I had the forward weight Estwing and didn't really get on with, mainly I suspect because I don't do much of the heavy work/wrecking that's it's designed for. My blue 16oz Estwing is so old it has "Patents Pending" on it.
I used to build quality shed and hammered in 60mm nails though 22mm cladding all day with a 20oz stanley and ended up with a sprained wrist and bulge in muscle just beyond the wrist.That's not necessarily true. I have a 16 oz hammer that hits a nail in faster than my old 22 oz estwing. I'm a framer by trade, and got it through a secret Santa trade. I thought it was a gimmick, but after using it, I would never go back. It is balanced totally different , eliminating weight in places not needed for the hit.
I agree, I was advised years ago to use a saw with a loose grip and a loose wrist, the saw should glide through /across the wood in relaxed long strokes. broadly speaking I think the same applies to a lot of toolsI watch people doing things/using tools and so many have a rigid arm/wrist like when painting wrist rigid just bending arm and looks dam awful!
Get quite a few so we can get one off you to try!!.Well it's looking like everyone who owns them rates them highly so think I might give one a try and as Kev says I can always sell it on.
Thanks for all the input, very helpful.
Ive got first dibs on the cheapest oneGet quite a few so we can get one off you to try!!.
We use to have new guys show up, 20 years old, bulging muscles. Back in the eighties when we hand nailed everything. They would run out , buy the big 28 oz framing hammer, then brag how bi* there hammer was. Start pounding walls together, next day sprained wrist, crybabies. They would never listen."I used to build quality shed and hammered in 60mm nails though 22mm cladding all day with a 20oz stanley and ended up with a sprained wrist and bulge in muscle just beyond the wrist.
16oz will take longer but your wrist will thankyou unless your Popeye!!
But much depends on how you hold/use a hammer like any tool and theres many poor tools using tools poorly!We use to have new guys show up, 20 years old, bulging muscles. Back in the eighties when we hand nailed everything. They would run out , buy the big 28 oz framing hammer, then brag how bi* there hammer was. Start pounding walls together, next day sprained wrist, crybabies. They would never listen."
....The theory with the titanium is something like when you hit a nail with a titanium hammer almost 100% of the force is transferred to the nail but with steel only about 70% as 30% is lost in recoil which comes back to the user as vibrations....
I always pictured that 'third' tap on the anvil as a way to keep rhythm going whilst the work was turned as necessary?Can't comment on the titanium vs. anything really, but the above comment caught my eye.
When I was 'obliged' to do some metalwork at school - (y'know the kind of thing - making a poker for the coal fire you no longer had at home, and the 6-egg stand in woodwork class that either fell to pieces in weeks, or curiously disappeared into the bin one day...) I also had to practice bashing 8 bells out of a round piece of metal on an anvil.
Instructions were given along the lines of smacking the piece twice(?) but the third hit was a fairly gentle tap on the anvil itself to get rid of 'vibrations'.
To this day, if I see a TV actor playing a farrier or whatever, I always think "you're not a real one!"
Sad really.
I should get out more....
I always pictured that 'third' tap on the anvil as a way to keep rhythm going whilst the work was turned as necessary?
I have the same. On the odd times I need to bash a nail it is the one I reach for.Years ago I had a similar problem. Switched to a Stanley Graphite hammer which has a tuning fork in the handle to absorb the vibrations. Worked instantly. Comparable price to regular hammer. Don't know if still available but worth checking out.
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