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"A cleaving tool having a wedge-shaped blade, with a handle set at right angles to the length of the blade, used in splitting staves for casks and the like. It is driven by a mallet." -Whitney, 1911

Frow

"A cleaving tool having a wedge-shaped blade, with a handle set at right angles to the length of the…

A billiard cue, a baseball bat, a tennis racket, all the instruments used in golf, are hammers.

A Hammer for Play

A billiard cue, a baseball bat, a tennis racket, all the instruments used in golf, are hammers.

There are about 50 different styles of hammers, each one having a trade name. They are of every size, from a tack-hammer, weighting a few ounces, up to the blacksmith's great straight-handled sledge-hammer, weighing twenty pounds or more. Many are named after the trade in which they are used.

Types of Hammers

There are about 50 different styles of hammers, each one having a trade name. They are of every size,…

It has a large flat blade with a straight edge. At the back is a peen or hammer head, and in the middle is a socket for the handle or helve, the blade and helve being in one line.

Lather's Hatchet

It has a large flat blade with a straight edge. At the back is a peen or hammer head, and in the middle…

A wooden hammer; particularly used in carpentry, for driving the chisel.

Mallet

A wooden hammer; particularly used in carpentry, for driving the chisel.

A mallet is a type of hammer with a head made of softer materials than the steel normally used in hammerheads, so as to avoid damaging a delicate surface.

Mallets

A mallet is a type of hammer with a head made of softer materials than the steel normally used in hammerheads,…

"A hammer, a mallet. In the hands of the farmer the mallet of wood served to break down the clods and to pulverize them. The butcher used it in slaying cattle, by striking the head, and we often read of it as used by the smith upon the anvil. When several men were employed at te same anvil it was a matter of necessity that they should strike in time, and Virgil, accordingly says of the Cyclopes, "inter se brachia tollunt in numerum." The scene which he describes is represented in the annexed woodcut, taken from an ancient bas-relief, in which Vulcan, Brontes, and Steropes, are seen forging the metal, while the third Cyclops, Pyracmon, blows the bellows. Beside the anvil is seen the vessel of water in which the hot iron or bronze was immersed. But besides the employment of the hammer upon the anvil for making all ordinary utensils, the smith wrought with this instrument figures which were either small and fine, some of their parts being beaten as thin as paper, and being in very high relief, as in the bronzes of Siris, or of colossal proportions, being composed of seperate plates riveted together." — Smith, 1873

Malleus

"A hammer, a mallet. In the hands of the farmer the mallet of wood served to break down the clods and…

Two medieval peasants, a man and woman, break clods of earth apart with mallets. The man is swinging his mallet, while the woman appears to be resting on hers. The man is wearing a short tunic and a hood. The woman wears a long dress and a head-covering.

Peasants Using Mallets to Break Clods of Earth Before Farming the Land

Two medieval peasants, a man and woman, break clods of earth apart with mallets. The man is swinging…

A shield and assortment of Native American weapons.

Shield and Weapons

A shield and assortment of Native American weapons.

"In printing, a piece of hard wood or metal, about ten inches long, which is struck by a mallet to tighten or loosen the quoins in a chase." -Whitney, 1911

Shooting Stick

"In printing, a piece of hard wood or metal, about ten inches long, which is struck by a mallet to tighten…

Stone mallets and the North American Indian method of mounting. A Neolithic age implement. Not drawn to scale.

Neolithic Implements Stone Mallets

Stone mallets and the North American Indian method of mounting. A Neolithic age implement. Not drawn…