How many hammers do you think one needs?

[Bill]

I've never tried one of those. I was thinking of getting one; I thought why not "live it up" a little.. ; )

[DGDevin]

I suppose I could get by with half a dozen, although I must have more like fifteen.

[Luigi Zanasi]

Hammers are like clamps, can't have too many, although you rarely need more than one of each kind. I refuse to count how many I have

Luigi

[Bill]

Greetings,

Placing tools where I actually use them has worked very well. In some cases, just one size of wrench or nut driver of a set lives on my bandsaw or work bench while the others of the set live in the cabinet or tool box. For hammers, one round mallet lives next to the lathe, another lives next to the bench chisels, claw hammers live next to the boxes of nails so I can get nails and a hammer at the same place.

As for quality, for some kinds of jobs the quality does not matter since any quality will do for the job, e.g. the 5 pound sledge use to gently nudge boards around during clamping for glueing. For other jobs, e.g. framing using lots of nails, you will want quality.

One more thing, the really cheap hammers can crumble during use. The head actually falls apart from metal fatigue. These I would not have around for safety reasons.

Rather than make a list of hammers, try making a list of your jobs that need a hammer. Then decide how many and what kinds of hammers you want for your jobs.

Sincerely, Bill

[upscale]

On Sat, 7 Nov 2009 22:28:36 -0800 (PST), Bill

Sounds exactly like the decision you make when you stock your everyday general tool pouch. Deciding on what commonly used tools to add to that limited space is sometimes a pain.

[Lee Michaels]

Or just buy them when you need them.

[Peter Huebner]

Depends on how many Needs one has, don't you think?

I've a sledge hammer for driving stakes 'round the farm. a 3pound short maul for driving wedges behind the chainsaw a 250g and a 500g German cross-peen for mechanical work a couple of wooden mallets turned on the lathe for chiseling a 17 oz Estwing claw hammer for framing and general nailing -- I found if I try to use a heavier claw hammer I get carpal tunnel or tennis elbow. a traditional German carpenter's hammer

which I spike into heavy timbers like big fence posts or roof beams and use it as a carrying handle (it drives nails as well, as a bonus - see above about rsi though). and I used to have a tiny wee hammer out of some very hard metal for chipping holes into wall tiles, but I don't know where that got to ...

-P.

[Steve Turner]

Do they make a hammer that won't smash your finger? :-) I know, it's called an "air nailer"

One of those big serrated finger-smashing jobbies lies somewhere at the bottom of the Lake Of The Ozarks in Missouri. My dad threw it out there about 35 years ago right after he smashed his finger at the end of a LONG day of framing. I think many Budweisers were subsequently consumed. :-)

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 7 Nov 2009 18:15:17 -0800 (PST), the infamous RonB scrawled the following:

Nor can I. Half the hammers I own were bought cheap,

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 7 Nov 2009 21:38:47 -0800 (PST), the infamous Luigi Zanasi scrawled the following:

Aw, c'mon, WeeGee! Inquiring minds want to know. Count 'em up!

-- The Smart Person learns from his mistakes. The Wise Person learns from the mistakes of others. And then there are all the rest of us...

-----------------------------------------------------

[dpb]

No, they're far too soft generally to shatter but there's certainly no way the manufacturing process is even close to "exactly the same" as that of, say, Estwing

That's actually about the worst treatment you could give a framing hammer... :(

--

[dpb]

Zz Yzx wrote: ...

...

Including the tools w/ which he made them, no doubt... :)

(...seen that, been there, too...)

--

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 8 Nov 2009 02:31:07 -0500, the infamous "Lee Michaels" scrawled the following:

But, whatever you do, do NOT buy a copy of these books. (They are extremely habit-forming. DAMHIKT )

_A Museum of Early American Tools_ by Eric Sloane

_Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings_ by Aldren A. Watson

_Tools & How to Use Them_ by Albert Jackson

_Tools Rare and Ingenious: Celebrating the World's Most Amazing Tools_ by Sandor Nagyszalanczy (Just call him Sandor. Everyone'll grok it.)

_Classic Hand Tools_ by Garrett Hack, John S Sheldon, and John S. Sheldon

_Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit, and Use_ by Toshio Odate (I just succumbed to this one last week.)

_Dictionary of American Hand Tools: A Pictorial Synopsis_ (Schiffer Book for Collectors) by Alvin Sellens. This one is -especially- the one to avoid. It will give you so many ideas your head'll explode. As sister publication with leatherworking tools is as dangerous. Either one (or Mike Burton's _Make Your Own Woodworking Tools: Metalwork Techniques to Create, Customize, and Sharpen in the Home Workshop_, or anything by Alexander G. Weygers) may lead to metalworking, another dreaded affliction from which we are seldom immune.

Tread carefully, my fellow fr^Hiends.

-- The Smart Person learns from his mistakes. The Wise Person learns from the mistakes of others. And then there are all the rest of us...

-----------------------------------------------------

[Zz Yzx]

Exactly. He made a stationary disk sander out of an old washer machine motor. A battery charger made from the alternator of a car I wrecked (hooked up to the motor on the table saw). A smoker out of an old refrigerator, with the firebox in the old motor/compressor box. Then he made a compressor out of the refer compressor and an old beer keg. I remember him using the "scarry sharp" method on chisels in ~1960, using the 7" Craftsman table saw table.

In his spare time we built wooden boats.

-Zz

[Leon]

Fewer now that I have nail guns. :~)

[krw]

Certainly, it's designed to get the thumb.

A worker on an friend's job site shot a nail clear through the middle of his foot. They had to cut the decking around his foot and carry him, nail, and the piece of decking off the roof and to the emergency room. Smashed fingers aren't all that bad.

of the Lake

Anesthesia is certainly called for.

"Our beer goes through thousands of quality Czechs every day."

A bar on campus had a sign "No Czechs".

[krw]

Never need more than one clamp? I'd like to see your glue-ups. ;-)

[Dave Balderstone]

Currently on sale at Lee Valley... Half price, limited stock. I've got mine, so have it!

[Phisherman]

I have a claw hammer, two ball peen hammers, a tack hammer, wooden mallet, rawhide mallet, geologist's hammer, and a hammer that I rarely use that I made in high school on a metal lathe. I almost forgot about the hatchet has a hammer head on it.

[Phisherman]

Interesting, I forgot to mention my deadblow hammer. Ever since I was given a rawhide hammer, at times I find myself using the rawhide instead of the deadblow--it won't mar the wood and not as clumsy/heavy as the deadblow. I think I forgot to mention my seldom used sledge hammer, but when you need one there's no good substitute. My hammer count just went up to about 14.