Thread: Sorting Hammers

I love a good hammer. Can't have too many I say. They don't take up much space.
If you do need to prune, your best bet would be to bang a few nails in with each of them and see which feels better in the hand.

Yep, I think Hiroller's advice is the best bet. Also check the claws, which are often damaged - nothing more frustrating than trying to extract a mis-hit nail and it keeps sliding through a chip that's in just the wrong spot.....

Cheers,

You don't always want the heaviest hammer. From the picture I'd say they each look different enough to each be the preferable one depending on the job. Perhaps the shortest handle one would be the most job specific? But they still sell stubbie handled hammers today, so somebody must love em.

The short one has been broken and the handle repaired by shortening it.

Probably not the best one of the three.

I agree with Bohdan. The short hammer has lost the shaping in front of the head when you compare to the other two and that will affect the overall balance. You can always "throttle" the handle to suit how you want to use it, but it is difficult to make it longer.

I'd certainly keep the other two particularly if they are different weights. I think the middle hammer would be slightly lighter.

Regards
paul

However... the one with the shortened handle has an interesting claw shape, obviously longer than the other 2. I don't collect tools (), BUT, if I found these 3 in my possession, I think I'd keep all 3 and one day make a new handle for the stubbie.

I'm guessing that the head of the short handled one was nice enough to bother sticking the handle back in after it broke so it might actually be the best head.

Good point Gavin.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by cpsmusic

There are three (actually there are more, a crappy chinese one, and some engineers hammers that belonged to my grandfather who worked on the Victorian Railways). None of them have any branding or anthing on them (as far as I can see). One is substantially lighter (it weighs 600g) while the other two weigh 750g. All are well-used but have no major damage.

I’m wondering if there’s anyway to tell which is the best one or two out of the three.

Cheers,

Chris

IMG_1041.jpg

Hi Chris

choosing between hammers depends on
the striking face -- domed, or misshaped
the angle the striking face makes when it contacts a nail, and when the nail is fully driven
the balance in your hand
the condition and angle of the claw

but some of the above assumes you know how to use a hammer.

Nobody has mentioned the size and shape of the claw. I was given a good explanation on this recently unfortunately with all that is happening I haven't retained much of it. But basically the claw varies for purpose. The bend shifts the pivot point and the length of claw the amount of leverage, the width of the vee in the claw for the type of headed nail. Hopefully someone will,now come along and expand on this.



The other ting to look is a seam running alone the length of the head if there is none it could well be a proper Forged head, if there is a seam then most likely dropforged or cast steel. Those three are in order of quality IMO.

Originally Posted by cpsmusic

Hi Folks,

My father passed away last year. He left behind a garage full of tools (and other stuff) which I’m currently going through. I’m an “occasional” woodworker although I’d like to get into it more if time permits.

My late-father’s collection of tools is a real mish-mash of stuff - some he bought, some he inherited from his father (and grandfather!), some was bought for a beach house, some was found, etc. etc. As you can imagine, the quality varies greatly. Nothing was ever thrown away...

I don’t have the space to keep everything so I’m going through it with the aim of keeping one (or more) of the things that I need and getting rid of the rest.

To start with I’m looking into the hammers:

There are three (actually there are more, a crappy chinese one, and some engineers hammers that belonged to my grandfather who worked on the Victorian Railways). None of them have any branding or anthing on them (as far as I can see). One is substantially lighter (it weighs 600g) while the other two weigh 750g. All are well-used but have no major damage.

I’m wondering if there’s anyway to tell which is the best one or two out of the three.

Cheers,

Chris

IMG_1041.jpg

Hi Chris.

A note of caution on this batch of tools before you dispose of anything at all.

VR staff in general had an extremely "communal" attitude to property (no offense to your grandfather, but it was an almost universal practice).

VR tools still attract a premium price though - triple or more the market value of the vintage tool. For example. I once found a VR marked hand crank bench grinder. A common vintage item which can be purchased for $30 give or take a few $ without the VR mark. I put it up in a seven day auction on a well known internet selling site with a starting bid of $50 and an immediate purchase option at what I thought was an incredibly cheeky $125. It took eleven minutes to sell for $125.

As a result of the widespread "liberating" of railways property, just about everything was robustly marked with V^R, VR or Victorian railways.

All the same. Even deeply stamped markings can get filled with grime and rust. It would be wise to carefully examine each and every tool with a magnifying glass for even the faintest trace of markings, and if unsure rub back the area with a medium grit sandpaper.