Getting a Handle on Right Kind of Hammer

No tool is more basic than the claw hammer. Everyone owns one and, in fact, it’s probably the first tool you ever bought. The only trouble with this is that way back when you bought that hammer, you were most likely a woodworking rookie on a limited budget. As a result, that hammer may not have been the best one for your needs.

Claw hammers come in two basic types: Curved-claw and straight-claw. If your first hammer has curved claws, good. This is the most useful type for general work because it’s good for driving nails and for removing them easily and smoothly without marring your work.

The straight-claw hammer is designed as much for knocking things apart as it is for nailing them together. The straight claws are easy to work in between boards for prying, but they aren’t quite as good as curved claws for pulling nails. If you already have a curved-claw hammer and are planning some renovation and demolition work, you might want a straight-claw as a second hammer.

Head Weight

After deciding on hammer type, you need to pick a weight. The most common weight for claw hammers is 16 ounces. This is a good all-around weight. If you do a lot of framing and other heavy nailing, you might want to consider a 20-ounce head. This is a little harder to swing, but if you can handle it, the extra weight will drive big nails and spikes with fewer blows. Lots of experienced workers have 16-ounce curved-claw hammers but get their straight-claw hammers with 20-ounce heads.

If you do lots of delicate work, you might like a 13-ounce hammer. It’s light and easy to handle.

Hammer Face

Most hammers come with a slightly convex “belled” face. This helps you make good contact with the nail even if you strike a glancing blow, and it also reduces marring when you are completely off target. If you decide to buy a big 20-ounce hammer for heavy work, you might want to consider a checkered face. This helps prevent the hammer from slipping off the nail, but it also leaves an obvious impression on your work--so it’s not for work that shows.

Never buy a hammer with a cheap cast head. These can be brittle and dangerous. Drop-forged steel heads are the only way to go.

The Handle

Most handles are wood, and there’s certainly something to be said for the look and feel of a nice, time-burnished hickory handle. That said, there is also no arguing that a metal or fiberglass handle will last longer under years of abuse. Some workers don’t like the feel of these modern handles, or claim that they don’t absorb shock as well as wood, but quality steel and glass handles now come with effective shock-absorbing grips that have solved that complaint, for me at least.

The choice of a handle is a personal decision, and one you probably can’t make in a store. It often takes several hours of pounding to really get a feel for what you do and do not like.

Special Features

Some hammers come with a little mini-claw cut into the tip of one of the regular claws (see detail in sketch). This is handy for pulling small nails and tacks, and it will reach into tight spots to at least get you started on pulling nails you can’t reach with the two larger claws. If you would like to add a mini-claw to your existing hammer, you can do so with a triangular needle file.

A custom trick you might want to try on a wooden handle: Wrap it with one of the special grip materials used for tennis rackets. Any pro shop can sell you a few feet of this stuff. Wrap it snugly around the handle and finish off the ends with electrician’s tape as shown in the sketch. For a neat job, take five or six very snug wraps with the electrician’s tape, then finish off with a couple of wraps under no tension at all. These loose wraps will keep the end of the tape from creeping as the tape tries to shrink back to its original length.