I just restored (i.e., cleaned and rehandled) a late-1800s Wm. Marples & Sons Exeter pattern furniture maker’s hammer (pictured below). This style was popular in the day (and still is among hand tool users, especially in Europe).
It had the original oval-shaped handle with this bulbous end (top handle above). It is warped a little (I don’t need help missing nails) and had been inexpertly wedged with nails at some point.
Hibernia is one of Wm. Marples & Sons (Sheffield, England) house brands. They’ve been around since at least the early 19th century and are a common and well-known English maker.
I took a piece of maple scrap from the folding stools and made a slightly tapered octagonal handle with a correctly sized oak wedged (glued in).
It has a nice feel. The octagon gives a good grip and the 9 oz. head has enough heft to drive the forged or cut nails I use on furniture projects.
The peen is used to start the nail. These kinds of nails use a pilot hole, unlike the crap wire nails we use today. So you grab a nail just under the head, set it in the hole, and whack once with the peen. If you miss and hit your finger, it’s not against the wood and won’t hurt (as much).
Then, flip it to the hammer side and drive it the rest of the way, being careful to hit it squarely and not leave a crescent-shaped ding in the wood.
The English call this Frenching the board. I don’t know what the French call it. I am sure they are much too urbane to call it Englishing the board. They probably have some fancy term that sounds like a particularly odoriferous cheese.
I grew up using the hammer on the left below: a Craftsman 20 oz. rip claw hammer. It is suitable for smashing your fingers and bending nails with the best of them. This beast is probably why I suck at nailing. It’s way too big for furniture scale work. But I didn’t know any better. That style and the Maydole drop claw hammer (on the right) are what “hammers” are these days.
This new old hammer looks cool and seems just right for furniture building.