Best claw?

[steven c newman]

Or, merely an older version?
501143
Both are 16oz Claw Hammers...but...
501146
Which would you use to pull out that rare bent nail?

[Tom M King]

I never pull nails with a wooden handled hammer.

[steven c newman]

Wood handles all ALL I ever use....easier on my arm. Can't hold an Estwing, either...too bloody skinny for me to grip.

Normally I just don't have the time to go and dig out a pair of Carpenter's Pincers...And I'd still need a wood block to keep from marring the surface.

Shop is strictly wood handled.

Which was the better claw....I think both of these hammers are older than you, Tom...

[Rob Luter]

These two Estwings are lifers. I build my first deck with the smaller one (38 years ago), and my second with the larger one (13 years ago). The handles will never break no matter my stupidity level.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52890535100_d67e5d4f1a_b.jpg

[Tom M King]

I don't know about better, but the one on the right looks like it's for framing, and the other for finish work.

I swing an Estwing, and like straight claws better than curved for anything. The one I use the most is a 16 oz. that started life off as a bell faced one, but I ground the face much flatter and got rid of the beveled edge around the face. That way I can hit something in a corner with the top edge of the face. I don't know how much it changed the weight. The heel of the handle is worn rounded from spending so much time in the palm of my hand.

I had old carpenters that worked for me in the '70's and '80's that would only use wooden handled hammers. I say old now, but they were a lot younger then than I am now. One, who was known around these parts as the best finish carpenter ever would only use a 12 oz. curved claw. Another, also a top finish carpenter, used a 20 oz. for everything. I never saw either one bend a nail.

[steven c newman]

I have that smaller model Estwing...resides in the Tool Cabinet, never really leaves the hooks..
Uncle Arthur (itis) will not let me grip those blue handles even to use them....more of a case of on the "backswing"...."HEADS UP!"

Subject is about which style claw was the best of those two versions...

Have only broken ONE handle....while stripping Concrete Forms....although..a wood handle is quite easy to replace....

I just prefer the handles to be wood, easier on the arm, any bad vibes stay in the wood...

[Tom M King]

I don't have a clue about the claw question. I never use them to pull anything. A view of the grooves might show that they are each best intended for a certain class of nails.

I've mostly pulled triggers since a nailgun salesman came up in a boat to a house I was building in 1975, but I've probably still driven a million or so with a hammer too.

[Rob Luter]

I don't know about better, but the one on the right looks like it's for framing, and the other for finish work.

I swing an Estwing, and like straight claws better than curved for anything. The one I use the most is a 16 oz. that started life off as a bell faced one, but I ground the face much flatter and got rid of the beveled edge around the face. That way I can hit something in a corner with the top edge of the face. I don't know how much it changed the weight. The heel of the handle is worn rounded from spending so much time in the palm of my hand.

I had old carpenters that worked for me in the '70's and '80's that would only use wooden handled hammers. I say old now, but they were a lot younger then than I am now. One, who was known around these parts as the best finish carpenter ever would only use a 12 oz. curved claw. Another, also a top finish carpenter, used a 20 oz. for everything. I never saw either one bend a nail.

Yup. Blue handled version is for framing and the leather handle is better suited to finish work.

[Tom M King]

I was talking about the two hammers that Steven was asking about. The difference in your Estwings is more obvious. I probably have one of each of the Estwings, but rarely use the heavy, long ones.

I remember once sheathing a roof with a long 28 oz. one when our electricity was out. I placed all the plywood with one nail in each rafter on the top edge, then had helpers start the nails. I followed and pounded them in with one blow, but I had no desire to start 8 or 10d nails with that hammer. That job went pretty fast by hand that afternoon.

[Cameron Wood]

Curved claw hammers? Quaint, but pointless.

[steven c newman]

Only IF you don't bend a nail...or, never worked as a Carpenter....Sometimes, ya just can't use that there Pin-nailer....

[Cameron Wood]

A hammer is used for more than pounding nails, especially these days.

A curved claw pulls nails, but doesn't pry, split, chop, dig, scrape, lever, or hack.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Only IF you don't bend a nail...or, never worked as a Carpenter....Sometimes, ya just can't use that there Pin-nailer....

Correct! If you’ve worked in the trades, you would have a straight claw if you were doing form work, for as much digging and scraping, as hammering. If you were doing actual carpentry, it would be a curved claw. Anyone that worked any time in the trade would have a wood handled hammer or fiberglass, as they were much easier on the elbow. Very, very few would have an Estwing.

[Frederick Skelly]

Correct! If you’ve worked in the trades, you would have a straight claw if you were doing form work, for as much digging and scraping, as hammering. If you were doing actual carpentry, it would be a curved claw. Anyone that worked any time in the trade would have a wood handled hammer or fiberglass, as they were much easier on the elbow. Very, very few would have an Estwing.

Tony! Where the heck have you been man? Doin' ok, I hope?

[Jim Koepke]

…
Both are 16oz Claw Hammers...but...
501146
Which would you use to pull out that rare bent nail?


…
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52890535100_d67e5d4f1a_b.jpg

It is easy to forget that people other than carpenters & woodworkers make use of hammers in their work.

In Steven's example the hammer on the right is similar to what was standard issue for telephone installers. (my job many years ago) It was good in tight quarters like between floor joists.

When it comes to pulling a bent nail, staple or wire hanging loop/nail the claws were easy to slide along a joist to have some impact for the claws to dig in to the shaft and have a grip on the errant item.

The other hammer in Steven's picture looks like a claw hammer designed to have more range of engagement when pulling nails.

The blue handled Estwing in Rob's image is often referred to as a rip hammer. The claws can be swung between two boards to literally rip them apart.

I grew up with my father having two Estwing hammers, one claw and one rip.

My assortment of hammers includes two Estwing hammers, one claw and one rip. The claw was purchased at an estate sale. The rip was purchased new as an anniversary edition with the traditional stacked leather handle.

jtk

[George Yetka]

Id say left hammer if you are pulling a medium size nail right for a fine nail and neither for a large nail.

I picked up one of the titanium framing hammers, Now i need to find something to frame. I felt I needed it

[Cameron Wood]

These are the hammers in the work van. There are also a 20 oz framing hammer w/ tubular metal shaft for demolition, and a 3 lb single jack, on a job at the moment.

The electrician's hammer on the right is the primary one. I got it on a whim many years ago, & it has risen to the top. I used the titanium one when I did more framing, & like it, but the fat head is poor for toenailing. Long handle and magnet nail starter are nice. Nowadays, I carry the hammer in the pants leg loop & the long & fatter handle is not good for that. They also sell these with an axe handle, which is terrible for getting in & out of a hammer loop.

The other one was pretty much the first hammer I got when I started in the building trades in the '70s. Still in use- a survivor. Actually, when I started they said get a hammer & I showed up with a 20 oz bent claw fiberglass handle & they laughed at me & said "no, no, not that".

The Japanese one lives in the truck for paint can lids, etc., etc..

In the shop there are a few (straight) claw hammers.

Somewhere there is a bucket of random tools that has several of those traditional wood hammers. They don't sit well in a hammer loop or tool belt and don't work well pulling a nail by rocking side to side.

I hate those solid shaft Estwing ones- shock to the elbow, and the narrow neck causes damage.


501172

In answer to the OP question, I might use the claw to straighten a bent nail, but would pull it with end nippers, bar, or catspaw.

[steven c newman]

IF you have to "rock" a hammer side to side..it just means you are trying to use a Rip Hammer...

The Curved parts of a Claw Hammer were designed to simply pull a nail out....just hook the claw under the head of the bad nail....use a piece of scrap under the head of the hammer...and simply pull the handle back to you...simple as can be.

Using a rip claw to pull nails...mars the surface way too much....unless you are doing Rough Carpentry...Try that as a Finish Carpenter is about the best way I know of, to get Fired! On the spot!

[Rob Luter]

The blue handled Estwing in Rob's image is often referred to as a rip hammer. The claws can be swung between two boards to literally rip them apart.

jtk

I learned with experience that it drives coated Ardox spirals much more effectively than the 20 oz trim hammer too. Building my first deck with the small hammer wore me out.


https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41rqB1ShOpL._AC_.jpg

[Jim Koepke]

Building my first deck with the small hammer wore me out.

That was one of my reasons for using screws. besides the screws are coated so as to prevent rusting.

For adjusting the screws, if necessary, a brace with 6" swing is used and about 3' of extensions so they can be done standing up.

jtk

[Tony Zaffuto]

Tony! Where the heck have you been man? Doin' ok, I hope?

Life takes precedence! Yep, doing well! I check in, but don’t have time to participate.

[Rob Luter]

That was one of my reasons for using screws. besides the screws are coated so as to prevent rusting.



jtk


Yup. That's my process now (screws).

[steven c newman]

Been a Carpenter way too long.....

Long familiar?
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20 oz Estwing...along with a few other whackers...

[Reed Gray]

I did concrete work for 30 years. I had one Estwing hammer and gave it away. Wood handles only! The straight claw hammers are a multipurpose tool, like others have said. They also split wood fairly well. The curved claw hammers will do a fair job of pulling nails, the straight claw ones only work if you crank the nails out by torqueing the hammer sideways. The curved claw hammers work better, but if you are pulling a 16 penny nail, once you get it more than half way out, you need to put a 2 by 4 under the head so you are levering with the shaft and claws, and not the hammer head. This does also work for the straight claw hammers. I always carried a cat's paw and a nail puller, which the guys made fun of me for doing, but they always wanted to borrow them. Now days, they all use screws, which do hold better than the nails. When I started, I used a 32 oz. framing hammer. By the time I was done, I was down to a 20 oz. hammer. I did like the framing hammers with the waffle heads. Wore a couple down till they were pretty smooth faced.... I always carried a 10 pound sledge too for form work. All the other guys used an 8 pounder. They never 'borrowed' my hammer because it was too heavy for most of them. Yes, I am on the Brute Squad! Everyone I ever worked for told me I was too dang fussy to do concrete work. I said thanks! I probably should have been a finish carpenter.... I did a lot of high end residential work, so being fussy was good.

robo hippy

[Cameron Wood]

IF you have to "rock" a hammer side to side..it just means you are trying to use a Rip Hammer...

The Curved parts of a Claw Hammer were designed to simply pull a nail out....just hook the claw under the head of the bad nail....use a piece of scrap under the head of the hammer...and simply pull the handle back to you...simple as can be.

Using a rip claw to pull nails...mars the surface way too much....unless you are doing Rough Carpentry...Try that as a Finish Carpenter is about the best way I know of, to get Fired! On the spot!



If you put a block under the curved claw, you can just as well put a block under the straight claw too, right?

One reason for pulling nails side to side is to avoid breaking the wood handle.


I got out a curved claw hammer- I'll give it a spin...

[steven c newman]

Have found that the "side to side" will actually break the handle faster...VOE.

[Cameron Wood]

I got a curved claw hammer out of the tool boneyard, and had it in the shop, and in the van there is one in the back drawer, used to close paint cans- I think it came from the dump.

Used them for the month, & came up with the same conclusion- a curved claw hammer is relatively worthless- kind of like the jokes about dinosaurs with tiny arms. I used the paint can one on a small deck job, & it failed when cleaning up the pier footings- replacing it with a vintage straight claw.

Apologies to the fans...