The 4 Best Hammers of 2024 | Reviews by Wirecutter

06 Aug.,2024

 

The 4 Best Hammers of | Reviews by Wirecutter

A quality hammer can last for generations, and the best ones fall into that unique category of products where the little scuffs and scratches tell a story over time. In a world of disposable items, that&#;s significant.

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Hammers ain&#;t just for tapping nails. These all-purpose tools work well for prying, knocking things into place, or even doing some good old-fashioned demolition.

Heavier, longer, and more powerful per swing than our top pick, this 20-ounce hammer shares the great features common to all Estwing hammers. Plus, it has a straight claw suited to demolition and prying.

This smaller version of our top pick is great if you need something that&#;s easier to swing or that has a more delicate touch for hanging photos or assembling furniture.

This hammer does the job as well as our top pick. But the handle isn&#;t as nice, and the logo carved into the neck is little more than a grime collector.

In addition to its indestructible steel design, this hammer is perfectly balanced, offers a great grip, and has a stellar reputation. Countless carpenters have proved that it will last a lifetime.

In our years of testing 22 hammers, we&#;ve confirmed that the 16-ounce, steel-handled, curved-claw Estwing E3-16C&#;a favorite of carpenters everywhere&#;is nearly perfect for any household job.

Estwing hammers succeed because they deliver everything you could want in a hammer. The E3-16C offers powerful heft without being uncomfortably large or heavy, and its slightly squishy, tacky grip is among the easiest to hold and the least prone to vibration. The curved claw is ideally suited to pulling nails, and its striking face gives a clearer line of sight than tools with oversized heads. Made from a single piece of steel extending from tip to tail, this hammer is also indestructible. Equally at home in a garage toolbox or on a professional jobsite, the E3-16C typically costs around $25&#;a small investment for something that will last a lifetime.

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If the Estwing E3-16C is unavailable, we recommend the Ox Tools Pro 16-Ounce Claw Hammer. Like the Estwing hammer, the Ox Tools hammer is a solid steel model with a nice, grippy handle. When we compared the two side by side, the handle of the Ox Tools hammer was less comfortable to hold, since the logo is slightly raised. We also didn&#;t like that the logo is carved into the neck of the hammer because it just collected gunk and dirt. The Ox Tools model is a fine hammer. But since the Estwing E3-16C achieves such a high level of excellence for around the same price&#;and because it&#;s widely available both online and in brick-and-mortar stores&#;we really only recommend the Ox Tools hammer if you need something in a hurry and you can&#;t locate an Estwing.

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Estwing E3-12C

A smaller hammer for light-duty work

This smaller version of our top pick is great if you need something that&#;s easier to swing or that has a more delicate touch for hanging photos or assembling furniture.

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$31

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If you need a hammer that&#;s easier to swing, or you want something with a lighter touch for installing picture hangers or assembling furniture, take a step down in weight to Estwing&#;s E3-12C. This is the 12-ounce version of the E3-16C, and though it&#;s smaller and lighter, it&#;s still well balanced, indestructible, and just as comfortable to grip and swing. This hammer was the favorite of a group of five female testers who looked at it against our top pick. It gets the job done for small stuff&#;but so does our 16-ounce top pick (which we prefer as a more versatile option, since the 12-ounce hammer can struggle with larger nails).

If you&#;re taking on ambitious projects, and you&#;re comfortable using a bigger tool&#;or you&#;re simply someone who actively looks for reasons to swing a hammer&#;we recommend the Estwing E3-20S. Compared with our top pick, this hammer is heavier and longer, which translates into a more powerful swing. The E3-20S also has a straight claw (as opposed to a curved one, like on our other picks), so this hammer is better suited to demolition work and serious prying. The E3-20S has all of the other exceptional hallmarks of an Estwing hammer, including its unadorned simplicity. During my 10 years working in the construction industry, I saw more carpenters using this hammer than any other model.

Hammer Buying Guide

Many different types of hammers are available, each suitable for different tasks and materials. So, choosing the right one comes down to what job you need it for and the material you&#;ll be working on.

The most common uses for hammers include carpentry, framing, nail removal, furniture making, demolition and construction. We talk through the different types and their uses in the following section, but they can also be categorised as:

  • Framing hammers: large and heavy-duty, designed for heavy wood construction tasks such as timber framing.
  • Finishing hammers: small and lightweight, designed to provide a neat finish for cosmetic purposes on materials that will be visible.
  • Japanese hammers: versatile, ideal for woodworking, with a hardened striking face on the front of a soft head for extra shock absorbency.

Mallet hammers: has a rubber or plastic head that produces almost no bounce or shock when an object is struck. Used when working on fragile or delicate surfaces. There is also a wooden-headed mallet used for woodworking. 

Hammer handles come in a choice of three materials:

  • Wood: this is the lightest material available and the one which transmits the least amount of vibration when it strikes a surface. Wooden handles are strong but not as strong as steel and aren&#;t suitable for demolition work. However, they are ideal for people who use these tools for long periods or carry them in a tool belt.
  • Fibreglass: this is heavier than wood but lighter than steel. Fibreglass handles also transmit more vibration than wood but less than steel. They are ideal for electricians because they are non-conductive.
  • Steel: this is the heaviest material available, but the extra weight in the handle doesn&#;t necessarily mean it will strike a surface harder. It&#;s also the material that transmits the most vibration when it hits a surface, which can impact the user if used over prolonged periods. For these reasons, a steel-handled hammer is best for infrequent, heavy-duty use or light-duty use.

Another choice you&#;ll need to make when buying a hammer is how heavy the head should be. Most hammer heads weigh between 14 ounces (for a small claw hammer) to 24 pounds (for a demolition sledgehammer). When deciding which weight you need, consider a light version for hammering overhead or for long periods and a heavy one for low-down hammering or infrequent use. 

Also, consider what weight you can handle. A quick swing with a light hammer is better than a slow swing with a heavy hammer. And finally, check the centre of gravity, as swinging a steel headed/handled hammer feels very different to swinging a steel headed/wooden-handled version. So, test how they feel before you buy to see what you prefer.

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