Best Ball Pein Hammers

jdmstr · Oct 8, 2014

just bought some new vaughan hickory handle 16 and 24 oz ball pein hammers and am very happy with them. what's your choice for a good ball pein hammer? how about handle wood, fiberglass, or steel?

Buckgnarly · Oct 8, 2014

Deadblows are SO, standard are Cman with wood handles. I prefer wood to anything else, just feels better and absorbs shock and vibes.
Used an Estwing framing hammer building a house (no air) two Summers ago, NEVER again. Hand was numb for weeks. Switched to a long wood Vaughn framer, never looked back!

BFHtime · Oct 8, 2014

That is why I hate Estwings, when you give a good swing, the harmonics, plus they bend.

Unless you are talking dead low, they are pretty much similar.

I have a16oz. Snap-on that I use for everything, I plan on getting at least one more heavier one. I really like it.

Trusty cook also makes deadblows.

I like the feel of a wood handle, but for vibration, I prefer a rubberized grip.

Hammer1963 · Oct 8, 2014

I prefer Proto octagonal wood handled ball pein hammers. I rarely use my Snap-on composite handled ball peins.

G_P · Oct 8, 2014

I have a mix of Vaughn's and various other hammers acquired over the years. My go to favorite ball pein will always be my Estwing with the leather handle.

JKennedy · Oct 8, 2014

Love craftsman wood handles. My absolute favorite.
Vaughn's are also nice.

rtole · Oct 8, 2014

I had some snap on ones, they were okay. I just didnt like them. Got rid of them. I kept my wood handled craftsmans that were pawn shop finds. Now I got a wilton unbrakeable. I love it! I love all my unbrakables. I havee seen some broken, I dont know how? We wholesale tools at my job, 2 have comeback for warranty. Look like they were put threw a wood chipper. I have abused mine and they have taken it all like a champ.

ATC · Oct 8, 2014

I have Cman, GW, and Estwing's

I prefer the Estwing, although the Cmans (wood) are very nice. The GW is big, so it's rarely used. It's fiberglass.

devoncoolman · Oct 8, 2014

Snap-on for dead blow soft face and ballpean. Standard ballpean craftsman wood handle.

southalabama · Oct 8, 2014

I've got an older set of s&k they have fiberglass handles

durallymax · Oct 8, 2014

I've got a large and small ball peen snap on dead blow as well as a large and small soft face dead blow from snap on. I like those hammers. I have some cheap thrift store find for a brass hammer.

Recently I've bought a few Wilton unbreakable BASH for my larger hammers and they seem promising.

Jim C. · Oct 8, 2014

I have three wood handled Craftsman BP hammers and one wood handled Vaughn. All four are fine as far as I'm concerned. I use the Craftsman 16 oz. the most frequently.

Jim C.

Conductor562 · Oct 9, 2014

I'm quite fond of my Proto Anti-Vibe's. Have them in 8, 12, 16, 24, 40, and 48 oz. Amazing how often a 48 oz. BFH comes in handy

skylinegtr20 · Oct 9, 2014

Have the SO ball peen dead blows and the MAC anti vibes. Both are fantastic..

Carla · Oct 9, 2014

There are/were quite a few makes of best quality ball peen hammers......go have a read through the earlier 'hammers' thread here.

(I thought I'd accumulated too many hammers, over the years, just saving the ones which were 'best quality' and 'felt right'.......but my 'collection' of hammers I use is just a teeny-tiny fraction of the 'hammer collections' of some of the folks here.

cheers

Carla

SASORacing · Oct 9, 2014

Picked up these HF yellow fiberglass set of hammers, incredible price, $16, various sizes, on par with tool truck hammers like MAC. Seriously cant complain. I like the rubber grip handles, very comfy and work well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/http-w...s-handle-ball-pein-hammer-set-39217-html.html

MagnumForce · Oct 9, 2014

The all steel Craftsman 16 oz is my go to. I believe it's Vaughn. Best 16 oz non dead blow ball pein you can buy. Only 20 bucks.

kctyphoon · Oct 9, 2014

SASORacing said:
Picked up these HF yellow fiberglass set of hammers, incredible price, $16, various sizes, on par with tool truck hammers like MAC. Seriously cant complain. I like the rubber grip handles, very comfy and work well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/http-w...s-handle-ball-pein-hammer-set-39217-html.html

ditto. cant beat a whole set for the price of one craftsman.. goes up to 32oz. my feeling is that its just a weight on a stick to beat something with - so no call for any great feats of engineering. I wanting something between my regular claw hammer and my 3lb lineman hammer.. these don't have "flawless" finishes to the metal, but I couldn't care less about that.

Heavymetalmechanic · Oct 9, 2014

Really like my MAC antivibe set.

SASORacing · Oct 9, 2014

kctyphoon said:
ditto. cant beat a whole set for the price of one craftsman.. goes up to 32oz. my feeling is that its just a weight on a stick to beat something with - so no call for any great feats of engineering. I wanting something between my regular claw hammer and my 3lb lineman hammer.. these don't have "flawless" finishes to the metal, but I couldn't care less about that.

I'm not alone! That deal is an absolute steal, I have no idea how they can make and sell that for $16 and still make a profit. Those hammers are heavy. Anyone looking for a ball peen set should truly consider these.

it is the deal of a lifetime!

Mohawk Dave · Oct 9, 2014

does anyone else here grind the pein side flat....I don't ever have to pein metal. (ok, a couple times)....

Battle Royale with the Burr King and a little chamfer, now I have a dual face...

oh yea, HF works, but once you go SO...damn! that Kool Aid tastes good!

SASORacing · Oct 9, 2014

Mohawk Dave said:
does anyone else here grind the pein side flat....I don't ever have to pein metal. (ok, a couple times)....

Battle Royale with the Burr King and a little chamfer, now I have a dual face...

oh yea, HF works, but once you go SO...damn! that Kool Aid tastes good!

I have the MAC hammer (red one 2nd on the right) and it is a very unique shape. It has a very flat side, with a pointy ball end. Overall excellent hammer and well balanced.

It also has a fiberglass handle with a rubber grip. I feel this is far superior to a plain wood handle. For comfort reasons and balance/ ergo reasons too. I bought it back in 2008 from the MAC truck and its still going strong!

Dubbydoo · Oct 9, 2014

I just picked up these Tekton Ball peens seem like decent quality for the price used them just a little bit so far and seem like they will last only have about 44$ in the set

cgv69 · Oct 9, 2014

JKennedy said:
Love craftsman wood handles. My absolute favorite.
Vaughn's are also nice.

That's because they are the same. Craftsman Hammers are made by Vaughn.

For wood handle BP's I do like the Vaughn's. For dead blows BP's, I like the Trusty Cooks

I am not a fan of fiberglass handles on hand tools. Don't care for the "feel"

Screwtape · Oct 9, 2014

Peins

WhiffySpark · Oct 9, 2014

I stopped buying wood handles after breaking 3 of them

and had a head fly off a drilling hammer one time. F' that. I have a matco 48 ball pein and the harborfreight set. Also have a few of the snap on ones

BDT/NWMN · Oct 9, 2014

ProTo and Vaughn for my ball peen hammers... Wood handles except for a Vaughn 24 oz with steel handle.

rshadd · Oct 9, 2014

I have a collection of ball peens in several sizes. It's a mix of Vaughn, Proto, Craftsman and a few no name vintage hammers that I've inherited over the years.

The Trusty-Cook dead blow is the newest and I grab that the most.

Tronyadorable · Oct 9, 2014

SASORacing said:
I'm not alone! That deal is an absolute steal, I have no idea how they can make and sell that for $16 and still make a profit. Those hammers are heavy. Anyone looking for a ball peen set should truly consider these.

it is the deal of a lifetime!

They get you on the items you hit with the hammers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

jeffmoss26 · Oct 9, 2014

I buy whatever older hammers I can find at garage sales, clean them up and replace handles when needed.

Davefr · Oct 9, 2014

jeffmoss26 said:
I buy whatever older hammers I can find at garage sales, clean them up and replace handles when needed.

^^^Agree 100%.

Almost every G-Sale has 5 gallon buckets full of old hammers for pennies on the dollar.

Some need new handles but many don't. And the ones that don't often have quality old growth hickory handles that you can't find today. (I hate fiberglass).

bcradio · Oct 9, 2014

I have the HF set and they have been great... LOVE having multiple sizes/weights for different uses.

They are probably not the best hammers, but are likely the best value.

tshetter · Oct 9, 2014

Wilton BASH.

Best hammers I have ever used, hands down.

SASORacing · Oct 9, 2014

bcradio said:
I have the HF set and they have been great... LOVE having multiple sizes/weights for different uses.

They are probably not the best hammers, but are likely the best value.

Crazy good value, 5 for the price of one small name brand one. One of the best deals at hf. Spread the word!

rocco · Oct 9, 2014

Dead blow i'm using Trusty Cook and wood handle is USA made Craftsman.

Dubbydoo · Oct 9, 2014

SASORacing said:
Crazy good value, 5 for the price of one small name brand one. One of the best deals at hf. Spread the word!

Ive had the harbor freight ones ether the heads came off or the rubber handles un glued themselves i wasnt impressed

gagreen · Oct 9, 2014

Dubbydoo said:
Ive had the harbor freight ones ether the heads came off or the rubber handles un glued themselves i wasnt impressed

I wouldn't trust swinging them daily. I grabbed an open box that had a hammer missing for a couple bucks, after a month or so using them regularly they had become loose. I stick to vaughn estwing proto and snap on. H have to say that the snap on deadblow bp is the only hammer that sees use now that I have it. I do really like the all metal estwing's tho

merbie · Oct 9, 2014

While were
Here can anyone recommend a panel beating hammer set?

Sent from the sticks

BK13 · Oct 9, 2014

Plans include picking up all the Trusty Cook DBBPs and a few of the Proto Antivibes. But as money is a little tight, I'll likely pick up a set of the HF jobs.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

PBCampbell · Oct 9, 2014

This is a good set for the basics also rebranded for Craftsman, Matco, etc.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Martin-Tools-4-Piece-Fiberglass-Body-and-Fender-Set-644KFG-/231329864122?pt=US_Hand_Tools&hash=item35dc5599ba
That was for Merbie and anyone like minded.

Best Ball Pein Hammers

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