You missed the best pro framing hammer Estwing ever made:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000224V9/ref=dp_cerb_1
Nope. I've had several, and the 25-oz Big Blue beats 'em all hollow; and honestly, so do the Utra Series for getting work done. Estwing's implementation of the magnetic nail starter is a game-changer.
When I worked interior construction & make-ready out of a Bucket Boss, the E22L (same hammer in leather grip) was my "everyday" hammer; again, an awesome peg-beater. Too effing long for a toolbox hammer tho.
Grand-dad was a great bear of a man... he favored a E30L in leather grip. That fucking this is a toothpick short of a post maul.
mnem
*mallet-head*
Right, 45 years ago as a new apprentice we were issued with ya std blue 20oz Estwing and they were a pretty good hammer and a few years later I bought a leather handled one that I used for some years and it's still with me minus a few leather rings.
Way back when, Estwing made their name with leather handled offerings as it was before the days synthetic handles yet in a lifetime affiliated with the trades it's very rare to see a tradesman swinging leather handled Estwings here, maybe the climate here doesn't suit the leather as it's not unusual to need to work in the wet when a job has to be done.
There's very good reason the 20oz has been the universal trademans hammer as it's versatile enough for framing and finishing but more the weight of it is such that the average guy can spend his working life swinging 20oz without the wrist or elbow problems that force some from the trade.
I well remember my first day being assigned to a 3rd year apprentice nailing bone dry ceiling battens underneath bone dry trusses.....I thought my arm was gunna fall off !
No nail guns in them days and the oldies didn't like the piss thin nails they shot so reckoned they were only good for sissies !
Used the 24oz's later in life but didn't like them as they are too heavy for the av guy and not versatile like the little 20oz. An uncle got the 24oz when in the states and he loved it primarily for fencing where he could reach staples on the bottom wire from the wrong side of the fence.
The 22oz I have now is hard to beat except for finishing as it's got the cross hatched head but the straight claw for demo work is better than anything else I've used except in close quarters work where you can stab yourself with the backswing if not awake to it.
Cross hatched heads are something many have never had experience with but when you've never lost staple since using one speaks volumes IME.
Only had mine for 10 years now and would replace it with the same in an instant......now we can get them in NZ.
Yes the 24oz can bash a 4" nail in with a single hit but try that all day and you'll be wishing for a hammer with a little less weight
Yeah, I think the difference here is the user for sure. Just as some are better suited to swing a Claymore and some a Roman Shortsword or a Rapier, some feel more at home with a heavier thwacker in hand. I always liked the feel of the 22L for general use, but Estwing's Ultra series are simply a better balanced (more weight at the head) hammer with just the right arc for my old ape arms. I can get more different kinds of work done correctly and quicker with one of them without damaging the base material. But if I'm JUST framing... I prefer the big guns. A 22-25 oz Big Blue is still my preferred hammer for rough carpentry work; but ALWAYS in smooth-face. I don't need the crutch of a milled face, and I loathe the damage it does to the base material and to wiring especially.
Grand-dad taught me (in the machinist's tradition) how to swing solid and true at a young age; he felt (and quite rightly, IMO) that if you couldn't be arsed to learn how to swing a hammer correctly you were "no better than a caveman with a club". He also taught me how to choose and wield a hammer differently for different tasks; just like with a bat, you "choke up" on the grip when you need more control and a light tap-tap.
That skill has served me well on the farm, as a carpenter, as a mechanic, and as a Engineer in multiple disciplines; and the knowledge that even with something as fundamental as a hammer, "There is a correct tool for the job" has ALSO served me well in all the varied disciplines of my life.
mnem