Which style hammer do you prefer for Japanese chisels

[Cliff Polubinsky]

I'm starting to explore more into Japanese chisels. One question has to do with the hammer used. There seems to be 2 major styles, the rectangular gennou and the barrel shaped daruma.

Is there any advantage of one style over the other or is it just a matter of personal preference?

Which do you use and why?

Thanks for your feedback.

Cliff

[Flamone LaChaud]

Depends on personal preference I suppose, or how accurate you are when swinging a hammer. Gennou have less impact surface area than Daruma, so if you're needing more 'forgiveness' area - go with Daruma. Personally I use Gennou, and enjoy them.

[Derek Cohen]

Cliff, I have both ...





The Tsuchime Daruma is a 375gm head, and used when I am working very hard wood. The Tenryu Tsuchime Shikaku is 225gm, and the one I reach for most of the time. Of the two, I prefer the latter, however this may be due to the lighter weight.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[John C Cox]

How come 20 oz Estwing is not an option.

[Flamone LaChaud]

I'm sure it is a potential option depending on location. However, as the OP inquired about two different style of Japanese hammers (suspecting that they wanted to remain 'traditional'), I didn't feel like muddying the waters by admitting to using any other type of hammer like my three Dead-On hammers, or my 20 year old Stanley, or my wood mallet. . . or . . . or . . .

[Warren Lake]

Same here, ive used my fathers original finishing hammer for chisel work from the beginning, I just turn it sideways, we made mallets and I also have a Lignum vitae one but it was easier to reach for the hammer in the tool belt and work than go get a mallet. Didnt work as well when I got a Douglas or the Stiletto as some have cutouts for nail pullers in the side of the head, stilletto not to bad. Guess im breaking some eticute rules but just care about the end result.

[Dom Campbell]

There is/was a great set of posts from Stan regarding Gennou, well worth a search, but here’s my take.

Gennou are the traditional hammer for striking chisels, with the weight dependant on what you are doing/personal preference. The feel has to be experienced to be really understood, but IMO a gennou and a japanese chisel gives much better feedback than any other hammer/chisel combination.

FWIW, Daruma hammers are often seen as a bit comical by the japanese carpenter’s, but really, who cares? The bigger face can be more forgiving, and if it feels good to you, thats the main thing.

As for the different styles/shapes (polished, mokume, etc.) it doesnt impact the use of the tool in any way.

Kozaburo was the best hammer blacksmith, and Hiroki Aida is following in his footsteps (his hammers are beautiful - gennou or daruma), but there are a few more blacksmiths producing top quality work.

I currently use a 150g and 375g gennou (Hiroki), but am also waiting to get my hands on a 225g for finer work.

The higher end hammers will be more precisely finished/require less fettling and filing before fitting the handle, but cheaper hammers are perfectly functional, and will do the same job, so dont be put off.

Sorry, rambling on... you get the gist.

Regards,

Dom

[Doug Dawson]

I'm sure it is a potential option depending on location. However, as the OP inquired about two different style of Japanese hammers (suspecting that they wanted to remain 'traditional'), I didn't feel like muddying the waters by admitting to using any other type of hammer like my three Dead-On hammers, or my 20 year old Stanley, or my wood mallet. . . or . . . or . . .

I say, Hammer like nobody's watching. Unless you're on tv or something, or it's a kind of a show (youtube?) If somebody can prove that the bespoke japanese hammers are _demonstrably_ superior in some _functional_ sense, I'd be interested in hearing about that.

[Flamone LaChaud]

I say, Hammer like nobody's watching. Unless you're on tv or something, or it's a kind of a show (youtube?) If somebody can prove that the bespoke japanese hammers are _demonstrably_ superior in some _functional_ sense, I'd be interested in hearing about that.

Now, in full disclosure, I bought a set of 4 different weight gennou heads off of 'the auction site', and I'm going to say the main benefit is that I could customize the handle material, shape, and length (a la Stan's post referenced above) so that they are absolutely consistent with each other. Technically I could do the same with a mallet or remove the 20 year old handle from my Stanley clawhammer and redo it . . . but this was as much for me a method of learning and trying something new. The other benefit is that I got 4 different weight heads at one time, whereas around here it's difficult to find more than 2 weights of decently sized hammers, without getting into miniature sledgehammers.

Functionally, they all go 'blam blam blam blam' when being used to nail, and I haven't noticed a different accent between the Gennou and the Dead-On or Stanley hammers. But the handle on the Dead-On hammers are about 4" longer than the Stanleys, and my mallet has an even shorter handle. All of them work, but if I need to be concentrating on where the chisel is cutting, and not have my attention split between the cutting area and the top of the chisel - the Gennou allow me to 'know' exactly where I'm striking -- and my hand appreciates not being damaged.

[Vincent Tai]

I am no expert on gennous and the ones I do have are plain but do the work. I much prefer them to any other hammer in my shop. Mines are sized like a rectangular gennou but a little more rounded than usual I think. A Daruma style might be easier to start with I guess. Obviously any striking device will work but let us not do the discourtesy of assuming the OP doesn't know that. You can pound away with a table leg, sledge hammer, Mjolnir (if you're Thor) we get it. None of this is helpful in answering the preference of gennous. On a side note I'm pretty sure Gennou means hammer and Daruma is just a name for one particular style of a Gennou.

Personally I doubt I will get a Daruma after having some experience with the "thinner" profile gennous. I can definitely see the appeal of the Daruma style; I suspect mis-strikes would be very very minimal when you start out. Maybe when my tool budget gets revived I will experiment.



Here are a couple shots of my gennou, Maru style by Fukushima; they were NOS (made 25 years ago) that I got from Tomohito Iida's E bay page. Shipping was almost twice what I paid for the hammer heads themselves. was about 12.50 USD for one head and 15 USD for the other ( can't remember which was which). I like a pronounced curve to my handles as you can see. These handles do stray a bit from the traditional Japanese form in terms of width and general profile. I wonder what sort of handle I would prefer with a Daruma style Gennou.

IMG_0740.jpg

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Vince

[steven c newman]

Ever watch that "Traditional Chinese Woodworking Forum" site on youtube? Fellow does just fine chopping using a small ( No. 2 ?) carpenter's axe....and can chop a mortise faster than most on this forum...

Also, he uses the the side of the axe head. And, it is in full swing even before he has the mortise chisel set....

[Doug Dawson]

Functionally, they all go 'blam blam blam blam' when being used to nail, and I haven't noticed a different accent between the Gennou and the Dead-On or Stanley hammers. But the handle on the Dead-On hammers are about 4" longer than the Stanleys, and my mallet has an even shorter handle. All of them work, but if I need to be concentrating on where the chisel is cutting, and not have my attention split between the cutting area and the top of the chisel - the Gennou allow me to 'know' exactly where I'm striking -- and my hand appreciates not being damaged.

My wife has a standard framing hammer with a 4" handle (on purpose!) and every time I see it I burst out laughing. I've never used it. I shouldn't be so judgmental.

[Carlos Alvarez]

How come 20 oz Estwing is not an option.

Because we're not little girls.

IMG_1690.jpg


Also how come almost every time I read this site, my wallet starts crying? I had no idea I needed more hammers until just now.

[Doug Dawson]

Here are a couple shots of my gennou

From your pictures I can see that the striking faces appear to be a reasonable approximation of dead flat. Immediately, that might be an advantage, although I'm not familiar with thinking about it like that. (My mallets are concave from use, and that's helpful.)

[Vincent Tai]

From your pictures I can see that the striking faces appear to be a reasonable approximation of dead flat. Immediately, that might be an advantage, although I'm not familiar with thinking about it like that. (My mallets are concave from use, and that's helpful.)

Hi Doug, the faces that you can see are rounded outwards. The portrait mode in the iPhone I was using was losing a lot of detail. If you were talking about the ones resting on the table surface then yes they are flat. The flat ones is what is used to strike tools. For me this is an advantage and provides a very direct transmission of force.