Copper, Nylon or Rawhide - Help me decide!

[DMessin]

So I am cleaning up and restoring one of Dad's old soft face hammers. It's the type with inserts that press in, believe Thor in the UK still makes them.

It's a Green Tweed Number 4, and says Defense Hammer on it. Maybe from WWII? I've cleaned it up and painted it and still need a nice hickory handle for it.

Anyway, I'm debating what type of faces to press in. I have a choice of nylon, copper or rawhide. I believe both were rawhide when new, or at least the last time my Dad remembers it being functional.

I'm leaning towards copper and rawhide, if only for the nostalgia factor. Probably won't use it a heck of a lot, possibly for machinist type work, setting stuff in milling machine vise, etc.

So what combination of copper/rawhide/nylon do you guys like? Pics below of the choices.

-Dave

 

[dmeadow]

Personally, I'd go with the copper and the rawhide. Just because it would be more authentic and true to the tool. But otherwise it would depend on what you want to use it for.

 

[Mike Hipp]

Looks like a Thor hammer to me. If you want to use it then the nylon will wear great (most new Thor hammers have two nylon tips std) plus the cooper is good for working on very soft metals. Cooper is 30% softer than bradd and 50% softer than nylon. If you want to look at it the cooper and rawhide is most likely how it was originaly made.