Top 20 Different Types of Hammers and Their Uses

Whether you are living alone or with your family, a hammer is something you have had in your home since the beginning. And you cannot imagine your life without it.

However, did you know that there are above 20 different types of hammers and their uses? Here are a few and whatever their uses are.

1. Hammer for Electricians

An electrician’s hammer is also called a straight claw hammer. It is supposed to be shock-absorbing, so it’s made out of high-end fiber class shaft.

The hammer for electricians is a very balanced piece of equipment. Moreover, its grip is ergonomic since it is perforated neoprene.

2. Dead Blow Hammers

As the name indicates, dead blow hammers are the hammers that give blows that are almost dead. The hammer is designed so that the recoil is not a lot.

That is because the head of the hammer is made out of plastic or rubber, and is hollow. Sometimes the hammer is also filled with sand.

Its primary use is in places where a very soft blow is needed.

3. Rotary Hammer

A rotary hammer is supposed used for very heavy-duty tasks, like chiseling and drilling the hardest kind of materials. A rotary hammer resembles a hammer drill in many ways.

The main difference between the two is that the drill bit goes in and out too while spinning. The rotary hammers use a piston mechanism for functioning.

4. Claw Hammer

Perhaps this is the hammer that you will immediately recognize. Because this is the hammer that most of us keep in our homes within the essential toolbox that we own.

The back of this particular kind of hammer has a claw that is used to pull nails out of any surface, by getting them in between the claws. And the front head is, of course, used for blows.

Since the hammer works with almost every kind of nail that exists, it is found in practically every home. And it is also found in workshops.

5. Framing Hammer

A framing hammer looks a lot like a claw hammer. The only significant difference between the two is that a framing hammer is used to hold a nail into place while it is being hammered into a wall.

Its claw is straight, and the head is waffled. The framing hammer Is also supposed to prevent slippage.

6. Rubber Mallet

A rubber mallet is the most common kind of mallet. Since the head of a rubber mallet is made out of rubber, it allows the hammer to make very soft blows.

It is used in places where it is essential to hit something into place, but not hard enough to damage the material. For example, it is used to straighten sheet metal.

Moreover, it can also be used in upholstery and woodworking.

7. Tack Hammer

A tack hammer is explicitly meant for driving tacks into place. It is double-headed; however, both the heads serve different purposes. Both beads are claw-like.

One of them is magnetized, while the other is not magnetized. You can stick the tack on the magnetized and use the non-magnetized end to drive the tack in.

8. Ball Pein Hammer

Ball pein hammer is used mostly by engineers. The head of the ball pein hammer is rounded, and it is used for many different purposes.

Since it is rounded, it is capable of closing rivets and shaping metal. Their handles are usually made out of wood, like hickory or ash.

9. Club Hammer

A club hammer is also known as a lump hammer. The head of a club is double-faced. Club hammer comes in handy when demolition work is to be done.

A point to be noted is that the demolition work must be light. Moreover, you may also see a club hammer being used for driving masonry nails and steel chisels.

While using a club hammer, there is a 99% chance that a lot of debris will come flying your way and do unwanted damage to you.

So to avoid that, you must wear safety gloves and glasses to protect your eyes. Their handle is synthetic resin or hickory.

10. Sledge Hammer

The sledgehammer is used for the most massive kind of job. Jobs like breaking up a massive amount of stone, concrete, or masonry. It can also be used to drive stakes.

They are almost the same as a club hammer, but the handle of a sledgehammer is slightly longer, for the sake of more torque.

If the job is not the heaviest, then you can just use the weight of the head to give a blow, since the head is heavy enough to have an impact.

However, when full force is required, you should be swinging it entirely like an ax, and then hitting the desired material with it.

This way, you will be able to use the full potential of the thing. It is recommended to practice safety with the sledgehammer too.

11. Mallet

A mallet is a wooden hammer. Which means its head is made out of wood too. The wooden block is fixed onto a handle. A mallet is a must-have for a carpenter or a joiner.

The use the mallets for different purposes, like knocking in dowels, driving chisels, or tapping wooden joints together.

Mallets are made of beech. Beech is a kind of hardwood. The reason why they are made out of beech is that they are to be used in places where the metal can do damage to the material that is being hammered.

Usually, in a mallet, the head is tapered to a side, so firm contact is established between the head and the material.

12. Blacksmith Hammer

A blacksmith hammer is flat on one end, and the other end of the head is tapered and rounded too. The blacksmith’s hammer falls under the sledge hammer’s category, except in this case, both heads are not alike.

The blacksmith’s hammer is used for shaping hot steel on an anvil.

13. Blocking Hammer

A blocking hammer’s head is flat on one end. The other end of the head is cylindrical. This type of hammer is used by blacksmiths too.

Then again, just like the blacksmith’s hammer, the blocking hammer is also meant for shaping the metal well enough on an anvil. That is why it has a squared shape that is also flat.

14. Brass Hammer

A brass hammer has been named so because the head is made out of brass. Their head is thin and cylindrical and flat at the ends too.

They are used to drive steel pins so that the surrounding surface isn’t damaged.

15. Bushing Hammer

The head of a bushing hammer looks like a meat tenderizer. The primary purpose of a bushing hammer serves to provide texture to stone.

The blows that are received by the material from a bushing hammer make patterns onto it. This adds an aesthetic appeal to the stone.

Moreover, they can be used on sidewalks to make them less slippery.

16. Brick Hammer

a brick hammer is capable of splitting bricks. The small head doubles as a chisel for the sake of scoring.

The hammer is very critical to masonry projects. That is why it is also called a masonry hammer.

17. Drywall Hammer

This is a specialized hammer that is shaped like a hatchet. The only difference is that there exists a notch at the bottom of the drywall hammer.

The notch is there so that the nails can be held where you want to hold them without bringing any kind of damage to the paper of the drywall.

The other head of the drywall hammer is shaped like a blade, of course, just like a hatchet. This is because it can remove the excess amount of drywall easily.

18. Hatchet Hammer

The hatchet hammer is also another unusual kind of hammer. It can be used for keeping in emergency toolkits for survival.

On one end of the head, you will see that the hatchet hammer has an axe blade. So it can be used for many tasks.

19. Power Hammer

A power hammer stays in its place. It is huge, and it has a piston that moves up and down.

The material that is to be hammered is placed underneath the piston. It resembles a hydraulic press.

20. Rock Hammer

a rock hammer is used mostly by historians and geologists. That is because they are to be used for excavations, or breaking up small rocks.

The chisel on the head makes it possible for the hammer to do so. The rock hammer creates very small holes.

Conclusion

The list mention above was of the most common hammers used today. Their uses were explained too briefly.

There are many other kinds of hammers too!