The Romans were the first to hit upon this felicitous combination, and a couple of millennia later it remains an indispensable tool.
As you might expect with something this old, there are many variations on the claw hammer, but they all fall into one of two groups: finish or framing. Most homeowners can get along quite well with a trusty finish hammer, distinguished by its smooth face, light head (less than 20 ounces), short handle (less than 16 inches), and curved claw for easy nail removal.
For the more muscular work of nailing lumber, a framing (aka, rip) hammer is the way to go. It has a handle up to 18 inches long, a straight claw for prying apart pieces of wood, a head weighing 20 ounces or more, and a milled face to grip nailheads.
Classic Finish Hammers
For most tasks around the house, a finish hammer is what you need. Unlike head-heavy framing hammers, finish hammers are balanced to tap a slender nail without overstriking or bending it.
The 16-ounce Estwing, right, has a handle sheathed in lacquered leather strips (About $25, Amazon). Its diminutive 6-ounce cousin has a hickory “beaver-tail” handle that fits snugly in your palm when tapping in brads or finish nails (About $14; Lee Valley).
Anti-Vibe
A “tuning fork” in the handle of this 20-ounce model dissipates impact shocks and vibrations, which can harm joints, muscles, and nerves even if you’re not hammering all day long. The rubber grip has a diamond-patterned texture and a “deer’s-foot” flare at the end to ensure it won’t slip out of a sweaty palm.
14-inch handle; About $40; Amazon
Long Nose
Slim and lightweight, Japanese finish hammers have a nimbleness well suited to delicate finish work. Their elongated necks keep knuckles clear of the work, and sharply pointed, steeply sloped claws extract embedded nails in one pull. Striking plates on the sides (cheeks) of this 14-ounce head can drive nails in tight quarters.
Similar to Shown: 14-inch handle; About $56; Amazon
Nail Starter
The Striker’s exquisitely sculpted 21-ounce head is permanently fastened to its fiberglass handle with epoxy resin, which resists nearly 5,000 pounds of pullout force (wood handles can withstand about 200 pounds); that means you can pound nails in and crank them out again with abandon. The groove in the head is a magnetic nail holder for one-handed nail starting.
Pro Tip: Tom Silva, TOH general contractor, explains how a magnetic nail starter works in practice: When you’re framing a roof and need to hold a rafter against the ridge while reaching overhead, “you can take this and just bang it one stop. So you’ve got a little tiny magnet into the head. You got a little bit of a recess for the head of the nail. And when those two kind of come up there and reach up high, boom, the hammer allows you to drive it in.”
18-inch handle (similar to shown); $45; Amazon
Two-Faced
Titanium isn’t cheap, but if you’re pounding a houseful of nails, you’ll appreciate that it’s about 45 percent lighter and 10 times better at damping vibration than the high-carbon steel most hammer heads are made of. The 15-ounce TiBone II features interchangeable steel faces: one milled and one smooth.
18-inch handle; About $262; Stiletto Tools
Weight Forward
A 21-ounce steel head bolted to a lightweight fiberglass handle moves this tool’s balance point significantly closer to the business end for greater nail-striking power. The square face, for nailing in tight corners, has recessed mill marks that wear more evenly than a waffle-iron texture.
Handle material matters more than you might think. As TOH general contractor Tom Silva points out, hammers come with wooden, graphite, steel, or fiberglass handles — and “they’re all trying to absorb the shock” from a full day of driving nails. A fiberglass handle like the one on this model helps reduce fatigue while keeping weight concentrated in the head where it counts.
Pro Tip: Tom Silva, TOH general contractor, explains that the waffle-textured head serves a critical purpose: “It’s a waffle head or a wafer head so that the hammer head won’t slip off the nail. When you’re trying to toenail it in a hard-to-get place.”
16-inch handle; About $41; Ace Hardware
Pulls Both Ways
This 20—ounce hammer has a sideways nail-puller—the V-shaped notch in the head—for maximum leverage, an overstrike plate to protect the hickory handle, and a magnetic nail holder for one-handed starting. All in all, a full-featured, beautifully balanced tool for a reasonable price.
16-inch handle; About $68; Douglas Tool
One Pull or Two?
Tom also demonstrated a handy trick for nails in tight spots where neither claw type fits: “Let’s say the nail is in a hard-to-get place or a low [spot] like this, and I can’t get the straight claw under there. Now I can get my claw, the side of my hammer in here and I can get under it. Now I get some good leverage and I can pull the nail right out and finish it off with the other end.”
A claw that curves back sharply toward its handle (yellow handle) can pull out longer nails with one yank. Hammers with straight claws (blue/ white and red handles) are better suited for prying apart fastened lumber. Side nail pullers (hickory handle) apply the greatest leverage and help extract nails in spaces too tight for a claw to reach.
Pro Tip: TOH general contractor Tom Silva says the best hammer for pulling nails comes down to what’s available: “The best hammer for pulling nails is the one that’s in your hand. Either type can do the job.” That said, he gives a slight edge to curved-claw models for their superior nail-pulling leverage.
In an Ask This Old House demonstration, Tom showed Kevin O’Connor how a curved claw pulls nails with noticeably less effort — but warned that the extra leverage concentrates force on the wood surface, which can leave dents. His fix: slip a thin block of wood under the hammer head as a fulcrum. “So now if you put a fulcrum under that, you can use a straight claw much easier,” Tom explained, “and you didn’t damage the wood.
TOH Tip: Never strike the head of a hammer with another hammer. The collision can cause tiny shards of razor-sharp steel to split off and come flying at you.
Fast Fact: A pro can swing a hammer 35 feet per second
