Estwing- How It's Made

[demographic]

You Estwing owners, I'm not sure if you're aware on not but those hammers and presumably the axes too, come with a lifetime guarantee. i.e. if they ever fail during normal use they're replaced no questioned asked.

Simply take them back to any Estwing supplier and you should be given a new replacement free of charge. This even applies to hammers well into their second decade of use. My own 16oz Estwing, which I got as an apprentice, the nylon handle failed about a year into owning it. Not even sure how but it split away at the joint where the shaft poked out of the handle. Over the weeks the split got worse. I ended up tapping the butt of the handle onto some solid object to drive the shaft back into the handle. Finally the site foreman mentioned this lifetime guarantee so off I trundled to the local tool shop I bought it from. The manager had a gander at it and just took down a brand spanking new 20oz hammer and handed that over to me sweet as pie, even apologised that he didn't have any 16oz in stock (I preferred the 20oz anyway)

So Toddy if your one ever fails, take it any shop that sells Estwings and try your luck on a freebie replacement. Don't ask, don't get.

I'm now at youtube wading my way through even more how it's made film clips. Fascinating stuff too.

Thanks for mentioning it but the first Estwing I owned was the one I liked the most, I bought another leather washer one after that but it doesn't ring (One of the old blokes I worked with described it as singing) when I hit nails in like my first.
That's the one I will be restoring as I miss it.
As anyone who has one in their hand as much as I and it seems several others on this thread will know, they are a very personal thing and picking up someone else's seemingly identical hammer just isn't quite the same.

I have a mate who got the shaft of hers bent slightly sideways and she doesn't like mine as she claims she's so used to hers that she doesn't like straight hammers anymore.
The longer framing hammers I have are good for timber framing but they aren't really mine if you get my drift. One day I might put stacked leather washers on the framing hammers and I'll see if I like it more like that.

The blue handled ones are very rugged indeed but I find that they grow legs and walk off site more often than the less common stacked leather grip Estwings.

As I'm sure you will know, there's hardly any carpenters/joiners that have any other make of hammer in the UK. I think I know maybe four or five that have a different make out of a couple of hundred people in the same job.
One thing I am a real fan of is the rip claw design, the straighter claws on my framing hammer is are much more use then the curved claws on my finishing hammer.

Over in the US there's a few manufacturers making totally different stuff, wooden handles, titanium, wood and metal, graphite wrapped handles and you name it.

Vaughan
Dalluge
Douglas tool
Shark Corp
Dead On
Estwing

Personally I'll stick with what I know and like but I would like to have a go with one of the California Framing hammers one day, not buying one to try it out though.

 

[Whittler Kev]

I'd like to see how the blue nylon/vinyl handles are put on instead of just the leather. That stuff is practically indestructible. I had a small hatchet with that for a handle material and loved the durability but found the handle grip much slimmer than the leather ones so sold it, but find the leather handle very comfy in my hand at least.
I've used their hammers with the blue handle and when I worked construction never saw one fail even when used in extremely cold temperatures. I also have one of their 26'' camper axes for rough work that's been used in temps colder than -40 and have had zero problems with the nylon handle. Pretty tough stuff.

It shows you in the hammer video

 

[bb07]

It shows you in the hammer video

I'm off to watch it, thanks!

 

[bb07]

It shows you in the hammer video

Hmmm, just watched it but only saw the leather handles, not the blue ones being put on

 

[Biker]

It's towards the end of the vid, it's there for sure.

Just checked, it starts around 3.46mins in

 

[bb07]

It's towards the end of the vid, it's there for sure.

Just checked, it starts around 3.46mins in

Thanks Biker. I found the problem- there's more than one video showing Estwing hammers and I was watching the wrong one but a quick check found the one you were referring to