Serious question, why do we all grip hammers the same way?

I was replacing a faucet for a customer last Tuesday and noticed I was holding my hammer like I always do, thumb wrapped over the top. An old electrician on the job said try choking up on it and using my wrist more. I've been gripping hammers the same way for 25 years, and in 5 minutes he showed me I was putting way too much strain on my elbow. Has anyone else gotten tipped off to a basic tool habit they had completely wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

murray.jana8d ago

Twenty five years!! That's CRAZY to think about. I've been doing this for about 12 years now and I had the exact same thing happen with my framing hammer. Some old timer on a job site saw me swinging it like a baseball bat and he literally grabbed my hand and showed me how to choke up. I could NOT believe how much easier it was on my shoulder. It's like all that extra force I was putting in was just wasted.

seth_shah8d ago

Wait, were you using a framing hammer or a finish hammer back then?

gracec168d ago

My old framing hammer was a 22 ounce Estwing that I bought in 2001. I had the same problem for years until a guy on a big deck job showed me the choke up trick like @murray.jana mentioned. I mean, I was gripping it way down at the end and swinging from my shoulder like a fool. Once I moved my hand up closer to the head and let my wrist do the work, it was night and day difference. My elbow stopped aching after two weeks of that.