Let's see your favorite claw hammers

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

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Feb 11, 2016
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Title says it all.
Let's see your favorite claw hammers.

My absolute favorite is the rip claw Vaughan 9's family and it's Craftsman variants including the awesome hammertooth.

I still need a 160z #99, but I've got a few 20oz #999, and a 10oz #9 with a second on the way.
I want a used #99 because I like patina or I'd just buy a brand new one, so I've got a search saved on Ebay.
 
Favourite is a tricky one, I've been picking up old ones for a long time...... this one is quite nice for it's thoughtful sideways rolled nail puller, the only one I've ever seen like this.

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No pics handy but I'm a big fan of the Vaughan rip claw hammers. Been using them for 35 years. My fave is the 16oz. I have a 20oz., a 24 oz. and the little 10 oz.

A few years ago I found an old 16 oz Flint Edge Dynamic rip hammer. I have to say it's up to par with the Vaughans. Very nice hammer. I found an old 24 oz Heller that has a chipped face but it looks like it was a fantastic hammer before it was abused.
 
Square_peg said:
No pics handy but I'm a big fan of the Vaughan rip claw hammers. Been using them for 35 years. My fave is the 16oz. I have a 20oz., a 24 oz. and the little 10 oz.

A few years ago I found an old 16 oz Flint Edge Dynamic rip hammer. I have to say it's up to par with the Vaughans. Very nice hammer. I found an old 24 oz Heller that has a chipped face but it looks like it was a fantastic hammer before it was abused.
Click to expand...

I almost got a Vaughan hammer last week. But two of the three had bad looking handles, and the third had a head that was set crooked on the handle.
 
I bought a Dewalt framing hammer years ago. 14oz but had a long handle and the vast majority of weight was in the head. You could drive a 16 penny galvy spike in 4 blows. Which isn't the best, but pretty close for a 14oz hammer!
I removed an air intake vent in a bedroom and accidently sealed my $50 hammer in the floor. Haha. I know where it is! Just can't get to it.
Since then I can only find that hammer in waffle head. No good for me. So I haven't replaced it.
I do have some nice vintage claw hammers though. I'll try to post em up a little later.
 
I'll have to take a pic of the one I found in the old part of the company warehouse. Its most likely a Craftsman or some such. Its a rusted one piece piece of steel with an old rubber handle that has hardened and is rotting off. Nothing special, but i know it belonged to my dad in his youth.

We have had a construction business for over 65 years started by my grandfather and grown by my father. The hammer i found was probably one my dad used 30-35 years ago as a young man, certainly younger than I am today. I know it is his because my dad is left handed. The hammer has a slight bend to one side. This is due to the fact that when concrete pins are removed around forms after concrete is poured, the flat part of the hammer head is used to knock the pins loose from the dirt. The hammer is bent in such a way as being swung left handed by a pretty beefy arm hundred and thousands of times. That's my old man, especially 30+ years ago.

Nothing fancy about it. Its just an old, rusty, bent and forgotten hammer. However, the bend to it is proof of work. The proof of work is the successful business my dad has handed down to my brother and me. That hammer figuratively built the seat I sit upon. The sweat and brawn that it took to bend that piece if steel is a testament to my dad's work ethic.

I should have the thing framed. Everything my brother and I enjoy to this day is probably owed in some way to that hammer.
 
Charlie_K said:
That thing has seen some hard, hard use.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but a lot of these old heads I find can be a bit mushroomed, I think they were tempered on the softer side rather than harder if there was doubt about accuracy regarding the final hardness to avoid chipping, better a bit of mushrooming than a steel fragment in the eye, similar to the way modern cold chisels are made on purpose a little softer than what's striking them.

Below another strange one, a very long head. I can only imagine different folks making them had their own ideas of the perfect claw hammer....... :)

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2D378F6F-A30A-4625-B6D3-E652F5F03DE9.jpeg Vaughan hammers all the way for me.

The one on the left just got retired and the one with grip tape is 3 weeks old.

I built scaffold so a hammer is my bread and butter.
This is my fourth hammer of this model in about 12 years, so 3 years out of a hammer ain’t too bad in my trade.

I used to use a 20oz metal Estwing till it started giving my wrist problems.
As soon as I changed to fiberglass the pain went away.
No more metal handles for me.
 
willc said:
View attachment 1394617 Vaughan hammers all the way for me.

The one on the left just got retired and the one with grip tape is 3 weeks old.

I built scaffold so a hammer is my bread and butter.
This is my fourth hammer of this model in about 12 years, so 3 years out of a hammer ain’t too bad in my trade.

I used to use a 20oz metal Estwing till it started giving my wrist problems.
As soon as I changed to fiberglass the pain went away.
No more metal handles for me.
Click to expand...

I may eventually have to do the same. But then again I use a framing hammer even if it's not called for. Why? Because why not?
 
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