Antique Estwing Tinner's Hammer Restoration

Never one to shy away from a pointless project, I got this old tinner's hammer in a box of junk at an auction and decided to do a full restoration on it. I made a handle out of walnut, gave the head a mirror polish, and turned a hammer that was too crappy to use into a hammer that is too nice to use.
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[@clark57225]

You took a well made, much abused and neglected hammer from the junk pile. You cleaned and polished it beyond the manufacturer's standards. You crafted a nice wood handle from firewood taken from a fallen tree. And the end result is a wonderful hammer that can -- and should -- be used. Your few mistakes taught all of us. All in all, great job. Thumbs up.

[@mauriciolacruz]

Absolutely *STUNNING* job sir! 👍🏻 That piece of *ART* should never be used, but only kept as a piece of collection. Just one comment: although wooden handles are the most beautiful and acceptable for knives and folding knives, but it's not the most appropriate material for hammers, as it will be prone to crack and it's also advisable to be shock absorbent, and wood isn't.

[@ScoutCrafter]

Great job! You have some really great tools there, nice vintage machinery! Thanks for sharing!

[@BellaFirenze]

Bravo! I think it is beautiful. It is not a pointless project. It is art.

[@larryvansullen3935]

I prefer videos that show warts and all to idealized commercial productions. I learn more from them, so don't beat yourself up over it. Your hammer turned out beautiful

[@sean2baba]

Thanks for posting. Been trying to figure out how to put a wooden handle on my Estwing ball peen hammer. Just what I needed. Beautiful job.

[@timothymilam732]

You know in over 40 years of being a sheet metal worker, I don't believe I ever saw a Estwing leather sheet metal hammer. I've seen lots of carpenters hammers with them, although mainly in trim weights. I even seen a few brick mason's hammers, and they have the same basic head design, but the have a pick on the opposite end, and sheet metal hammers have the flat wedge shaped ends. All of this I'm sure you know, but some confuse the two. Malco is typically the brand sold at all the A/C supply houses that I've ever been in, and that's a variety of different companies over the years. Majority of your average sheet metal workers buy Malco sheet metal tools of all kinds. Although there are several different manufacturers of them, the others are significantly higher in cost, and most people don't want to spend the money. I use to buy the cheap carpenter's hammers with the leather handles and cut ends of them off to get at the sizes of leather I needed to repair mine. My dad was a machinist majority of his life, and he drilled and tapped the butt end of mine so that I could remove the butt plate as needed to do this. On both my 12 oz, and my 18 oz hammers, as over the years the salt off my hands tended to dry, and rot the leather after a few years once the shellac finish wore off. Which if you actually worked didn't take long, and bouncing around on the side of your pouches tends to bang them up too. If they were missing one piece of leather, that actually worked out for the better, because it kinda moved back and forth in your hand, and seemed to reduce some of the effort required to work the metal in my opinion. Loose two it was definitely time to find a replacement donor for the leather pieces, because it would actually pinch the palm of my hand at the web between your thumb and pointer finger as your wrist worked the hammer throughout its range of motion. Another trick some people used was to cut small washers to fit around the ends, and put one on from both directions until you wedged it tight enough to stay for a while, but there's only so much of a place to put them, and if you lost more than two it was over for that method. Never thought of using wood, but then I wasn't a termite either. Nice handle you've made, but I wonder how long it would last in the hands of a sheet metal worker that used it daily on a jobsite to earn his living.

[@ynns1]

You made a beautiful handle despite the difficulties. May I suggest drilling a couple of holes and use a brass rod to put a couple of rivets in it? It may save it from splitting again during use (and it'll compliment the wood too). I respect your decision for not using leather and reproducing the original grip but you may want to watch what Pask Makes did to reproduce the original grip.

[@QuantumPyrite_88.9]

You did a beautiful restoration on maybe the best hammer forged tools ever made . Estwings rock . Lots of questions and other BS ... which I will keep to myself . Congrats and Respect . Lefty Cat

[@gary3353]

One of a kind beautiful restoration good job man really enjoyed your video

[@thierryrozzo2813]

Awesome! Wonderful job... Hello from France😉

[@garrettbates6018]

fuck yea love this dude

[@parquedozecolmeia]

meu amigo, essa sua plaina gigante é uma maravilha

[@HansensUniverseT-A]

work of art, btw these are not stupid hammers!

[@davidhelmuth7654]

Tinners hammer? Always thought these were brick hammers. Ether way an awesome job

[@waynesimon2963]

Nicely done. By the way, you haven't cornered the market on screw ups...Just call them alterations :)

[@mipcstv]

How does it feel?

[@timothymilam732]

M I'd say fine until your hands got sweaty, but not so good after that, but finish wouldn't last long on jobsite either. It is nice to look at though..

[@BenRollinsActor]

Beautiful job. It's almost too pretty to use.

[@wgenerotzky]

You make me feel bad for abusing my tinners hammers.

[@johnaustin3723]

what compound did you use?

[@PhillipsHomeRepair]

Nothing special. I have a bag of miscellaneous compounds and I just grab stuff and try it. I recently ordered some from McMaster Carr, and it was good and reasonably priced. If you're starting from scratch, they're worth a look.

[@ryansgarage5253]

What is a Tinner's hammer?

[@SubterranBayern]

Funfact: In Germany a hammer looks like this. The style you can get in the USA is not even available here.

[@snoopyshultz]

It's a setting hammer used by tinsmiths (the last skilled trade), machinist, and jewelers to shape metal . Real fabricators, we take metal and make it into shit. Estwi ng calls it a tinners hammer cause of marketing or some shit. Also good job looks nice but i t doesn't look safe to knock tin with that. Maybe a few rivets ? Weld a new handle on ?

[@snoopyshultz]

Subterran Bayern hammers are universal it's not like they don't do metal work in the states

[@Bobbo07]

Sure this is a brick hammer. Never heard of a tinner hammer.