High End Hammer Comparison (Martinez, Stiletto) || Dr Decks

hey guys dr dex here today we're talking about hammers a couple in particular that i know a lot of people like or that they desire we're going to talk about stiletto versus martinez we're also going to talk about budget-based hammers and we're going to talk about wood-handled hammers a little bit as well so if you get something out of this video or you like what you see or if i helped you become a little bit more informed about hammers great click that subscribe button if you didn't like this video click the subscribe button if you had pizza last week click the subscribe button and if you breathe air click that subscribe button and don't forget hit the bell icon for any of those same reasons if you want to be notified when we're putting out new videos which is five days a week if you want one of these sweet bucket hats like i got on you can always go to our new merch store link's down in the description we also have some new athletic cut t-shirts that you might find nice uh i haven't ordered one yet but i heard they're pretty cool so all right let's get into this so hammers they're not rocket science right right okay so some of these hammers i've had for quite a few years um three of these hammers were sent to me these three i have two from stiletto and one from martinez so i'm gonna be really unbiased about this and talk to you about the features and some of the reasons why i like a particular hammer and why i have more than one okay so we're gonna start from the least expensive to the most expensive this is called an s wing this is a home depot hammer you know you can get this at lowe's and home depot i've had these hammers for 50 years and i'm 51 years old they've been around for a minute the one thing that this hammer has that none of these other hammers do and why i keep it in my arsenal because you can hang it on a joist when you're a deck builder and you don't have your bags on this becomes crucial if you're building a deck 12 feet up off the ground having a hammer that you can hang on a joist or any inch and a half wide piece of material is really essential i wish that these high-end hammers would make a claw hammer like this so i keep this in my arsenal simply because of this it's the heaviest hammer i own but it's also the oldest you can kind of tell that the rubber grip is starting to wear out it's getting kind of old and hard catch that warning always wear your safety glasses guys okay we're gonna we're gonna hammer some nails in a little bit and there's the brand trade name i bet you half our audience owns one of these hammers or your dad owns one of these hammers or your grandfather or your great-grandfather owned one of these hammers all right so my wrists are getting sore just holding it though you can pick up one of these hammers at home depot or lowe's for 30 bucks you can probably get one at your local hardware store for 35 to 40 dollars why more because they're your local hardware store they're not a big box chain and they don't buy in volume as much there's nothing wrong with this hammer if you use this hammer for 20 years like i have your wrists are going to start getting sore your elbows are going to get going to get sore and there's one thing you'll notice about every single hammer that i own that's on any of my job sites none of them have a waffle head they are all smooth i do not allow waffle head hammers on my jobs i do not like the way it looks because we're not building houses here we're building custom decks that you see things when you use a waffle hammer on framing you see the waffle mark that it leaves [Music] plane if you're a person watching this video or even if you're an alien and you don't see the struggle that we have to go through sometime and if you don't see the struggle that we have to go through sometimes when we're cutting these videos like airplanes dogs hammers hammers air compressors stuff like that it's a struggle man now they also make different weights of these hammers i always i always am going for a finish i always try to finish so anytime we're smacking a nail i want less marks i want less intrusion of the actual hammer face i mean you can still do plenty of damage with a smooth face hammer that you can with a waffle head hammer all right next on the list now this is really a light hammer this is a stiletto it's called a 12 so i believe that means 12 ounces and it feels like it it's probably the lightest hammer that i own it has a wood handle it's easy to carry you barely can tell that it's on your person like it just it works good in my bags or if i want to wear it on my block waters you can even wear that and i don't have to cinch my belt up too much because it's just super light it just fits you know so i really like it for that reason if i'm doing a bunch of light duty finished carpentry with not a whole bunch of heavy swinging or if i'm doing lighter nails these are heavy heavier 16 gauge nails it does have a magnetic head on it it'll guide a nail for you if you like to start your nails like this there you go one of the disadvantages is there's no side puller on this hammer and it's a straight it's a straight uh what do you call these it has a straight claw so even even with minimal effort it still takes a little bit of effort to get the nail out this this stiletto here is something you can swing all day long and it's going to be really good on your wrists really good on your elbows the head's titanium like i said and the handle is replaceable so you can see right here there's a couple of rings that tighten it up but we've had this hammer for probably three years and it's worn but it's still rocking it still a good hammer we really like it and again probably the lightest one of all the hammers that i own so this wooden stiletto handled hammer retails for around a hundred dollars so you're going from 30 bucks you're going to 100 you're getting a finer tool with a titanium head it's never going to rust it's always going to stay in pretty nice shape and it takes up quite a beating the the first thing that's going to go out on this hammer is probably right in here so that's why it's a little bit thicker and then it contours down and then it has a nice contoured not too much of a contour but a nice grippable wooden handle but there's not a lot of you might you know if your hands are sweaty or it's raining this might not be quite as grabable as some of the other hammers i'm going to show you next up for grabs this is another stiletto this is called a mini 14 14 ounce hammer it has a smooth head it has the magnetic tip just like the the other hammer did so you can still start nails the head is interchangeable there's a nut right here that you can pull you can put a waffle head on here if you want so all you framers if you want to swing a really light hammer you can get a different waffle head and still make those really beautiful waffle marks and all your lumber if that's what you're into stilittle also makes a heavier hammer that feels like a 16 ounce hammer but swings like a 22 to 24 ounce hammer but again i'm not into those big swings i don't need to bash things together all day long my hammers are more for knocking things into place and occasionally driving in the nails and here and there usually i use it to to finish off like when i'm doing choice hangers and maybe one of the nails doesn't set all the way i pull this out bang bang bang and we're in the mini 14 retails for 249 i believe so uh once you go into an all titanium hammer the price is going to increase quite a bit you buy these these are luxury items you don't have to have a titanium hammer but if you swing a hammer every day day in and day out this you might want to consider one of these since i've started using these lighter hammers my elbows and my wrists don't hurt as much at the end of a day or even at the end of the week depending on how much i'm swinging it this hammer is the one i'm using the most right now i carry this with me in my bags um it grabs a little bit when i'm trying to put it in this this handle i was even considering shaving this down but i didn't want to really ruin the look of the hammer which i know is kind of silly there's also a thumb indent right here so some people will put their thumb right here to gain a little bit more of a maybe an angle a leverage whatever i'm usually holding my hammer down like this but sometimes i do choke up on it sometimes when you're swinging a hammer it's in the wrist and it's not banging it like this but you're trying to be a little bit more finesse you have a little more finesse so that's kind of a nice little feature it also has a side puller the magnetic tip and if you look at the claw the claw is much deeper on the stiletto than it is on a martinez at least on the m4 on the m1 they're very close as far as depth of claw as far as this hammer goes you got the magnetic tip you can start a nail pretty easy with it it's got the longer claw so if you need to pull you can either go like this or you can use your side puller which i use quite a bit you're going to ruin the nail but it pulls it out pretty easy okay all right from there will go to the martinez hammers this is called an m4 this is more of a finish hammer again smooth head i like the head of this hammer we use these when we're cortexing decks it has a recessed area for your thumb as well i really like that when you're comparing weight between the martinez and the stiletto the m4 has a little bit more weight than the mini 14 does i don't know the exact weight of these hammers i'm not a world champion hammer uh connoisseur all i know is this hammer is heavier it has a replaceable head as well you can take out this bolt pull this head and put a different head on the hammer as well it also has a magnetic tip that holds a nail and it does a pretty good job of setting the nail and this is a hammer ranking swing all day like i said before the stiletto is a little bit lighter so if it's an all-day carry and it's something that you want to minimize your weight the mini 14 might be the hammer for you but the m4 is a solid contender i've probably used this hammer the most of all the hammers i own once i receive this hammer i've been putting it through its paces it's not quite my color choice but i do like the color of the head that's pretty nice all right and then the granddaddy of martinez now this is mackenzie's hammer he let me borrow for this demonstration this is called an m1 so the m1 has a full rounded head versus a kind of a three quarter round and a square top the claw is deeper oh one thing about the m1 my particular claw has an extra v-groove and believe it or not that hasn't come in quite handy in more than one situation where i'm actually trying to dig in somewhere really tight that little v-notch right there is pretty cool but you can see that the depth of the claw is much shallower the head is almost the same size except on the m1 it's it's squared off on the face and on the m1 it's completely round it has a recessed thumb hold as well has a really nice grip i really like this grip this is a heavier hammer it's quite a bit taller than the m4 it has more grip to it this is definitely a framing hammer but i told mackenzie if you bring that waffle head onto my job site i'm throwing this throwing the hammer in the garbage so he changed the head out with martinez and and with the stiletto you have the option of buying multiple heads so you order it one way and then you can order other heads for it if you want to change them out for different tasks you're doing finish work one day and you're doing framing the next and you need you want something to really grip you're driving a lot of hand driving nails go for it again has a magnetic head so it'll hold a nail like so puts it in really good this hammer is probably going to take the least amount of swings to drive home a nail that's what i've noticed about these hammers i'm sure there's some features that i'm not quite hitting on but let's go ahead and do a nail driving test and see how they do all right guys so um now i'm going to drive some nails and we're going to pull them out okay we'll see how each hammer does and maybe that'll help you make a decision on what you want i'm going to try to use the same amount of force on each hit obviously i'm a human being so i can't replicate how much force i give i'm just going to do my best to kind of be similar in my driving depth okay so we're going to start with the s-wing and then work our way up all right so here's the s-wing okay there's no starter magnet on this hammer so i'm going to start it like that all right here we go okay there's two whacks and now i'm going to pull it out now this this hammer has more leverage than the other hammers when i have to pull it out with a claw so hopefully and there it goes that's why we wear eye protection so heavy but it did the job you know so after we do the pull test we'll probably do one more test where we drive a nail all the way in okay all right here's the stiletto titanium with a wood handle okay and whenever if i have a magnetic head i'm gonna use it so here we go all right there's two wax got it a little bit deeper now let's see if i can pull it out oh all right we got the nail out but it took a minute so there's no leverage with this hammer it's not really designed to pull nails very well i would i would say so the strength really light easy to carry good for finish the weakness it sucks pulling nails with here's the mini 14. this is the lightest of the titanium hammers that i own again magnetic tip so it'll hold a nail i'm gonna go and drive it in that went in pretty deep okay it basically sank it in two hits so i'm not gonna try to pull that one out i'll do another one where i don't think it's so deep okay okay here we go all right those are a little bit lighter hit because i was driving the nail all the way in in two hits so with the stiletto i'm just going to go straight to the side uh puller function because i know that's going to work a lot better if i sit here and try to use this it's going to take a while if i use the leverage on the hammer and pull this way that pulls right out so sweet hammer very light very easy to carry if you have a hammer loop probably not a big deal but if you're rocking a tool belt like this one you might have issues getting it in and out right here so what i do is i i always turn the hammer this way to put it in but it's still tight right through here until this maybe i need to break it in more and then i just spin the hammer back around and it fits in my belt just fine the diamondback so that's something i might have an issue with it is a little bit more cumbersome base of the of the handle than the martinez so that's something you might want to consider this also has a harder plastic it'll probably drop a lot faster into my apron so we'll check that out in a minute so here is the m4 got the magnetic tip here we go let's try that again let's try again all right so i'm having issues getting the nail to go in straight with this head make sure i got to clean this make sure it's not holding something to be honest with you i don't really use this feature on the hammer i've never actually i don't use it at all but some of you guys probably do so let me put a new nail in here with this m4 with this head i've been having some issues driving the nail in i'm just gonna try again and see if it's me or what okay that one did okay the drive on this hammer is really good once i even on an angle once i connect if i hit this again it's going to drive it all the way in so with one hit i got three you know over three quarters in but again i'm going to use the leverage of the side puller to take this nail back out all right good contender has a good weight a good good middle weight to it if i compare the weights of these two hammers this one is more balanced this one definitely has a heavier head than tail um it just wants to lean forward like when i just try to hold it so i have to hold it like this but this one is a little bit better balanced so the m4 has a better balance point the m1 is definitely going to hit this nail really hard again this is not my hammer this is mackenzie's hammer so here we go okay going to drive my nail super solid went in halfway so i can guarantee when i hit this definitely going to drive at the deepest that's a nice hammer um if you're looking for punch you know and just driving things with the least amount of hits the m1 is definitely going to be your go-to hammer i did want to check it for the apron um i'm going to start with the m4 man that is just boom it just goes in and out i've been struggling with this hammer all week trying to get this in here it's almost like i have to use two hands to get this into my sleeve but this one it drops right in so i'd have to add points to this hammer for that now we've done a pull test and we've done the magnetic test now we're just gonna see how each hammer drives so here's the s wing two hits here's a stiletto wood handle two hits here's the stiletto mini 14. two hits here's the martinez m4 two hits and here's the martinez m1 one and a half hits i would say of all these five hammers if i had to pick a winner i'd say it'd be between these two right here i like both of these hammers for me this hammer is too big it's too heavy for finish work it's just i'd have to lug it around it's too much but for you framers out there this is probably a great choice then i would have to go with this because it's super light and easy to carry it really depends on what you're doing what your tasks are for the day so if i had a really light day and i just wanted to carry something that could barely feel on me then i would choose this hammer for all-day use this is my last selection it's the heaviest clunkiest but if i need to hang something on a joist this is the one i'm going for but not very often because i wear a belt a lot now or i'm wearing some block lotters that have a hammer loop in the shorts or built in and if i had to absolutely pick one of these two hammers i don't know if i can make a decision i'd be happy with either one of these if i had to go for the rest of my life with just one brand i'd probably go with the martinez but this stiletto i would i would put up against it all day long because if i was sitting a lot of nails with a magnet head i would i would choose this hammer for sure if i was uh if i wanted something with a little more punch a little more hit and it fits into my tool bag better then definitely use the martinez so there you go guys i hope you learned a little something today uh thanks for sticking through the video and watching the entire thing i really appreciate it and while you're at it don't forget to hit that subscribe button hit that bell icon if you want to be notified when we're putting out new content thanks for watching have a great day

Channel: drdecks

Views: 139,130

Keywords: Dr decks, drdecks, deck building, custom decks, pacific northwest, carpentry, decks, deck, deck board bending, hammers, hammer, hammer comparison, review, martinez, stiletto, martinez hammers, stiletto hammers

Id: u1OlrivfT1c

Length: 21min 17sec (1277 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 07 2020