Three days with my Estwing

[craigb]

I bought a 16oz Estwing leather handled hammer in The Great Bessey Clamp Buy Up of 2005. (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=14316&highlight=bessey+clamps)

I've used it a bit in the shed over the last couple of years but only to just knock the occasional nail in (after all, fine woodworkers don't use nails, right? :wink: )

Anyway, I've just spent the last three days laying a floor in reclaimed Baltic pine and so have been quite intimate with the said hammer. :)

What a pleasure it's been to use! Really well balanced and although it feels quite light it drove the nails a lot easier thena any other hammer I've used before (Cyclone cheapies with a Spotted Gum handle).

I'm very glad I bought it and if I was unlucky enough to lose it I'd go out and buy anither one straight away.

As an aside, I have some Baltic pine floorboard offcuts (100mm wide, average length around 1200mm) which are free to a good home. They'd be 50+ years old so PM me if interested.

Cheers
Craig

[UteMad]

Hi Craigb

A good comfortable hammer can make life easier when you become attached for a few days straight hey.My first hammer was given to me a 20oz leather grip long estwing which is a bit daunting as a first hammer all that power and 2 inches longer than norm sure makes you pay attention especially in winter when a direct hit is bound to hurt....... My list of hammers gets longer by the day prob close to 20 now .....
Fiberglass shafted ... Plumb x5 (i liked these for a while as you can tell)
Steel Shaft..... Plumb & Estwing * curved joist over one
Timber handled ...... Douglas Tool (timber handle stainless steel head USA)
Stilletto Titanium (pictured below)

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k287/utemad/stilettohammer.jpg

The more you buy the more you expect out of them and they dearer they get..

The Estwing is a great indestructable hammer .... Take care of the leather grip cause when the coating wears the leather rings shrink and the hammer wobbles inside your hand... I have heard youcan leave it in a upturned silicone tube full of flooring eurethene which gums up the leather and fixes the problem......The trick is to keep the handle dry and out of the rain

You must have done it tough with a 16 oz hammer as the usual is 20oz and 24oz if you a big swinger


Cheers Utemad

[MurrayD99]

:C :C My Estwing is now just a head and a rusty shaft... It got left somewhere that was very bad for it and the leather rings disintegrated. I wish I could get it re-furbed - or get a new one.

[Zed]

murray what about a bit of wet and dry on the shaft then some new leather wrapping (getthe strips cut for you or cut yourself, soak then wrap tight around the shaft whiole wet then leave to dry - as it drys it will shrink).

My estwing is one with the foamy handles. I cant fault it. beaut.

[MurrayD99]

Zed, it isn't wrapped. It is a "long laminate" of individual rings of leather, each with a sort of "I" hole cut in the centre. But... I wonder, why not what you suggest. It wouldn't be the same but it might even be better if done well. Thanks..

[rat52]

As the first tool invented a lot of people take it for granted. So considering the other "show us your--------" threads how about one for hammers and why a particular one is your favorite.

[Wongo]

Craig,

Just remember this. "It is only a hammer" :D

:p

[craigb]

Craig,

Just remember this. "It is only a hammer" :D

:p

Ah but Scott, it really is so much more mate. :p

You should get yourself a decent one and then you'd be converted too!

[craigb]

The Estwing is a great indestructable hammer .... Take care of the leather grip cause when the coating wears the leather rings shrink and the hammer wobbles inside your hand... I have heard youcan leave it in a upturned silicone tube full of flooring eurethene which gums up the leather and fixes the problem......The trick is to keep the handle dry and out of the rain



Thanks for the tip. Mine lives always lives in the tool cupboard so rain shouldn't be a problem. :)



You must have done it tough with a 16 oz hammer as the usual is 20oz and 24oz if you a big swinger


Actually it wasn't too bad. I was only nailing pine floorboards onto pine battens though. Hardwood would have been a different story no doubt. :wink:

Cheers
Craig

[Dickiejim]

Hi

I bought my first estwing about 25 years ago, as I was about to start construction of my first house. I fell in love with the look and feel in the hardware shop, :wub: and paid a lot more than I could afford. About one week into the job it disappeared into thin air. I was shattered but would not fork out for a new one, instead used my old faithful, and replaced the handle a few times, " I wasn't real good at skew nailiing floor joist into the bearers"

Anyway the point of the story, about 10 years later, when I was about to embark on the construction of my second house, an old mate, the operative word being old, gave me an old estwing hammer from his tool box. It had done a lot of work and looked it. One of the leather rings had been lost and the rest were held tight with tape.

This hammer when I first picked it up felt like it was made for me and I have used it exclusively since that time. It is without doubt my favourite tool in my whole collection of tools. It also has some sentimental value as my old mate died a few years ago and whenever I pick it up it reminds me of him.

I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine

[UteMad]

This is another of my US hammers for those that don't get turned on by titanium ones......

Douglas Tool timber handle stainless head with reverse face for grip and nail starter in the top and side puller....

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k287/utemad/23web.jpg

A hammer is only a hammer until you start nailing day after day continuous and then it becomes either quality or a dud.... Nothing bad about estwings i own them but no longer use them but these two ( this one and the one above are in a different league completly) Neither one is perfect for all duites but then they were only bought for one task and not as dailys

I even bought one of those new curved estwings as a test for a mate... Save yourself the time and money its not even up to being a paint tin opener.... If in doubt check the face angle to the handle and you'll see the handle will hit before the head.... Some computer they used to design that one....It lasted a week in the ute and is now thrown in the shed to be forgotten

cheers Utemad

[UteMad]

Hammers Galore ......
they are bound to have a hammer for everyone at this joint


http://www.hammersource.com/Framing_Hammers.html

Cheers Utemad:2tsup:

[stevebaby]

:C :C My Estwing is now just a head and a rusty shaft... It got left somewhere that was very bad for it and the leather rings disintegrated. I wish I could get it re-furbed - or get a new one.For the cost of a tube of Sikaflex (around $18) you could put a rubber (actually urethane ) handle on it.Just build it up in layers and sand it to shape.

[UteMad]

For the cost of a tube of Sikaflex (around $18) you could put a rubber (actually urethane ) handle on it.Just build it up in layers and sand it to shape.

Lets not forget estwings are always coming on special for 45 - 55 bucks
If not theres always ebay



What sikaflex would provide that sort or stability that won't let the hammer head of on its own unpiloted mission LOL

cheers Utemad

[scooter]

Couple of old threads on Estwing hammers. Post 4 in first thread had handle fix idea, as did Jman Mick in second thread.

1st (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=4156&highlight=estwing)
2nd (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=5493&highlight=estwing)


Cheers...................Sean

[MurrayD99]

Thanks for digging back Scooter. Mick's idea is certainly practical but the leather/belt sander approach would restore it to former glory. Sounds like a job for a wet cold day.