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any estwing type studies out there?

PostPosted: 17 May 2015, 23:23
by bridger
picked up this hammer the other day. the head shape to me looked early,
but I am no expert.

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in any case it is pretty cool. the butt plate says:

estwing mfg co
rockford
ill.
pat 3 30
others
pend

that head shape packs in some mass. the face os flat, not domed. the butt
plate is a little loose, so the leather rings can move a bit. I can
tighten that up.


just thought I'd share :)

Bridger

Re: any estwing type studies out there?

PostPosted: 18 May 2015, 08:08
by Andyp
Nice hammer, will you make it all shiny or leave as is?

Re: any estwing type studies out there?

PostPosted: 19 May 2015, 06:21
by Pinch
Nice find. Estwing claw hammers are meant to be the best. Lovely shallow claw as well. That will clean up very well and look dandy. You must post some cleaned up pics when you've done it. 8-)

Re: any estwing type studies out there?

PostPosted: 19 May 2015, 09:03
by Rod
I've got an Eastwing - I lost it a while back and found it in the garden looking a bit worst for wear but it cleaned up nicely.
I went looking for it again yesterday and it's disappeared!
Will have a proper look today - don't think it's outside this time?

Rod

Re: any estwing type studies out there?

PostPosted: 19 May 2015, 17:33
by bridger
I cleaned it up a bit. It was pretty rusty. I'm not going to make it shiny, though.

Re: any estwing type studies out there?

PostPosted: 19 May 2015, 19:32
by Rob
I've got 2....vintage 1990. They will last me more than a lifetime. The thin slice of metal just below the head is brilliant for slicing into end grain when you want to rough split something quickly without finesse eg during roofing when something is just in the way. Very versatile and well balanced beastie.

Re: any estwing type studies out there?

PostPosted: 20 May 2015, 05:25
by bridger
I tried tightening up the peined "rivets" at the butt end but they were too hard to be moved by my ball pein hammer. Instead I shifted the leather discs around to even up the spacing of them on the handle and am figuring to soak them in something to get them to swell back up to size. They seem to still be pretty pliable. I worked the surface of the leather handle a bit with some coarse sandpaper to open it up. I'm wondering what would be an appropriate material to soak them in. I can see not wanting something that hardens and makes the leather brittle, but not something that makes the leather soft and fragile either. A mix of mineral oil and linseed? Maybe top that with shellac or something.

I have a can of "neatsfoot compound" but as far as I can tell it's just mineral oil of some kind. It leaves leather smelling permanently like used motor oil.

Re: any estwing type studies out there?

PostPosted: 20 May 2015, 08:27
by Mike G
We use neatsfoot on all our leather stuff. I can't tell you if it will expand the leather, though it will certainly feed it keeping it supple and water resistant.