Hammers

A selection of hand hammers that are in my tool kit. Mostly the claw hammer is the main one that gets used but the others are all used from time to time.

• A 24 oz Estwing claw hammer.  After having owned heaps of claw hammers, I have settled for a steel shaft Estwing with a vinyl handle (the leather dries out too much in the tropics).  I had my last one stolen and replaced it immediately with the same. My main hammer .
• An Estwing 4lb lump hammer,  without doubt the best balanced lump hammer  I have ever used. Lump hammers are used for heavy work, chipping concrete with cold chisels and bolsters.  For jobs that need a bit more weight than my claw hammer.
• Another couple of lump hammers, the first has a fiberglass shaft and it is longer than the others, it gives a good powerful blow.  Cheap and surprisingly good.  The other is a typical wooden handled job of a type that has been going for centuries.  (No doubt raised thousand of blisters in the process).
• I bought the  24 oz ball hammer for laying a 40mm thick floor with 75mm nails.  Excellent tool for the job, long shaft more belt.  It would also make a good framing hammer, using a pinch bar for removing bent nails.  It has the original timber shaft, that has not dried out or moved over the years which is rare.
• Upside down is a small square faced cheapie pin hammer.  If you are putting in a lot of small panel pin type nails (fixing beading around panels etc.) a smaller pin hammer is a lot better.  For beading in glass, when driving in the nails I slide the hammer  along the face of the glass.
• Next is a rubber mallet, cheap and crude but delivers a good whack without leaving a mark.  I used it a lot recently when tiling my bathroom.
• Underneath is my carpenters axe, used mainly on formwork.