FWIW, in the late '80s early '90s we had a large framing crew which
built apartment houses. The guys liked the 23 oz Craftsman
"California Framers" with the milled faces. When the faces became
dull they would break the handle off and go to Sears and get a new
hammer. It was interesting to see how the hammers were re-engineered
several times to increase handle strength. After several years the
boys had to use a 4' pipe to break the handles. I wonder if anybody
ever figured out why the milled face hammer handles were breaking and
the smooth face hammer handles weren't.
Paul