When a decent sized roofing project came up a few years back, I was looking at 2 options doing it the old fashioned way, or using air power. I had looked at several coil nailers, and just about pulled the trigger on a Bostich nailer, but in the end couldn’t really justify the expense since I do so little roofing and even less siding so I passed on the Bostitch and decided on getting an Estwing Shinglers Hammer.
Years ago when I was a kid, the shinglers hammer/hatchet was a much more common sight on the job. I remember many summers ago, seeing roofers blasting some classic rock and banging out squares all day, today not as much, Air supremacy seems to rule the roofs in my area with Bostitchs and Hitachis being go to choices.
The Shingler’s Hammer seems to have taken a backseat and its role has been reduced to more of a sidekick rather then primary weapon of choice, but is still there when called upon to flatten down some stubborn nails or misfires.
I probably could have gotten by with using a 16 oz hammer for the roof, but I prefer to use tools for the jobs that they are designed for. Though a shinglers hammer harkens back to an earlier time when wooden roofs were common, many of the features on a shinglers hammer proves useful today when laying down asphalt shingles. The teardrop design of the Estwing is extremely useful, especially when some asphalt shingles bond together on a hot day, the hatchet side, can act as a wedge and carefully separate them. The Estwing also has gauge, to check exposure and a cutting blade to cut/trim the shingles, but I still prefer a Stanley knife with a hook blade.
The biggest advantage of an Estwing Shingler hammer over a common hammer is in its unique design. This hammer is designed for roofing. Rather then using a smaller hammer, where the hammer swinger physically needs to drive the nail, the Estwing Shinglers hammer with its weighted milled head, and shorter handle, grips and sinks the nail itself. The design allows for more compact swings, which is needed on a steep roof where it’s very difficult to reach back and swing freely.
The Estwing is an attractive piece, polished ,one piece all steel construction, with a shock absorbing blue nylon vinyl Grip grip, which is very comfortable and has an eyelet for a lanyard, which is not included.
This is one hammer I would recommend to anyone who has to do a roofing job, even if you chose to go the Air Gun route, it’s good to have this as a backup for all the other things it does.