chris Kennedy]

I have a variety of hammers and mallets -- two wooden mallets, a rubber mallet, and a dead-blow. A finishing hammer (maybe 6-8oz? not sure), a 16oz Stanley claw hammer and a 20 oz Estwing as well. If none of those convince the pieces to go together, I have 2lb and 3lb hammers. Either the pieces go together with those, or they get smashed to smithereens -- woodworking thunderdome :D.

Cheers,

Chris

[Von Bickley]

I have 3 shop hammers.

#1 - 16 oz. Estwing
#2 - 16 oz. Plumb with fiberglass handle
#3 - 13 oz. Plumb with wood handle

My Plumb hammers are the ones that were made before all this China crap.
The 13 oz. Plumb is my favorite shop hammer. :)

[Rod Sheridan]

I have the following

- lignum vitae carvers mallet
- beech square mallet
- 1 Kg dead blow mallet
- joiners hammer ( continental pattern)
- small Warrington hammer

Regards, Rod.

[Lee Mitchell]

I, too, have a number of hammers in the shop. Everything from a 3 pound one down to a tiny one that was in an old time child's toy tool box. (That was back when kids got real tools - iron head and wooden handle, in this case). Another one is a small brass hammer. Others are ball peen, tack, plastic deadblow and an assortment of sizes of claw hammers.

Nothing like having the right size/type of hammer for the job at hand. :)

Lee in NC

[Paul Atkins]

My first choice in the shop is one of my vaughn 10 Oz. Not for framing, but very nice balance and it fits in my pocket. The first one has a black locust handle now after I tried to pull a 16 penny nail. I have a nice Japanese hammer that is my choice for non-nail use.

[Jim Kountz]

I have too many hammers to count but for the shop my goto trio is a rubber mallet (white rubber), a dead blow and my trusty old estwing 16oz trim hammer. On the job I use a 28oz Estwing. But usually I leave it in the trailer and only bring it out to pull a nail or something!!

[Larry Edgerton]

I have decorative hammers as well, but for assembly I use a pair of SnapOn dead blows. I have a pair because I could not find one one day. Now I can lose two! They are bright orange, so that helps.

I have a small plastic headed machinists hammer I use quite often as well.

[Ted Evans]

One never has enough hammers. I have ballpean from 4 oz to 2 lb, a framing hammer, 4 or 5 claw hammers, plastic and rubber headed ones, tack hammers, 8 lb sledge but the ones that I use 99% of the time in the wood shop are the ones in the pictures.

119408

The two on the right are Armstrong brand and the one on the left is one that I built. The Armstrongs have fiberglass handles and the one I built is aluminum. The thing that I really like about these are the interchangeable heads. I have forgotten all the different compositions but there are many of them. The ones that I use are a hard nylon and medium rubber. They are well balanced and the one in the middle was the first one that I purchased and that was in the mid to late eighties. The one on the right was next and then needing one in the spray room, I built the one on the left. They get used hard and often.

119412

This shows the screw in heads. These are primarily used in the woodshop but also see service occasionaly in my small machine shop.

Bottom line I think is, does it perform satisfactorily for you and do you enjoy using it when needed.

[Steve Clardy]

16oz eastwing
10oz? eastwing [can't remember the ounce, but its the smallest one eastwing makes.
Leather mallet

[Jim Watts]

I have two questions about shop hammers. I am looking for a hammer to use in the shop. I use a 20 oz Estwing hammer and it always seem over kill in the shop. I have looked at cabinet makers hammers has anybody used one of these. I would appreciate any input on this and I would like to hear what hammer you carry in the shop.
The second question is dose anybody knows what kind of dead blow hammer that Norm uses on The New Yankee Workshop. It has a wooden handle and head. It looks like it has screw in mallet faces. Thanks for the help.

http://www.normstools.com/index.shtml

Um - damn...

[harry strasil]

I have everything from a tack hammer and a 1oz ballpein to a 15 lb osage orange beetle in my shop, LOL

[Jim Heffner]

I personally have and like a 13oz wooden handle claw hammer for most carpenter type uses around the shop.Have had it for 25 years and really like it! As far as shop use, I made my own wooden mallet, wood face on one side and plastic faced on the other. The plastic side is a piece of a small plastic cutting board from the dollar store. It works real good, and it is cheap! The handle, I made from a part of broken pool cue stick that was thrown out....some good rock hard maple that was free!

[Joel Goodman]

I have an old 16 oz plumb (pre Chinese) but the one I reach for is a lighter no name. I think I've seen Vaughn hammers in 12 or 13 oz which I think is about right.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I have a mess of whackers. Plum curved claw an Eswting 20 oz, a couple of junk hammers the origins if which I can't recall, a little dead blow with one side rubber and the other brass, a lead slug the size of a child's fist, a little ball pien, a tiny itty bitty brass hammer, and two round turned mallets of different sizes I made from apple.

One day when I retire a piece of furniture I'll make a laminated turned leather mallet from that.

[Jim Becker]

The only hammer I generally use in the shop on woodworking projects is a small tack hammer for occasional utility. Otherwise, it's just the mallets.