Non-marring hammer options

[shanny19]

When I watch an auto mechanic do his thing in a non-marring way, it’s with a plastic deadblow.
When I watch a tire guy do his thing in a non-marring way, it’s with a rubber mallet.
When I watch a machinist do his thing in a non-marring way, it’s with brass, copper, lead, or rawhide.

Why the differences?

 

[DHCrocks]

no idea but I usually grab a plastic deadblow first. If i need more oomph I'll grab a ball peen deadblow. If on a suspension part a copper/brass seems to work fine. I have a lead hammer but have never used it.

 

[jimreed2160]

Watch a woodworker and he will use a wooden mallet.

 

[Brian_WK]

If i'm hitting anything that needs to be hit, besides a nail or sharp object, I grab the dead blow. I also use it keep the noise level down beating on something metal or wood is loud with a metal hammer its almost half the volume when I use the dead blow. Really helps with the ears.

Brian

 

[larry_g]

Some is tradition. It is also feel. The proper hammer will transmit back what is happening if the user is acute enough to know what they are doing and has a bit of experience. You have also left out metal working hammers. Hard steel but non-marring in the hands of the experienced.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[rlitman]

Watch a woodworker and he will use a wooden mallet.

Or raw hide. But I've also seen bronze mallets for use with chisels, and some rubber covered mallets too, not that I'm a fan of these options.

When I watch an auto mechanic do his thing in a non-marring way, it’s with a plastic deadblow.
When I watch a tire guy do his thing in a non-marring way, it’s with a rubber mallet.
When I watch a machinist do his thing in a non-marring way, it’s with brass, copper, lead, or rawhide.

Why the differences?

I've got a mini hammer from SO that has interchangeable heads. One is aluminum, and there are several hardnesses of plastic.

The answer to your question with regards to the material is that you want a hammer head that is just a tiny bit softer than what you're hitting. It generally only needs to be only slightly softer to prevent most damage. And if the hammer head is too soft, it will both absorb much of the impact, and will fall apart. Since you're describing hitting a range of materials, a range of optimal hammer heads come into play.

Next, there is the question of hammer design. Deadblows offer mechanics a more solid impact with less chance that a rebound will bounce your hammer into something causing costly damage. I really like my steel faced deadblow for use in tight quarters. But they give your hand less feedback, and absorbing the rebound makes your elbow do more work when you're striking something on an anvil. That loss of feedback you get from a deadblow isn't something you want when carefully controlling a chisel for example.

 

[noid]

Its mostly because each material deforms differently as it relates to time (material deformation for the duration of the blow).

Rubber - good at distributing energy over a longer period of time, and as such can do it with little marring. It however is not very good for light blows, because the light blow doesn't have enough energy to overcome the initial elasticity of the material.

Plastic - Has some elasticity, but also yields (damages itself) easily.

Brass - Higher yield than most plastics, less elasticity. The material allows for a harder blow before the material yields which makes it good for working on other hard materials like steel.

Each has their place. Most of the time any of the three will do depending on what you are doing.