Section 3: Striking & Demolition Tools

Striking and demolition tools are designed primarily to deliver impact force. This force can be used to drive other tools like chisels or punches, drive fasteners like nails, shape materials through controlled blows, or break apart materials during demolition. This category also includes tools that are struck (like punches and some chisels) and tools that use leverage for prying and demolition.

Hammers

Hammers:

Tools consisting of a weighted head attached to a handle, designed for delivering impact. The weight of the head often determines the hammer's size and intended use. The wide range of hammer types reflects the need to carefully modulate the impact force—both its magnitude and the nature of the contact—to suit the task and material.

  • Claw Hammer: Arguably the most recognized hammer, featuring a flat striking face on one side for driving nails and a claw on the other for pulling them out. Essential for general carpentry and household tasks. A 16oz head is a common general-purpose weight.
    • Curved Claw Hammer: The claw has a pronounced curve, providing better leverage for extracting nails with less damage to the wood surface as it rolls away.
    • Rip Claw Hammer (Straight Claw): The claw is less curved, making it more suitable for prying apart lumber, demolition tasks like lifting floorboards, and striking chisels.
  • Ball Peen Hammer (Ball Pein / Engineer's Hammer): Characterized by a flat striking face and a rounded, ball-shaped peen on the opposite side. Primarily used in metalworking for shaping metal (peening), rounding rivets, and striking punches and cold chisels. An "Engineer's Hammer" might have two identical flat faces or hexagonal faces.
  • Sledgehammer: A large, heavy hammer with a head weight typically ranging from 2 to 20 pounds and a long handle (14 to 36 inches) requiring two hands for effective use. Designed for tasks requiring significant force, such as demolition (breaking concrete, masonry walls), driving large stakes or spikes, or heavy forging. Heads can be double-faced (two flat striking surfaces) or have one flat face and one wedge-shaped face for splitting.
  • Mallet: A hammer-like tool with a large head made from a material softer than steel, such as wood, rubber, plastic/nylon, or rawhide. Used to deliver blows without marring the struck surface or damaging the tool being struck (like wood chisels). Applications include woodworking (striking chisels, assembling joints), metal shaping (sheet metal), and automotive work (tapping parts into place).
    • Wooden Mallet: Traditional choice for woodworking, especially with chisels.
    • Rubber Mallet: Provides a soft impact, useful for assembling furniture, automotive tasks, or seating delicate parts.
    • Nylon/Plastic Mallet: Offers a non-marring face suitable for metalwork or woodworking where surface damage must be avoided.
    • Dead Blow Hammer: Features a head partially filled with loose material like sand or steel shot. This filling absorbs impact energy, minimizing rebound (bounce) and maximizing the force transferred to the workpiece. Often has replaceable plastic faces. Excellent for seating parts securely without damage.
  • Hand Drilling Hammer (Club Hammer / Lump Hammer / Engineer's Hammer): A short-handled hammer with a heavy, double-faced head (typically 2-4 lbs). Used for striking cold chisels, star drills (for masonry), punches, masonry nails, or for light demolition work.
  • Tack Hammer (Upholstery Hammer): A lightweight hammer with a small head, often with one face magnetized to hold small nails or tacks. Used for upholstery work and driving small fasteners. (Common tool, fits category).
  • Drywall Hammer: A specialized hammer designed for installing drywall. It typically has a scored (waffle) face to grip nail heads and prevent slipping, and a hatchet-like edge opposite the face for trimming drywall sheets. (Specialized, fits category).
  • Framing Hammer: A heavier version of the claw hammer (typically 20-32 oz) with a longer handle, designed for driving larger nails in wood framing construction. Often features a milled or checkered face (waffle head) to reduce slipping off the nail head, though smooth-faced versions are also common.
  • Warrington Hammer (Cross Peen / Straight Peen): Features a standard flat striking face and a wedge-shaped peen on the other side. If the peen is oriented horizontally (perpendicular to the handle), it's a cross peen; if vertical (parallel to the handle), it's a straight peen. The peen is useful for starting small nails or pins, especially in tight spaces.

Punches & Struck Tools:

Tools designed to be struck by a hammer or mallet to perform a specific action.

  • Punch (General): A hard metal rod, typically steel, with a shaped tip, designed to be struck by a hammer to mark surfaces, drive fasteners, create holes, or dislodge parts. Sets often include various types and sizes.
    • Center Punch: Has a conical point used to create a small indentation (dimple) in metal or other materials before drilling. This dimple guides the drill bit, preventing it from wandering and ensuring accurate hole placement. Automatic center punches operate via an internal spring mechanism, requiring no hammer.
    • Pin Punch (Drift Punch): Features a straight, cylindrical shaft used to drive out pins (like roll pins or dowel pins) or rivets from holes after they have been loosened. Drift pins (or drift punches) are sometimes tapered and used to align holes in separate parts before inserting a bolt or rivet.
    • Nail Punch (Nail Set): Has a concave or flat tip used to drive the head of a finishing nail slightly below the surface of the wood, allowing the hole to be filled for a smooth finish. (Common tool, fits category).
    • Hollow Punch: Features a hollow, sharpened cylindrical tip used to cut clean holes in softer materials like leather, rubber, gaskets, cardboard, or thin sheet metal when struck with a mallet.
    • Knockout Punch: A specialized tool, primarily used in electrical work, to create precise, clean, round holes in electrical panels, junction boxes, or enclosures for installing conduit connectors or cables. Manual versions are struck , but more common versions use screw pressure (turned by a wrench) or hydraulic force.
  • Chisel (as a Struck Tool): Both wood chisels (especially mortise chisels) and cold chisels are designed to be struck with a hammer or mallet to drive the cutting edge through the material.

Prying & Demolition Tools:

Tools that utilize leverage to separate objects, remove fasteners, or perform demolition tasks.

  • Pry Bar (Wrecking Bar / Crowbar / Gooseneck Bar): A strong metal lever, typically made of steel, with at least one end flattened and angled, often with a V-shaped notch or claw for pulling nails. Used for prying apart boards, opening crates, light to heavy demolition, lifting heavy objects, and removing large nails or fasteners. Designed to provide significant leverage , multiplying the user's applied force. Various lengths and shapes exist.
  • Nail Puller (Cat's Paw): A tool specifically optimized for removing embedded nails. Often features sharp claws designed to be driven under the nail head with a hammer blow, providing a grip for levering the nail out. While a claw hammer has a nail puller, dedicated tools like crowbars or cat's paws often offer superior leverage, especially for longer or deeply set nails.

    Using striking tools inherently involves safety risks. Flying debris from struck objects or even shattering tool fragments necessitates wearing appropriate eye protection, such as safety glasses or goggles. It is also crucial to ensure the tool itself is in good condition, particularly checking for cracked or damaged handles, which could break during use and cause injury. Furthermore, the potential for tools like hammers or wrenches to slip during forceful application requires maintaining a safe distance for bystanders and using steady, controlled pressure.