Will be trying a Lump Hammer of sorts

[Tony Z]

I've had a 2 pound "mash hammer" for many decades! Handle broke off and I replaced with a much shorter one and is handy around the shop. A few years back, I treated myself to an Estwing "mash hammer", but the steel handle is not the same, and gets little use. I did buy a Harbor Freight hammer, shortened the handle and re-shaped it a bit. Even gave it the "Crucible" look on my stationary sander, but that didn't impart the Unicorn magical properties I was hoping for, especially when it gave me a deep blue fingernail.

[Handplanesandmore]

My neighbor ran a window business, and claimed that his business caused him various health issues including carpal tunnel syndrome, forcing him to retire his business early. Not sure about his claim that his regular use of bigger hammers was a culprit, but this is one article about hammers:
https://www.realsafety.org/2014/07/does-...er-matter/

Except for my Japanese chisels, driving nails and tapping dovetails in place (you shouldn't need to force a well cut joint), I don't use a metal hammer for woodworking at all, let alone a lump hammer (I use a mallet for the holdfasts so I can tell from the sound and feedback of the handle that they are seated). It may be good for developing biceps perhaps?

Simon

[Timberwolf]

My neighbor ran a window business, and claimed that his business caused him various health issues including carpal tunnel syndrome, forcing him to retire his business early. Not sure about his claim that his regular use of bigger hammers was a culprit, but this is one article about hammers:
https://www.realsafety.org/2014/07/does-...er-matter/

Except for my Japanese chisels, driving nails and tapping dovetails in place (you shouldn't need to force a well cut joint), I don't use a metal hammer for woodworking at all, let alone a lump hammer (I use a mallet for the holdfasts so I can tell from the sound and feedback of the handle that they are seated). It may be good for developing  biceps perhaps?

Simon

............................
I use a large rawhide hammer for more "smach" and less rebound without leaving a mark...But in my former life, a 2lb short handle sledge was a requirement..and sometimes his big brothers had to be called into service.

[Tony Z]

My mash hammer was utilizied for non wood tasks, never project assembly. Only chisel it hit was a cold chisel. My holdfasts secured (quite nicely), with my 20 oz. "Wood is Good" mallet.

I supposed I have used it for driving masonry nails through 2X material.

[bandit571]

IF I find my 7oz Riveting hammer is just bouncing off of items..
..time to up the game...


I do have a 3-1/2 pound crosspean....drives stakes, fence posts, moves a joist, stud, or post to where it needs to be.  


Have a couple "WarClub" 24oz framers....as I do a little Carpentry on the side.  Largest in the shop...16oz claw hammer (4 of them?)


Have a Rowdy Yates hammer..
...kind of light weight, about a 6-7oz raw hide.   It can drive a chisel, or a dovetail....

I suppose no one here has a "collection" of Ball Pean Hammers,  in every size from 4oz to 32 oz?  




BTW: That 3-1/2 pound cross pean...came in handy a while back....while changing the brakes on the van...wheel was about rusted in place...couple of well placed hits on the tire ( NOT the rims) and the wheel decided to come off....like it was supposed to do....Son was trying to just kick it loose, until the jacks started to move.....at least he placed jack stands under the van....I more or less let gravity assist the swing....16" handle.   Started the swing about shoulder height, and let it swing down...



Size of the hammer is relative to the size of the job being done.  

[Handplanesandmore]

Size of the hammer is relative to the size of the job being done.  

My smallest hammer is, give or take, 3 oz..... for plane setting.

I really can't imagine swinging a 2lb hammer day in and day out when I have lots of chopping or assembly to do, without hurting either my forearm or my shoulder. But then, I'm not known to be a big muscle guy, not to mention my age doesn't help either.

I seldom need to use any kind of hammer to close up a joint...but in the rare occasion that I do force a joint, clamps, not blunt force, are what I will need.

Simon

[bandit571]

To each their own....

[Derek Cohen]

Smallest hammer: 2 oz watchmaker, used to adjust the blades in a Veritas/LN/Stanley plane.



Largest mallet: 36 oz brass infill, Jarrah and Fiddleback Marri ...



I cannot imagine using a steel lump hammer. The large mallet is pretty heavy, but all my hammers have UHMW faces ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bill Holt]

bandit, my dad had a matched set of "Ball Peen" hammers; there was about eight of them.  All had wooden handle with dark green paint on the bottom 5 or 6 inches.  I never developed an appreciation for the ball peen hammer until after his near by grandsons lost or damaged all of them.

[hbmcc]

<<<<<SNIP
I really can't imagine swinging a 2lb hammer day in and day out when I have lots of chopping or assembly to do, without hurting either my forearm or my shoulder. But then, I'm not known to be a big muscle guy, not to mention my age doesn't help either.

SNIP>>>>>>
Simon

I know that pain.

I have been using three hammers this summer on a deck rebuild, two sixteens and a 28 framer. For a while the 28 helped the pry bars rip out old 'floor' wood. It is and has been too much for simple nailing. It's OK in pendulum mode and driving sticky wood blocks. However, boards are littered with bent wire that hasn't reached beyond the first board. Even sixteen ounce hammers want to bend nails. I know the big culprit is the new Douglas fir we must work with. I would never admit error.

On the sixteen side, the Cheney/Stanley is perfect for pulling nails, but it rings and sings when hitting steel, and not pleasantly. (It also is shedding surface steel chips.) The horrid plastic handled Stanley taps temporary 'position' nails; and the balance of 70 blocks after Cheney was fired. Sixteens have an optimum balance of weight and adjility in my hand to do nearly all the hammer work I need done.

In the shop, a relative term for me, various sized wood blocks persuade the work piece, and tools. I can't imagine sorting through a porcupine-shaped box of handles looking for the "ideal" dumb-bell.