Selecting the Right Hammer for the Job

Hammer Safety Tips:

• Do not strike a hardened steel surface, concrete or stone with a steel claw hammer. Metal chips can result in injury to the user or any bystanders.
• Never use a hammer with a loose, cracked or broken handle—replace the handle.
• Never use a hammer with a chipped, cracked or mushroomed face.
• Discard hammers with cracked claws or eye sections.
• Do not use the hammer handle for striking, and never use it as a pry bar—this could cause the handle to split.
• Always strike the surface squarely—avoid making glancing blows.
• Always wear safety goggles when hammering any object.
• Never strike a hammer with or against another hammer.
• Always use a hammer of the right size and weight for the job.

Nail Hammer

• Used for general carpentry, household chores and nail pulling.
• Should be used only with non-hardened, common or finishing nails.
• Curved claw offers leverage in removing nails and can also cradle a 2x4.
• Choose 16 or 20 oz. weights for general carpentry; choose 7, 10 and 13 oz. weights for fine cabinetry or light-duty driving.
• Available with smooth or waffled (serrated) faces. Milled face is for finishing jobs while waffled face provides more control when hammering large nails into lumber. Some claw hammers feature a side notch on the head for easier pulling of small nails and fasteners.

Framing Hammer

• Also known as a Rip Hammer
• Used mainly by professionals for ripping apart wooden components and demolition work.
• Should be used only with non-hardened, common or finishing nails.
• Choose weights from 20 to 32 oz. for framing and ripping.
• Available with milled or waffled faces to grip the nail head and reduce the effect of glancing blows and flying nails.

Finishing Hammer

• Used for general carpentry, finishing and cabinet making.
• Head size generally between 7 oz. and 16 oz.
• Smooth striking face so errant strikes don’t leave marks on the wood.

Tack Hammer

• Used for furniture upholstery and to drive small nails and tacks.
• Round face on one end is designed to pick up nails and tacks, while a narrow, square head on the other end is used to drive them.
• Features a magnetic face opposite either a driving face or a claw.

Sledgehammer

• Used for jobs where great force is required such as breaking up concrete or driving heavy spikes.
• Feature long handles from 14” to 36” and heavy heads weighing from 2 lbs. to 20 lbs.
• Double-face sledgehammers feature two identical faces.
• Single-face sledgehammers have one flat face for striking and one wedge-shaped face for splitting wood.

Ball Peen (Ball Pein) Hammer

• Used with cold chisels for riveting, center punching and forming unhardened metal work.
• Striking face diameter should be about 3/8” larger than the diameter of the head of the object being struck.
• Designed with a regular striking face on one end and a rounded or half ball on the other end instead of a claw.
• Sizes range from 2 oz. to 48 oz. with 12 and 16 oz. the most popular.
• Variations include a cross-peen hammer (with horizontal wedge-shaped face) and a straight-peen hammer (with vertical wedge-shaped face).

Hand Drilling Hammer

• Has short handles and is used for pounding hardened nails into concrete or for using with tools that drive nails and pins into concrete or brick.
• Only hammer to use with star drills, masonry nails, steel chisels and nail pullers.
• Weighs between 2 lbs. and 4 lbs.
• Larger striking surface, generous bevel and special heat-treating minimize chance of chipping the striking face

Soft-Face Hammer

• Used for assembling furniture, setting dowels and wood projects that requires non-marring blows.
• Available in weights ranging from 4 oz. to 22 oz.
• Feature replaceable heads, typically one soft and one hard

Bricklayer's Hammer

• Used for setting or splitting bricks, and chipping mortar from bricks.
• Features a curved, chisel-like pick and a small, square striking surface.

Shingler's Hammer

• Drives roofing nails, assures proper shingle spacing, trims composition and fiberglass shingles.
• Typically includes slotted, retractable cutting blade

Drywall Hammer

• Used to score, sheet and set nails for drywall work.
• Features a scored head and a notched blade instead of a claw.
• Notch in the blade is used to remove exposed nails.

Mallet

• Has rubber, plastic, wooden or rawhide head.
• Used to drive chisels or hammer joints together.
• Sizes are specified in head weight or diameter with the exception of wooden mallets, which are specified by head diameter only.
• Comes in variety of shapes and sizes for specific tasks.
• Carpentry mallet features angled head to reduce fatigue; shop mallet with octagonal head is used for flat strikes; rawhide mallet is used in furniture assembly.

Courtesy of NRHA.org