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Just finished restoring
Ricci Wright
Member Posts: 8,259 ✭✭
my Grandfather's 16 oz. Estwing hammer. All steel with a nylon handle cover. A soak in Evap O Rust and a little work with a course stainless wool pad. Then a good coat of Hoppes 9 and she's looking good and ready for years of service. I have no use for cheap tools but a deep abiding respect for good quality ones and especially ones that once belonged to my Grandfather. <P> He came from a poor farming family in Acme, N. C., worked his way to a supervisory position at the N.C. Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, N.C. and helped build Liberty ships from 1941 to 1946. Then he went out on his own as a carpenter and then a general contractor. He was very skilled and when I was I was 21 and he was 70 he could still out work me. A kind gentle man who never raised his voice, he was overly generous, feeding a lot of folks who needed help. He instilled in me a work ethic, and a sense of right and wrong and fairness that continues to serve me especially when decisions are difficult. I miss him.
Comments
my dad was a carpenter for the last 30 years or so of his life until he was taken out by cancer .
I have some of his tools and a tool box of his, he never learned to read or write mom taught him to write his name , I did get to work with him on several jobs in the late 1970"s
any way most all his tools have his initials scratched into them whaen I use one I connect with him in thoughts of days gone by and yes he also taught me to have a strong work ethic .
About a week ago, my brother was scraping our 1/2 mile long driveway, and up popped an Estwing. Familiar blue rubber stuff on the metal handle. It is a weird little hammer, handle about 8 inches long and about a 22 ounce head, with hammers on both ends. Weird little hammer not for framing or carpentry, maybe for the blacksmith or the mason, or, for an extremely strong dwarf.
At any rate our driveway is 24 years old, this antique Estwing didn't fall off of my truck so no telling how long it has been buried on our driveway. It has a little pitting on the metal but that blue rubber on the handle is as good as new, this hammer is ready to go to work! If only we can figure out what it is for.
By both ends, you mean both sides of the head right? Like the common ball peen hammer with standard face on other side? I can't recall ever seeing a hammer with heads at each end of the actual handle.
If I am picturing correctly what you are saying, then it sounds like a blacksmith hammer. You might see if anything on here looks vaguely familiar https://www.collectorsweekly.com/tools-and-hardware/hammers. Or, post a pic if you could. While not particularly knowledgeable, I like old tools and could do some research.
Our driveway/private road is, in fact, 24 years old and is 3/4 mile long, and five houses have been built up here, the most recent was built 12 years ago.
Countless carpenters, electricians, concrete trucks, masons, gravel trucks etc have driven up this road. Only God knows whose truck this hammer fell off of.
This road has never had any salt put on it so, based on the pitting and rust, I would say this hammer has been there a long time, maybe 24 years. Could have fallen off of a gravel truck way back when and got buried under 4 inches of gravel.
I was comparing the heft of this thing to a 22 oz. Estwing framing hammer, and this little guy is much heavier. I think the head is 3 lb like the handle says. Like I said, we need to find a real strong dwarf to swing this hammer.
From Estwing:
"The Drilling Hammer has a bonded and molded Shock Reduction Grip? which offers the utmost in both comfort and durability, while reducing vibrations caused by impact. The head and handle are forged in one piece and have an attractive blue UV coating, both faces are fully polished. For use with chisels, punches, star drills and hardened nails. Permits heavy blows with limited swing."