I need a geology hammer for my final 2 years at uni, and I'll be honest, I don't know what sort does what, but I would like a chisel type, ideally an Estwing, because I've used one before and know I like it.

However, what weight do I need? It's for field trips rather than day in day out use, so what would be a good sort of weight? I reckoned 24oz.

most offkey question on STW ever

I guess a good person to ask would be someone like a geology lecturer.

wow i just loked on estwing website I knew there was more to hammers than a nice panel pin hammer but wow!!

whilst you buy your hammer invest in a gold pan 🙂

Pieface you dont get it! That would be like me asking a vet about my dog and wasp stings instead of just asking on here (like I did today) 😉
Rolf- dont worry some-one will be along to advise/tell you they've got one on classifieds 🙂

I'd say that just 16 oz will be fine. It has worked for me for 25 yrs or so. I too like the chisel type but to be honest if you need the accuracy of a chisel then it is probably better to buy a 20mm cold chisel. And goggles too, definately. Shards of rock in the eye are no fun at all. Been there, done that, got the scars to show for it.

We get given the goggles.

Deal is my girlfriend's parents want to buy one for my birthday which was 2 days ago, and I'm staying with them in the states so they want to buy it before I go, and since it's off term I can't ask my lecturer. And anyway, I wanted to know NOW dammit, and that's what STW is good for!

I think I'm still too much of a beginner to have 2 different bits of kit- that and I like having hte hammer hanging off my bag and easy to get to.

I'll go for a lighter one then.

I did the BSc Hons Geol stuff 20 years ago and to be honest, hammers were falling out of favour even then; we were always encouraged to have one, but you rarely actually needed it. It's fairly easy to get a fresh sample using a bit of ingenuity, and a lot less destructive to the environment. I'd get a small one, apart from anything else, it stops you using it for general hammering duties which can be dangerous.

There are two main types. A noraml brick hammer type has a square 'hammer' end and a thin chisel-like end, these are the most useful as a general pupose hammer, or specifically for sedimentary rocks that you need to split along bedding. Hammers for igneous rocks tend to be heavier and have a pointed pick-shaped end, to apply lots of force to a small area – igneous rocs are generally hard.

Contrary to popular belief geologists don't go round smacking the *uck out of outcrops, most of the time the hammer is used on fallen blocks, or as a scale in photos!

At uni I lived with 3 geologists. They all bought masonry hammers from B&Q rather than anything specialised.

You'll need a 24 ouncer to get a decent swing and do some proper damage, imho.

Depends what you are going to use it on.

All the palaeontologists I knew preferred something lighter with a spike rather than a chisel.

But my igneous prof preferred a 2lb lump hammer head on a full sized sledge hammer handle and a cold chisel.

And I had the 2lb one of these CLICKY. If fact I still have it somewhere!!

P.S. If you go to Norway, there are some outcrops that have banned the used of hammers!!!!!!!!

I used to use a CK Masonry hammer – did the job grand (it was a fairly big fecker!) I had an old lighter one too – not sure where either are now… I think the hickory handle one may have been a proper geology job. I liked the masonry one though 😉

I have a 16OZ wickes 'brick' hammer that I had to buy when I lost the Estwing one the I was issued by work (cost about £8). This was used when mapping the chalk in the south downs (BGS Newbury, Basingstoke and Devizes sheets). As you know chalk is soft so this weight was fine and I used the chissel end a lot to crack open field brash.

But when I was an undergrad mapping in SW scotland I had a meaty big hammer as them Scotch rocks are well hard. So it depends where you'll be using it.

Lots of geologists on here then! Who does what?
I'm a research fellow at Leeds working on deep-marine sedimentology (outcrop and fluid dynamics).

16 oz is ok, but I still have my 24oz chisel as a door stop, which can also wedge the door open when it gets a bit breezy.

As for what we do, I migrated into hydrology and my missus is a hydrogeologist, but they still need me to do the core logging from some of the new boreholes.

Ah, Geological hammers! I splashed out on an Estwing when I was an undergraduate at Leeds but left it somewhere in Ireland…

Ever since, I've just used a B&Q (or equivalent) chisel ended hammer which has been fine.

I'm a Geotechnical Engineer nowadays, in the grey area between Geology and Civil Engineering…

I have the footprint hammer aswell, bought through the college at the time (a long time ago) – it is still sitting at home somewhere – but then most of my mapping were in hardrock areas – Coniston, Buttermere and Norway.

I'm what's known as a 'Remote Sensing Geologist'. This involves a fairly wide rage of stuff like processing and interptreting satellite imagery/data for the UK and overseas, field mapping, interpretation of InSAR results for terrian subsidence, CO2 leak detection and 3D visuilisation.

Originally studied Geology and Computer Science with thoughts of being a Geophysicist.

Now working as a Geo-Environmental Engineer. Would like to move more towards Hydrogeology or Groundwater Contamination.

I am not a geologist but I have a hammer for fossil hunting and I use a 20 oz chisel ended hickory shaft brick hammer bought from Rapid Hardware in Liverpool 20 years ago. Two years ago it went with me to Utah and I spent two weeks looking for dinosaurs bones in the Morrison Formation. We didnt find anything but I had a great time. Looking forward to going to Argentina next year fossil hunting. Look out for news of the new dinosaur discovery Pantsonfireus Argentus

and since it's off term I can't ask my lecturer

Sod it, ring one or at least email them. Granted August is pretty quiet at most universities, but chances are someone will be about.

When i was collecting geological samples for my PhD in South Africa last year i used a 2lb steel lumphammer with a wooden (hickory?) handle. After two weeks hard use the f00ker broke when i was hammering the sh1t out of some sandstone and the head flew into the sea.

So, don't get one with a wooden handle.

Yuck, fossils.

I thought I may as well get a nice one since someone else is paying for it!

Oh, and I'm aware of the risks of wooden handled ones (my foot does anyway!)

Are you sure you need one? Our students were not allowed to carry or use them. (ex-geology lecturer, currently slave of Big Oil in Copenhagen 🙂

I probably don't, but it'd be a nice thing to have. We have used them quite a bit in the past.

I've heard they are useful for fitting cranks too. Better than a rock apparently… 😆

8)

the head flew into the sea

I bet it was loose for a very long time before that happened, and that the hammer wasn't well maintained/kept in good working order with the wedge firmly secured in the head.

A hickory handle allows your hand to slide more easily, which results in a better and more effective swing, for less effort. And hammers with hickory handles are incomparably better balanced than those with metal shafts, as they concentrate all the weight where it is required – at the head.

They do of course however, require more attention.

Is he escaping from Shawshank Prision?

I have a 16oz one somewhere. not used it for a number of years though. Not a lot of need for it in the land remediation industry.

yet.

🙂

I was a geophysicist with the British Antarctic Survey and then in the oil industry working offshore on seismic survey vessels for a Norwegian exploration company but I'm no longer working in the industry. Neither roles needed a hammer often but the Eastwings are fantastic bits of kit and I still have a couple, I always hankered after the ones with the leather handle grips. That said I used a cheap lump hammer and cold chisel when I did field work in Scotland.

My father was professor of Geology(Neo Tectonics)@ Bristol University till his early death in 1998 🙁
I spent most of my formative years with my father either in quarry's doing seismological testing or mapping in Pembrokeshire & the Pyrenees. They are some of my happiest memories and I still have his Geological hammer that was mainly used as a scale (as was I until people asked exactly how tall was the 10 year old boy in the shots :laugh: )

I can't say I have ever used a geo hammer but then again I am just a core monkey on drill ships and jack ups

here's mine… ! … still in use… and a good bit of kit… use it for cliff inspections, splitting weathered rock to get a fresh view…

size doesn’t matter it's how you use it!