Are there (claw) hammers that are specially designed for people with small hands? I've been using my uncles hammers and they are way too big for me to work with. I can barely wrap my hands around the grip or even in the middle of the hammer and they feel like they weigh a ton when I'm trying to hammer nails. I feel like if I had a smaller hammer that actually fit my hand and weighed 16 oz (or less) instead of 22 oz then maybe it would make things easier. But I can't seem to find any small hammers anywhere. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong stores or something.
Do smaller sized hammers exist? Am I going to have to look somewhere special for them?
There are literally hundreds of hammers, scores of manufacturers and types. If you're hammering nails, that will eliminate a fair number of them. You could search for tack hammers if you're just tapping in some small nails to hang pictures and the like, or you could get a lighter weight hammer with a thinner handle like this one:
Claw hammerheads are made in almost every weight immagineable, most, are less than 16 ounces and run all the way down to 2-3 ounces. BTW 22 oz heads are meant for framing not general carpentry. More importantly, you can buy all types of handles, or simply modify the shape and size of an original handle to fit--carve it, file it, sand it, grind it.
Hobby and craft stores sell really small hammers but they may be too small for what you want. These hammers are used in building model boats and rail roads. I don't recall these hammers having a claw though.
I inherited one with a smaller head and thinner handle; it has no name on it, but was sold as a woman's hammer. I guess it would be politically incorrect to call it that today.
You could look at Amaz> Are there (claw) hammers that are specially designed for people with
Apparently you are using too big a hammer for most purposes, and you probably won't feel this way with the right hammer. But I continue below.
I can see getting a narrower handle, but at least in some situations, it is actually easier with a standard weight hammer, or even heavier.
First the head is larger so you have a better chance of hitting the nail. Don't laugh, anyone.
Second, with a light hammer, you have to use your arm muscles to get enough force to push nails into hard wood etc. Undoubtedly in toto, you use as much effort or more for each swing with a heavier hammer, but it doesn't feel that way. The effort is greater lifting the hammer, but that is spread out over a couple seconds, and on the downswing, gravity contributes more and with the same amount of muscle, the hammer hits the nail with a real whack.
The same is true about using little force or medium force when hammering. Some nails will go in easily, but some don't. With the second kind, one can keep hitting the nail weakly, and it won't move or will barely move, and one can wear himself out lifting the hammer over and over and over and over. But make an effort to use some force, and 2 or 3 hits is all one will need usually, and it's actually much less total effort that way.
For some uses they sell a little sledge hammer, with a head maybe 2 or
3 times the size and weight of a hammer head, with a handle about the same size as or a little bigger than a hammer's. Now it would seem like this would really be a lot of work to use, and it is heavy to just carry it around for a while. But when something rather big has to go into something rather hard, it is remarkably easy to do this with a little sledge, 2 or 3 hits, while one might have to pound and pound and pound with a hammer.
Brings up another question. What good are straight claws on a framing hammer? They certainly are not worth a crap for pulling nails. Seems like straight claws should be replaced with something more functional.
You're kidding right? Curved claws have a purpose. so do the straight ones. Just because you don't know how to use them, please don't ban them from the market.
Ever try to pull apart two nailed pieces? Curved claws are not worth crap for that, but the straight ones sure are.
Right, besides a curved claw means you need more space for pulling. But a wrecking bar or a nail puller (which almost no one has) is vastly superior and you won't have a broken handle.
If you were in Europe (not the UK) you could easily find what you're looking for. Stanley even make a series of hammers for the French market ranging in size from about 5oz up to beyond 16oz but for some stupid reason you can't buy them here. There are other mfgs too. The big thing is that they all have nylon handles; I don't think I've even seen a wooden handled hammer in France in the last 10 or 15 years. Aren't wood handles obsolete? Are we just behind the times?
Oh, yeah, there's one other difference: they don't have a claw. They have a cross pein. The UK type (with old fashioned wooden handles) are called Warrington hammers. You can get those here from Lee Valley IIRC. The cross pein is IMO much easier for starting nails and as for pulling your mistakes, that's what a cat's paw is for. Oh yeah and for framing aren't hammers obsolete? Doesn't everyone use a nail gun? Or, in my case (I do little framing) Strongties and screws?
Before you think I'm confusing engineers' hammers, the sets I have are marked (in French) "Carpenter" and "Mechanic", the mechanic ones being shorter in the head and having slightly longer handles. I believe there are other sets for other occupations. Quite stylish too: all in black with red highlights.
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