Hammer - Designs and Variations

Designs and Variations

The essential part of a hammer is the head, a compact solid mass that is able to deliver the blow to the intended target without itself deforming.

The opposite side may have a ball, as in the ball-peen hammer and the cow hammer. Some upholstery hammers have a magnetized appendage, to pick up tacks. In the hatchet the hammer head is secondary to the cutting edge of the tool.

As the impact between steel hammer heads and the objects being hit can, and does, create sparks, which in some industries such as underground coal mining with methane gas, or in other hazardous environments containing flammable gases and vapours, can be dangerous and risk igniting the gases. In these environments, a variety of non-sparking metal tools are used, being principally, aluminium or beryllium copper-headed hammers.

In recent years the handles have been made of durable plastic or rubber. The hammer varies at the top; some are larger than others giving a larger surface area to hit different sized nails and such.

Popular hand-powered variations include:

• Ball-peen hammer, or mechanic's hammer
• Carpenter's hammers (used for nailing), such as the framing hammer and the claw hammer
• Construction hammers, including the sledgehammer
• Cross-peen hammer, or Warrington hammer
• Drilling hammer - a lightweight, short handled sledgehammer
• Gavel, used by judges and presiding authorities in general
• Geologist's hammer or rock pick
• Knife-edged hammer, its properties developed to aid a hammerer the act of slicing whilst bludgeoning
• Lump hammer, or club hammer
• Mallets, including the rubber hammer and dead blow hammer
• Soft-faced hammer
• Splitting maul
• Stonemason's hammer
• Tinner's Hammer
• Upholstery hammer