EstwingSure Strike California Framing Hammer - 25 oz Straight Rip Claw with Milled Face & Hickory Wood Handle - MRW25LM

Perfect framing hammer, for me and my application, it hits hard and is an extension of my hand, not overly heavy and not too light, the hatchet style handle offers an excellent angle of approach for driving 20P. To 60P. Galvanized nails without much effort. . . And keeps my knuckles off the lumber. As far as the handles go, the grain orientation to the head is quite ideal, sometimes in Perfect alignment. The varnish on the handle is there to do 2 things, keep it pretty until it's purchased and allow you to see the grain of the handle. As a general rule, never purchase a wooden handled striking tool with a painted handle, paint hides flaws. I always sand the factory varnish off, and properly apply boiled linseed oil. Preserves the wood and helps with the grip in wet weather.And just as a side note, your hammer should fit you, not Billyray gorilla hands, work smarter not harder. . .and if you find your breaking handles. . . They make nail pullers for a reason. . .

Long story short this is the best freaking hammer I've ever owned. For framing work I'll never go back to my steel handle 20oz estwing. The hickory handle exceeded my expectations when it comes to shock absorption and as the title suggests the 25oz head his like a freight train, no way a Martinez can compete with this hammer in framing work. I wouldn't use this hammer for lighter work, the long handle is not really optimized for intricate motions i might pair this hammer up with a 14oz titanium hammer for finishing work.There is what seems to be a natural weak point along the grain, I'm sure in time the handle will split along this seam, hopefully I'll get done decent use it off it before this happens.

Looks and operates as should. Had it for a while finished multiple jobs with it. Wonderful

I used it today first time. It was great I was getting rained on all day but gloves in hand I stripped concrete forms and beat concrete and pulled nails I love this thing. Wet gloves the shape of the handle it stayed in my hand while I swung hard Yes I know it’s not a wrecking hammer but I’ll buy another if I break it.

Good job

This is easily the best hammer I have ever had and I have had quite a few. I’ve never had a titanium one but my guess is short of that this is about as good as you can get. The head of the hammer is large enough that you don’t miss your target even when you become fatigued so you can stay no productive all day. I a try to take care of my tools but of course I am hard on them sometimes too, and I don’t feel like this is going to snap on me anytime soon, I’m sure you could break the handle if you we’re trying to but that is the trade off of wood. I have had lighter hammers but this one swings like it doesn’t weight what it does but still packs the same punch that it should. The only thing I am not a fan of is the fact, and honestly I am surprised at Estwing, that it is made in Taiwan. I would pay $10-20 for an American made product, but this is still a quality product.

My first wooden handled hammer and gotta say don’t think I’ll go back, thing swings like a dream less strain on my shoulder and wrist and elbow and hits hard for a 25oz!

Great balanced hammer. I've owned 1 for 12 years, it just broke while framing, bought a Milwaukee hammer as replacement and it broke in a day. I've been swinging this thing around for 2 weeks and it's so good that I'm ordering 5 more cause they're hard to find. I'm a contractor, estwing and stilleto are my go to hammers.