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Is a $140 hammer really that much better than a $40 hammer?


Pancho07

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Nicely put, Forging Fool. 

As a field tech in my day job, I find I enjoy using good quality tools. They give better results (for e.g. repeatability in measurements), are better finished, more precise, don't slip anywhere near as often, have better ergonomics (although that is subjective - for example a lot of colleagues use Wera screwdrivers, but I find them a bit awkward & prefer KWB) and make it easier for me to do a quality job. I LOVE my Stahlwille spanners for example. 

BUT!! In the field, it can be

a. difficult to avoid losses

b. if you don't have the right tool, there may not be a good tool shop near by

c. you need to modify a tool - I don't want to bend a Stahlwille if I can bend a Kinchrome or, if I'm really out if luck, whatever monkey metal, vaguely-close-to-the-size-it-claims-to-be piece of junk. 

a. is partially alleviated by selecting unusual, good quality tools. Hence KWB. I also like plenty of other brands such as pre-Stanley ownership Facom & Britool. It helps keep an eye on them if you're the only one with that brand. ;)

As for hammers, like many tools it comes down to ergonomics, material, heat treating, and finish/aesthetics. I've used a hammer made of 1045 or similar, and the rebound was terrific. :) Going back to my cast head cross peen was not pleasant. 

Plus, I find many cheap hammer makers seem to have no idea about ergonomics. The bigger the hammer, the bigger the handle (so that its in proportion?)

 That cast hammer is 3lb. I have quite large hands, but the handle was WAAAAY too fat to be comfortable. Counter intuitively, I found I was gripping it harder to try and control it. Having thinned it out a lot, it's better. Still want to have a go at making a hammer from Spring steel, because this one feels pretty heavy / dead at the anvil.

In short, I expect any quality tool to both look and perform better than a cheap version, and given an option I will go quality every time. 

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On ‎4‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 3:38 PM, KYBOY said:

Ive paid a lot of money for good guns, custom rifles

I have as well spend a lot of money on custom rifles one good enough so I was in the top 40 of 600 shooters at a National Match a while ago but my buddy shooting my rifle was in the top 10!   Good Expensive equip. is half the story knowing how to shoot is the other 3/4!  Buying a $140. or $250 hammer does not make a great blacksmith but will not hurt either once you wife stops hitting you with it.  In my case the rifle was too heavy for my now X-Wife to pick up and I got to keep it in the divorce. 

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I find the better tools help to produce a better result and last a lot longer. I save my money for Stihl chainsaws, Mac hand tools (all purchased as carefully picked used tools) etc. I have been forced to use cheaper stuff in the past due to economics, but much prefer the good stuff when I can swing it. The exception for me is when the tool defies age. My large post vise was cheap due to age and rust but is a thing of beauty and a pleasure to use...same with my Peter Wright anvil. My hammers for the most part are older than me and were purchased at auctions and garage sales. I wouldn't trade them. I hate a cheap gun and my favorite is an old M1a. I despise a tool that fails when doing the job it was made for...so do my knuckles.

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  • 5 months later...
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On 3/26/2016 at 2:59 PM, Pancho07 said:

Having never used an expensive hammer I have no way of knowing and dont want to knock them, so to speak, but I've been wondering latey are the more expensive hammers that much better? How much more quality do you get from say a Brazael hammer than you would get from a cheaper but we'll made hammer? Or is it more so being able to say I have a tool made by someone famous?

A lot of interesting replies.

Sure, in general terms a more expensive tool is better. No surprises there. Just like a magnetic base Feins drill ($2000) is better than a $200 Baum made in china, a Hofi hammer is better than a Kmart hammer.

Here one can elaborate on the definition of better till the cows go home, and if you are better than me and how the best craftsman can make do a cheap nasty tool.

I like the blu/check/hofi hammer but wish it had a longer handle. And I also know that one hammer does not work for everything or everyone, so most folks have a couple of dozen different hammers. 

As far as the idea that people buy expensive tools to show off and that in reality any hammer is the same, I disagree on both accounts. Anyone that buys tools to use them can appreciate the better quality. Some may be able to see this more than others, but the difference is most of the time rather obvious. 

Sure one must admire the craft and ingenuity in the person that makes a cheap tool work better and the ability of someone tuning and modifying a $1 hammer into a good tool.

Blacksmithing can be done with almost no money and with the most primitive of tools.

However the converse, that is buying a quality tool off the shelf, or even better, custom made, should not be frown upon as vanity or a vain attempt at compensate lack of skills and it is not set in concrete that a 'beginner' has to start from scratch and make everything himself starting with a rock for a hammer.

As much as the journey of making your own tools and starting with $1 tools can be a very good learning path, there are no two path the same and if someone wants to buy a dozen  $140 hammers along with everything else new, let him/her be. We are all different. 

 

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I bought a hammer and it was pretty expensive to me.  I spent a good deal of time shaping and polishing the faces to fit my needs.  I worked with this hammer for a few weeks and needed a smaller hammer so I dug through my tool box and found an old hammer head that was my grandfather's.  I roughed out the simplest handle you can imagine.. basically an oak stick and called it good enough.  If I had to choose a hammer I'd take that old stick handled hand me down hammer all day long!  The fancy hammer is just too hard.  It all depends on YOUR tastes.  Find what you like and what you need to get results.  

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