Ball Peen Hammers. You use them for....?

[54FordPanel]

I'm 51 years old, and I've never had a ball peen hammer in my tool chest. Just curious, what specifically do you use them for?

 

[Merkava_4]

I use them for striking punches mainly.

 

[Lhorn]

When you can't find your regular hammer?

I gotta say as a homeowner, I don't hardly use it at all. When I'm working on the car and shaping or banging metal, I've got better hammers than a ball peen for that. When banging nails or driving stakes, I've got better hammers for that too.

 

[nate379]

I use them for any metal working that doesn't reguire a sledge hammer.

 

[Vinko]

I use them for striking punches mainly.

+1. Mainly a 40 oz Vaughan. Have an 8 oz Blue Point - rebranded Vaughan at home. And just bought a 12 oz. off ebay.

I'd like to get a new engineers hammer for myself. Someone else here uses a Eastwing engineers' hammer that I really like for hit number punches on vanadium steel and it works well.


There was a lengthy thread on ball pein hammers and their uses on here a while back.

 

[nate379]

Yeah that's what I use, just I call it a sledge hammer. I guess mini-sledge would be a better nomenclature. 3lb and 5lbs.

I'd like to get a new engineers hammer for myself. Someone else here uses a Eastwing engineers' hammer that I really like for hit number punches on vanadium steel and it works well.

 

[Joe69]

I use the ball end to shape heavier metal. It works pretty good for straightening the opening of a muffler or exhaust pipe.

Joe

 

[OccupantRJ]

I use them every day. They are a mainstay hammer in my industrial mechanical work, using a lot of pin punches, and peening metal over for various reasons.

 

[trythis]

Claw hammer: nails and relocating wood.
mallet: wood chisels
Mason hammer: bricks / rocks
Roofing hammer: shingles/sometimes bricks.
Ball peen: Hitting any metal other than nails.
sledge: hitting stuff other than nails that requires a bigger hammer.
Baby sledge, stone chisels / cold chisels
Various forging hammers: hitting hot steel/iron

The kinds of hammers go on like the kinds of wrenches.

Anyway, hitting regular steel with a claw hammer is a bad idea. Nails are soft and will not cause the hardened face of a claw hammer to crack, but if you are pounding on regular steel, the face of the hammer could shatter. (I have seen this happen when student was cold forging some mild steel.) The face of a claw hammer is like a strong crystal.

 

[Stuey]

Cold chisels, punches, and light duty metal forming.

 

[54FordPanel]

Thanks for the info, folks.
You know what this means, don't you? I just discovered I was unaware of a tool that I obviously desperately need.

 

[Stuey]

Thanks for the info, folks.
You know what this means, don't you? I just discovered I was unaware of a tool that I obviously desperately need.

Of course!

I'd recommend starting off with a 16oz Vaughan - they can be found for ~14 at Home Depot and various online stores as well.

Estwing also makes really nice ball peins.

 

[wreckercologist]

I use them everyday at work. The ball end is usefull in places the other end won't fit because it is slightly smaller. The ball end is also usefull for straightening thin metal that is bent or dented, much like you would use a body hammer.

Our body/paint man at work doesn't use his body hammers that much because the wrecker bodies at usually thicker than 16 ga. He finds the ball peen to be quicker and much more effective.

 

[collmorgen]

Striking punches and peening rivets.

 

[clueless]

foreheads of people who get on my nerves!! bosses and drivers!!!

 

[Stuey]

foreheads of people who get on my nerves!! bosses and drivers!!!

Hope your boss bashing is only done with a 4oz.

 

[caper]

Beating the sh*t out of stuff.And because I'm a mechanic and mechanics don't use claw hammers.We have no use for a claw,very few nails on a car.Lot's of round,curved places for the ball though.Personally I prefer a cross pein,they're pretty heavy and usually well balanced.I have a 8lb sledge with the handle cut down to about 16" that everybody in the shop borrows all the time,makes a real nice working hammer.Nice for breaking free rims off of hubs and brake drums on heavy trucks where there is limited space to swing a long handle.

 

[Mickey O]

They're great for smashing stuff.

 

[Scotto]

They're the only hammers I have in my garage besides a big dead blow.

 

[speed bump]

I use them for shaping metal parts. If you work on anything that is reasonably thick then a body hammer is pretty useless and you need a ball pien. Ball piens have a nice little dome which is good for bumping certain types of dents as well.

I also have used them as a dome punch when I need a domed hole. Every once and a while I use it for peening rivets.

Finally its hard to find any other type of hammer that is available from 4 oz up to 48 oz.

 

[qdvuu]

Beating the sh*t out of stuff.And because I'm a mechanic and mechanics don't use claw hammers.We have no use for a claw,very few nails on a car.

One day as I was driving down the highway I passed a car on the side of the road with the hood up and as I glanced over I saw the guy hitting the top of the engine with a claw hammer!

My buddies and I still get a smile out of that one.

 

[jvitez]

Whacking the end of a wrench trying to get the oil drain bolt off.

Ditto on the softer face of ball pein hammers vs claw hammers. You always want a hammer face to be softer than whatever you're hitting. Little dents in the hammer are better than shrapnel. Claw hammers generally are the hardest, ball pein, cross pein, engineers, and drilling hammers are all softer.

 

[Honda 1]

I've used ball pein hammers mainly for chisels used with concrete work around the house.
I've also used them for striking lug wrenches to jar the lug nuts loose. Another is for tapping on wrenches for plumbing projects.

 

[Coach James]

Whacking the end of a wrench trying to get the oil drain bolt off.

Ditto on the softer face of ball pein hammers vs claw hammers. You always want a hammer face to be softer than whatever you're hitting. Little dents in the hammer are better than shrapnel. Claw hammers generally are the hardest, ball pein, cross pein, engineers, and drilling hammers are all softer.

How did the drain bolt get on so tight?

Back when I did stone work, I used a 20oz ball pein and a brick chisel to split stone.

I bought my 3yo son a 4 oz ball pein yesterday to go with the work bench I'm making him for Christmas.

Coach

 

[GTO]

Striking punches and peening rivets.

What he said^^^^^^

 

[Elroy]

Ball peens come in real handy for cutting gaskets. Try that with a claw hammer.

Then again ball peens are not real good at pulling nails.

 

[scottmlew]

The ball end is usefull in places the other end won't fit because it is slightly smaller.

On a related note, the overall head size of a ball peen is generally smaller (shorter) than a claw hammer's head is, so this can make it useful when you have limited swing space, even if driving nails. Also, if you do slip and strike something with the "non-face" part of the hammer (the ball or the claw), the ball often does less damage.

 

[jamesemery728]

Bashing those pesky pistachio nuts.

 

[galwaytt]

...it's been a while, but it's the only way to peen rivets on the cutting sections of a combine harvester knife, in the field (literally). Ditto, old hay mowers.

 

[jeejay]

The ball end works for breaking apart floor tile into little pieces. Just figured that out after getting fed up with a chisel, to instead use the full force of a pulverizing hammer, it went a lot faster and was easier to bag up. Incidentally, I wouldn't recommend dropping one on a tile floor then...

 

[seber]

2 ounce for shaping jewelry findings and cracking nuts. 4 ounce for cutting gaskets. 16 ounce for anything else not related to nails.

 

[Motorman55]

THE go to hammer on most all metal work, punch and chisel work, gasket forming when using the female part itself as the die. Pretty much everything automotive.

I've got them in most all the oz. weights range and use them all the time.

 

[jubilee]

Almost any rusted, seized, or over tighten threaded connection can be loosened by repeated
Hammering. Here’s where the ball peen hammer shines. Concentrates impact. Whale away and it will come loose. Sometimes on heavy equipment, two of us will use a sledgehammer striking a ball peen to loosen something. Can’t always use heat.

 

[marinusdees]

I use the ball end to tighten loose joints on most pliers. May not last as long as new pliers, but works.

 

[Moparman390]

Claw hammer: nails and relocating wood.
mallet: wood chisels
Mason hammer: bricks / rocks
Roofing hammer: shingles/sometimes bricks.
Ball peen: Hitting any metal other than nails.
sledge: hitting stuff other than nails that requires a bigger hammer.
Baby sledge, stone chisels / cold chisels
Various forging hammers: hitting hot steel/iron

The kinds of hammers go on like the kinds of wrenches.

Anyway, hitting regular steel with a claw hammer is a bad idea. Nails are soft and will not cause the hardened face of a claw hammer to crack, but if you are pounding on regular steel, the face of the hammer could shatter. (I have seen this happen when student was cold forging some mild steel.) The face of a claw hammer is like a strong crystal.

Yes, this ^

 

[RedneckWelder]

24 oz Vaughan is perfectly balanced and is a good weight for me, I use it for hitting everything I want to hit automotive or metal wise

 

[Jeepermike]

Something about ball peen hammers that make them great for removing tie rod ends. Hit the steering knuckle or whatever the TRE is in perpendicular to the tapered part of the TRE and it flies out more times than not.

 

[Gmonkee]

Everything but pulling nails. Once one gets used to any tool they can make it work on most tasks.

 

[Jim C.]

Based on the stuff I like to tinker with, I find myself almost exclusively using them for striking punches and non-woodworking chisels. My most frequently used and most favorite ball peen hammer is a 16oz. Craftsman branded Vaughan. For some reason, that particular hammer seems to be the perfect, size, weight, and length for a lot of the things I do around the house, working on old cars, restoring/rehabbing vintage machinery, etc.

Jim C.

 

[four.cycle]

Ball peen: Hitting any metal other than nails.

^ this.