Douglas Tool’s Innovative H2IT Framing Hammer
By Rick Reimundez
Some awards groups seem to think Vaughan’s S2 hammer is the pinnacle of hammer design; too bad it never materialized. Now Douglas Tool is stepping up to the plate with a 23oz framing hammer including their patented head-handle interface technology (H2IT) – a polished steel alloy shank that slides into the 16” slotted hickory handle.
In addition to adding stiffness and strength, the leading edges of the shank protect the wood from mis-strikes, which are the biggest contributor to broken handles. But the ergonomic and functional improvements over traditional older hammer designs don’t end there.
Douglas claims that this head design gives you the vibration dampening of wood with the strength of steel. The handle shape, which Douglas calls a “CrossOver” design, purports to deliver the best elements of both a straight handle and an axe-style curved handle. And it also incorporates late model design concepts like a magnetized nail set to hold the nail as you start it, a waffle pattern on the strike face (on framing hammers), a side nail pull, and a side strike surface. The back end of the head features a rip claw that’s chisel sharp to tear up blocks and dig out stubborn nails.
H2IT heads come with a limited two-year warranty (read: don’t go hitting concrete or hardened bolts with it, ‘cause they won’t cover it). Broken handles are excluded from the warranty, but replacement handles are available directly from Douglas Tool.
All of this “tool imitating art” doesn’t come cheap though. Expect to pay about $65 on the street. (And steer clear of Woodcraft. They carry most of the product line, but our research showed their prices to be $15 to $20 higher than other vendors.
DFR23S 23-ounce framing hammer [Douglas Tool]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
August 30th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
own this hammer. it rocks.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Douglas does make a good hammer, but they are so last year.
Titanium is the future . Once you swing one, you’ll never be able to go back.
http://store.stilettotools.com/Detail.bok?no=44
August 30th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
@ PutnamEco: $262 damn dollars for a hammer. made from one of the most common elements in the earths crust? I think I’ll bend over for this sweet Douglas instead, thanks.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
At one time aluminum was more expensive than silver. Napolean reserved the aluminum silverware for his best guests. Titanium is very very slow and epensive to refine with current processes. The unrefined titanium dioxide is cheap, its the main white pigment in everything.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
The pentagon spent $436 for “uni-directional impact generator” in the 80s.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:25 am
http://www.torcarr.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=572&zenid=7tiqactqbt98f1cr52hdgd5oc3
isn’t this the s2?
August 31st, 2007 at 9:20 am
Holy crap!
How’d you find it? I checked everywhere, googled it six ways from Sunday, and came up dry. Has anyone actually ordered it from them?
August 31st, 2007 at 9:45 am
I like my Douglas 18 ounce finish nailer.
Model DFI18S14Cx
I paid about $62 for it in 2006
August 31st, 2007 at 11:13 am
Re:
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———-blitzcat Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
@ PutnamEco: $262 damn dollars for a hammer. made from one of the most common elements in the earths crust? I think I’ll bend over for this sweet Douglas instead, thanks.
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I thought the same thing, Try one for a day.
Going back now, would be like giving up power steering.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I purchased a 15 oz finish hammer from Douglas Tool. Personally, I love the hammer. Stiletto, I’m sure makes a very good hammer, however, Today most of our nails are gun driven and I just can’t justify $250.00 for a hammer (Guns don’t cost that much). I’ve used a Stiletto before, it just didn’t feel right to me. The folks @ Douglas Tool have went way out of the way to make sure that I was satisfied, (messed up my shipping), gave me extra handles and T-shirts. I doubt many other manufactuers would do that. Those who are sold on Stiletto, stay with ‘em. Those that want a hammer that is well built, well balanced, and feels like a real hammer, GET A DOUGLAS! Money well spent.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:52 am
I tried a titanium head with wooden handle Stiletto on a job site last year and it was um… “ok”, just “ok”. Not worth the money in my opinion. Decided I’d keep my Estwing. Picked up a Doulgas about 6 months ago and it’s the first hammer to replace my 13 year old Estwing. I love that hammer, it just works for what I use it for, has an excellent feel on those rare occasions when you hand drive nails and can easily sink 16d sinkers in two hits repeatedly. The recessed face design I had doubts about but it works great. Good gripping surface on nail heads but wont marr up the surface of rough sawn facia boards when you’ve got to sink the nail that the gun didn’t. The side puller works better than most and will pull small pins that I can’t grab with the claw. It has a flat top and sides which didn’t seem important at first but for “tapping” in t&g soffits without a block or messing up the tongue, the flat top works great. Trying to smack the end of a screwdriver, punch, nail set, nail, random screw from your tool bags, etc… to quickly remove the bottom door hinge pin by using the flat side of the Douglas hammer is full of little things that just “WORK”. Although, for demo I still use the Estwing, the Douglas is just a great hammer for everyday construction use in the days when a hammer is used for so much more than just driving nails.