DEWALT DWHT51054 20 Oz. Rip Claw Hammer

Product Information

This hammer was the favorite of a group of five female testers who looked at it against our top pick. 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 tested two framing hammers, the DeWalt DWHT51145 14 Ounce MIG-Weld Framing Hammer and the Milwaukee 17-oz.

There’s a nice little flare at the base of the handle, and the grip area has a good tack to it, so the hammer won’t easily slip out of the hands during a hefty swing.Curved Claw Smooth Face Hammer both have a very narrow handle, and neither was as comfortable to hold as the handle on the Estwing E3-20S. We did not test any titanium hammers, such as the Stiletto TB3SC TiBone III or the Martinez M1 15-oz. The milled edges aren’t as crisp as they used to be, and the hammer has taken on a very weathered patina (which I think is the mark of a well-used tool), but the hammer displays no signs of functional failure. And I noticed that some of them must have had them for over 30 years or so, because the blue rubber handles were so worn. I have an Estwing hatchet with this style of grip, and after years of use, the coating has become cracked and is starting to chip off.

The handle also has an odd bulge in it, which felt off when we held the handle either higher or lower along the grip. And with a nice weight distribution of the head in proportion to the handle, this hammer is easier to swing and hold than other models. We also didn’t like that the logo is carved into the neck of the hammer because it just collected gunk and dirt. Mark Piersma, with 12 years of construction experience, has a 16-ounce Estwing that “is pretty much my go-to hammer for everything.This allows for a nice line of sight when hitting a small picture hanger nail or brad, while still packing enough heft to bury a framing spike in a manageable number of swings. If you need a hammer only for light-duty use (like installing picture hangers and tapping together knockdown furniture), you can take a step down in weight to a 12-ounce hammer.

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.The E3-20S has all of the other exceptional hallmarks of an Estwing hammer, including its unadorned simplicity. Eventually all of the finish will wear off, and the hammer will take on the nice, broken-in look that’s the mark of a well-loved Estwing hammer. Even with their fairly light weight, the hammers—each about 2½ inches longer than the 20-ounce Estwing—are still too long for any kind of finesse work. The 16-ounce curved-claw Estwing E3-16C (left) compared with the 20-ounce straight-claw Estwing E3-20S. Wood-handled hammers: These have a nice, traditional look to them, and they are loved by framing crews for their natural shock-absorbing properties, but the connection between the head and the handle is less stable.

Some competitor models had individual finger grooves, which can be uncomfortable or limit the way you hold the tool. The bigger one wasn’t as heavy as I thought, but I like the little one because I feel like I have more control over it. With the 16-ounce hammer, it took us, on average, four swings to bury a 16d framing nail (3½ inches long).Only a Stanley hammer distinguished itself here, due to the extremely steep curve of its claw, but that hammer has been discontinued. Also, with the smaller hammer, your knuckles are much closer to what you’re hitting, so an overstrike or any kind of miss is more likely to put your hand at risk. Estwing sells a series of metal-handled hammers with a wound leather grip instead of the blue nylon-vinyl one. I’ve worked with countless hammers, using them to drive everything from teeny-tiny brads to massive framing spikes.