Drive chisels and strike work without damaging its surface. To avoid marring, choose a mallet with faces that are softer than your workpiece. Lighter weight mallets are good for tapping work into place and driving a chisel to make small cuts. Use heavier weight mallets when assembling joints, dislodging stuck parts, and making aggressive cuts with a chisel. Longer mallets allow for more powerful swings.

Rawhide faces are more durable than plastic and won't distort the surface of soft sheet metal, such as brass, aluminum, and copper. Lead-filled heads deliver a heavier, more balanced blow than standard rawhide heads.

Brass faces are suitable for striking steel, iron, stone, and other hard surfaces.

Bronze faces are good for striking non-ferrous metal, such as aluminum, nickel, and titanium.

Hickory handles resist vibration. Steel and aluminum handles are stronger than hickory handles but have less vibration resistance.

Textured and ribbed grips provide slip resistance.

Mallets cannot be sold to the listed areas due to import regulations.

Drive nails with the flat, steel face and remove them with the claw on the other end of the head.

Curved-claw hammers provide high leverage for nail removal. Straight-claw hammers are also known as framing hammers. They're a good choice for ripping and prying wood in addition to nail removal, but they do not remove nails as efficiently as curved-claw hammers.

Serrated face prevents the head from slipping when striking.

Hickory handles resist vibration. Steel and aluminum handles are stronger than hickory handles but have less vibration resistance. Fiberglass handles combine the strength of steel with the vibration resistance of wood. Polycarbonate handles with graphite core resist breakage if you miss your mark.

Textured and ribbed grips provide slip resistance.

For replacement handles, see Hickory Hammer Handles.