Hammer Striking Surfaces Breakdown for Noob

[cptzippy]

Never realized there were some many different kinds of hammer. For the uninformed (yours truly) what are the different materials good at?

Brass - not sparking
Copper - same?
Plastic - non-marking?
Aluminum -?
Rawhide - non-marking?
Other I haven't found and will come back and ask when I do?

TIA,
Tony

 

[rlitman]

Humm, lets see. In plastic hammers, I've got rubber, urethane, and polyethylene for different levels of hardness and non-marking. I don't know the composition of my soft faced dead blow hammers, but they too come in different hardnesses to meet the demands required.

There's lead hammers, and babbitt, among the really soft metals.

I use brass and copper to not damage softer things, and BeCu for non-sparking use (or use in places where steel's magnetism is an issue).

Yeah, I have aluminum faced hammers, and both soft and hard steel hammers.

There are titanium hammers, but they usually have a steel face (unless it's a titanium tool for use in sea-water, for it's resistance to corrosion).

Raw-hide is great for working with wood. But there are also wooden faced mallets that serve a similar purpose (good for hitting chisel handles without damaging them).

 

[Outlawmws]

Visit the Hammer Time thread to get a good visual of the different types...

But don't say I didn't warn you...