A couple of days ago I found myself walking the aisles at the local Sears, checking to see if I missed anything new or exciting. Nope, not yet. Over in the hammers, mallets, and striking tools section, this Dead On Steel framing hammer caught my eye.
What interested me most was the carved-out head. Given the age of the design, this was probably done for looks, but possibly not.
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The latest hammer design trend is to shave off as much material from the handle and head as possible, as in these high velocity hammers by Dewalt, Estwing, Kobalt, and Vaughan, with the idea that a faster swinging hammer delivers greater punch with less fatigue.
I wouldn’t call this a high speed hammer, but it does swing a little easier than standard framing hammers.
There wasn’t much useful information on the hammer or packaging card, but a quick Google search told me that this is a 22oz model. Apparently there are 16oz versions as well.
While my initial impression was neutral if not optimistic, a look at the few online reviews for these hammers changed all that.
“Awful”
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“Junk”
“Disappointed”
Dead On makes some nice tools, and this one might deserve the benefit of the doubt, but it can be hard to tell which of their designs are practical and which are better suited as film props.
Buy Now(via Amazon) (But I probably wouldn’t.)
TJ
Bought 2 a long time ago and am actually still using them. They’re great for demolition and their magnetic nail starter seems to work better than others. (For me)
Yadda
Home Depot dropped most of this line including the hammers.
Javier
LOL “film props”
Maikeru
Well, it’d fit nicely into a zombie apocalypse film.
Mikeh
I have one of these hammers and it is not my go to framing hammer – there are several that I will grab first – as TJ said it is a good demolition hammer and has good force but always seems a little clunky to me…if that makes sense
matt
Feel like decent hammers to me..
John Coulston
I bought this after my estwing broke. I’m a union Glazier and only bought it for a huge demo job we are doing. Its not my favorite hammer.but had held up well for beating the crap out of aluminum frames.
Matt B.
I’m assuming Dead On tools are not made in the USA.
I have a 24-oz Dead On framing hammer with the wooden axe handle. I like it, although I sanded all the black paint off and took the skull sticker off, too. The only thing I have against it is the waffleing is too soft. I strike my cat’s paw with the side of the hammer to avoid smashing the waffleing down, now.
Geoff
I’ve been in the industry since 1991 and this is the best hammer I’ve ever used.
I have had a couple 22oz framing hammers since maybe 2013. I use smaller hammers for finish work, and mallets for shifting things. I would guess I have 30 hammers in my shop but this Dead On hammer is my go to for almost everything.
I’m hard on hammers since I use them for all sorts of things, not just framing, so I’ve always favored steel handles but no one else has provided the balance, power, and relative speed that this hammer does.
I’ve read about failures of the plastic material in the handles but the three or four I have have had no such problem.
There will be framing purists who want a different balance but for an all-rounder this is the best hammer I’ve ever experienced. For all-round professionals I couldn’t recommend another hammer more highly. Honestly, I don’t think there’s any tool of any type I’d recommend more highly.