Shop textbooks call hammers “the king of tools”. Maybe that’s because the first human tool use probably involved smacking something with a rock. Or maybe it was because blacksmiths used to make all the tools, and they mostly used a hammer to do it. But either way, today we’re going to have a look at hammers.

So many kinds of hammer

When you think of a hammer, perhaps you imagine something like these.

Claw and framing hammers
On the left is a claw hammer, on the right is a framing hammer. Both are used in carpentry and home improvement.

But really, there are a lot of other types too. Here’s just a small sampling:

A variety of hammers. From the left: Ball Peen, Cross Peen, Sledge, Soft Faced, Rubber Mallet, Dead Blow, Claw and Framing hammers.
The scary thing is, this isn’t even half of my collection. And there’s a lot of kinds I don’t have. Michelle has some too, as shown here.

Different tools for different jobs

Craftsmen use hammers for many different purposes, and upon many different materials. They have designed tools to suit each use, and you can choose whichever one suits your present purpose. I chose a few from my collection, but it’s far from exhaustive.

Rubber mallet and soft-faced hammer with plastic and rubber faces.
Rubber mallet on the left, hammer with hard plastic and rubber faces on the right.

Sometimes you need to hit something that you don’t want to damage, like polished metal or painted wood. A soft hammer sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s really quite useful. I’ve used hammers with faces of lead, leather, rubber, plastic, bronze, and brass, as well as steel.

A claw hammer and a framing hammer.

Just about everyone needs a carpentry hammer for small projects.

When it’s time to whack some metal, you might use these.

Cross peen hammer, ball peen hammer, and a small sledgehammer.
Cross peen and ball peen hammers, and a small sledge hammer.

The “peen” in ball peen hammers refers to the back side. A ball peen hammer has a rounded end. It’s great for pounding rounded shapes. A cross peen hammer has a wedge shape crosswise to the handle. It’s great for widening out a hot piece of steel, like a blacksmith would.

The bigger the job, the bigger the hammer required. The sledge shown is fairly small, you may be more used to the two-handed models.

And perhaps my favorite tool for persuading things to move without harming them is the dead blow hammer.

A dead blow hammer.
The head of the dead blow hammer contains steel shot. So the hammer won’t bounce off of what you hit. All of the energy goes into the object.

I skipped over scores, if not hundreds, of other specialized types, since I don’t have any to show you. But check out a big tool catalog sometime, you’ll be amazed by the variety.

Finally, I’m sure you expected some MC Hammer. I’d hate to disappoint.