Different Types of Hammers and Their Uses

When you look around your shop you may wonder how you ended up with so many tools and if they are all quite necessary for what you do. Certain job duties require certain tools and sometimes a variety of tools. Organizing all of these tools can leave you wonder if they are all quite necessary. While things such as an OEM tool cart or OEM tool box is a good place to store your OEM tools, other storage options are necessary for larger objects. Things such as a wrench organizer and hammer organizer not only organizes your tools, but shows you what tools you have to work with. This is where you may be wondering if you actually “need” all your wrenches or hammers, so here is a helpful list of different types of hammers and what they are used for.

Claw

This is the hammer that most people think of when they hear the word hammer. They are the typical house hammer and are popular tools. Construction workers typically use these types of hammers as they are ideal for hammering nails. Aside from hammering nails, the backs of them can grasp objects such as unwanted nails and pry or claw them out of the wood.

Ball Peen

These hammers are popular for machinists. The heads of these hammers are harder than typical claw hammers, which helps prevent against chipping. Those who work with metal favor these types of hammers. Since they are so light weight the are usually suitable for smaller metallic items that are also lightweight.

Brass
These hammers are beneficial because they don’t produce sparks when they come in contact with metal. The soft metal used to make these hammers keeps from damaging the objects they come in contact with. This means the damage is done to the hammer rather than the object being knocked into place with the hammer.

Mallet

A mallet is made to keep from damaging objects that it is driving it, and keep from damaging the tool as well. They are light weight so they work best when nudging two object together, such as the corners of pieces of wood. They have a large blunt face rather than smaller faces like other hammers.

Dead Blow

Dead blow hammers such as the trusty cook hammer is a solid mallet and closely resembles a mallet, but there is one difference between a mallet and dead blow hammer. A dead blow hammer like a trusty cook hammer has a cylinder inside the hammer. The cylinder located in a trusty cook hammer and other dead blow hammers is filled. These cylinders can be filled with lead, sand or steel. The purpose of this cylinder eliminates the rebound. A mallet has a rebound after hitting the object, but a deal blow hammer like the trusty cook hammer doesn’t rebound after coming in contact with the object because of the cylinder which helps it stay put after coming into contact with the object.

Sledge

The sledge hammer is the biggest hammer of them all and is made to do large jobs. Majority of constructions jobs and manufacturing jobs utilize a sledge hammer. This hammer is incredibly heavy requiring a lot of force to swing it, and the handle is significantly longer than normal hammers. These hammers are meant for when blunt force is needed. The face is small so they work well with smaller objects.

Certain job industries like mechanics will use a variety of tools while working on cars. Every tool may not be used for every job, but it’s important to have a variety of tools on hand for when they are needed. Organizing your tools helps keep them out of the way when they are not needed, but close within reach for when they are needed.