Selecting the Right Hammer for the Job

by DoItYourself Staff

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.