This is one of several Fun Pix resulting from my experiences with |
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This is one of several Fun Pix resulting from my experiences with |
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Hammer |
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This is the second framing hammer I've bought. |
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The head of this one weighs 23 ounces, whereas the first one's weighed 28 ounces. With that 28-ouncer, it took me just a couple hours of framing to realize I simply wasn't tough enough or strong enough to use it except in the best of circumstances, such as hammering straight down in the flow of gravity. When I'd climb a tottering ladder and get into some awkward position and try to hammer over my head, I could swing it really hard maybe half a dozen times before I needed to choke up on the handle or actually take a break for a few seconds. It was not gangs of fun, it was embarrassing. I gave that hammer to HABITAT KANSAS CITY (*see warnings below) and one of the staff members began carrying it. He's six feet three inches tall, he weighs maybe 250 pounds, he's a professional rubgy player, and he looks like he could hammer nails with his biceps.
My 23-ounce hammer is just right. It's enough heavier than my regular hammer's 18 ounces that those five extra ounces make a difference when you're flat-out whomping big nails or when you're just pounding as hard as you can on, say, an entire wall to get it to move (called "persuading"). The handle of my framing hammer is a good five inches longer than my regular hammer's, and that makes a big difference too. The tradeoff for that longer lever arm, though, is that when you hold the hammer at the far butt end it becomes harder to swing accurately, plus which it is effectively heavier than if you choke up on it. Novice hammererers choke up on the handle a lot and take sometimes two dozen weak swings at the nail, using only the wrist or, even worse, not using the wrist at all. Framing carpenters use all the power of physics and their anatomy to sink a 16d nail in five or four or even three powerful blows. It's even doable in one! The face of my framing hammer is a good 25% bigger than that of a regular hammer, which would be a problem in many nailing situations, but in framing it doesn't matter if you beat up the wood around the nail. And because the face is bigger, you don't have to be so accurate, which means you can afford to take a longer, more forceful swing. As you might be able to tell from the photo above, I have incised (using a #10 scalpel) a ring into the handle at a point four inches from the top of the head, one at twelve inches and another one at sixteen inches, which means I can make a quick and dirty one-shot measurement of 4 inches, 8 inches, 12 inches and 16 inches. At the eight-inch mark on the steel tape you'll see where the wood finish goes from light to dark. The dark part is where I sanded down the veneer on the handle, to give me a better grip. And at the very bottom you'll see what turns out to be several windings of electrical tape, which serves two purposes. One is that it keeps the end of the handle from slipping through my hand, and the other is that, if I need some electrical tape, maybe as a makeshift depth-gauge for a drill bit, all I have to do is unwind some and tear it off. And I've roughed up the finish on both cheeks of the head so I can write down measurements on them (Was it 53 5/8 or 55 3/8?) and then erase them with a swipe of my thumb. A framing hammer does more than whomp nails. You can use it to extend your reach when you're supporting the weight of, say, a roof truss that you're handing up to the people on the top plates. You can use it to reach across a distance and plunge the claws into a piece of lumber so you can lift it up and carry it to you. You can use the claw end to wrap around a recalcitrant piece of framing and pull it into place. You can use the claw end to pull yourself into an awkward position, such as up a ladder that's placed way out of your mere arms' range. You can whomp the claw end into any nearby piece of wood just so it'll stay put for a sec while you do something else with your hammer hand. In conversations with fellow carpenters you can use it to point to and even touch various framing members that you couldn't otherwise point to accurately (just as you can use a steel tape, also shown in the photo above, to point to and touch things that are even farther away). You can shove the claw end in between two boards and move the handle sideways to pry them apart, like a pry bar. And it makes a heck of a paperweight. I really like my framing hammer. I've even named it.
Update of July 2002: I've now bought a third framing hammer, an even better one.
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This is one of the original brand, called a Death Stick. Since then larger, more reliable manufacturers have copied the basic features and improved the product considerably. |
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From the factory the head weighs 24 ounces, which is just right considering how well balanced it is. The hammer at the top of the page has a straight handle, but this one has what's called a hatchet handle, which naturally helps prevent it from sliding past the heel of your hand. When wielded taking full advantage of physics, it delivers an impressive blow. And it's all painted a shiny black, with "Death Stick" painted on both sides in huge silver letters. I've modified this particular version, of course. I sanded off the slick paint (which was a moronic design error), and I added ruler markings at 8, 12 and 16 inches on the handle, this time using a woodburning tool. And I burned in my name too, so I don't have to re-write it every other day with a magic marker. I've also added a feature that, as far as I know, I invented first. Just below the head you'll see a silver strap. It's a hose clamp wrapped around a ring of rubber hose, and the purpose is to protect the part of the handle just below the head. If you swing just a bit long you wham the handle into the nail head, and if that handle is made of wood or fiberglass it gets worn down over time, which can eventually cause it to break. Which is why I added a hose clamp right where it's needed. Any mishits that would chew away the wood of the handle must now pass through a layer of steel and a layer of rubber first. But the coolest two features of the Death Stick use magnetism. Here's a photo of the hammer's pate.
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At the top of the waffled face you see a channel cut into the whole barrel, and below that you see a small disk. That disk is a magnet, and if you
merely place it on a ferrous object such as a nail, it will pick it up. This feature alone is handier than you might think.
But what about that channel? Here's the deal. You can place a nail in that channel, and the magnet will hold it in place. The head of the nail rests against a pocket just past the magnet. With a nail so loaded, you can then wham the top of the hammer face, where the nail point is, into a spot perhaps a foot beyond where you could reach with just your two hands, whence you can continue hammering it in. And every so often that makes a big difference. |
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