My most irreplacable tool is a hammer. When I was in construction, i used all sorts of hammers from 10oz ball peen to 8lb spalling (stone) hammers that were used with either one or two hands. Those 8pounders were, naturally used with two hands mostly. Once in a while it was used for a swing or two with one hand. Hey, I'm only a little guy. I also used long handled hammers with 8lb to as much as 20 lb heads. While growing up on my uncle's farm, my uncle had a 25pound post maul that he woud drive 7 ft wooden fence posts into the ground holding the post with his right hand while driving post with that 25 pound monster in his left hand.
When I first got int carpentry work, I used many different brands of claw hammers, the brands or mostly out of my head by now. Eventually, i met up with Plumb. Their old wood handled claw hammers had a special shape. The taper part of the handle was sortt of a hex shape with uneven sides flatter than the top and bottom sides. From the hex part of the handle, there was a long taper flaring slightly at the very end f the handle. Even tho I used stone hammers more often than claw hammers, I have very small hands for somebody who does that sort of work. For driving nails, i need a hammer I can hang onto. For trim work (in the winter, i often worked as a carpenter when it was too cold to work with morter outside) I used a 16 oz plumb. for framing, I used the 20 oz. As more and more companies went into steel handles (estwing) and fiberglass, I stuck with my Plumbs with the wood handles for most work. If I got into demolitin work, I went to the plumb fiberglass. They were comfortable for me, but a little more tiring to use for long periods of time. I still have a sizable collection of those old Plumbs in my shop. I do not let anybody borrow >>> not ever.
Today, I can appreciate that taper to those plumbs so much more, as when i swing at a nail larger than 6 or 8 penny, I never know where the hammer will end up. If I am lucky, I hit the nail. If I am not so lucky, the hammer flies across the room. Somehow, that doesn't happen quite so often with those old wood handled plumbs with their very comfortable taper.
Tinker
