Replace faces when they become worn rather than replacing the entire tool. These mallets are suitable for driving chisels and striking work without damaging its surface. Choose a mallet with a face that's softer than your workpiece to avoid marring it when tapping or striking. 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.

Rubber and plastic faces are softer than metal faces, so they're good for striking plastic, wood, and sheet metal. All have a face hardness rating for comparing their hardness with other rubber and plastic faces. Hard faces have a hardness similar to that of a bowling ball. Hickory and ash handles resist vibration.

Match a mallet body with different face materials to create the perfect striking tool. The head is loaded with metal shot for added weight and a controlled impact with minimal rebound. Use mallets to drive chisels and strike work without damaging its surface. To avoid marring, choose a face material that's 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.

Bodies consist of a head and handle with a slip-resistant grip.

Faces screw into the head.

Use the domed end of the head for forming soft metal, rounding off edges, and closing rivets. The flat striking face is for driving nails, pins, punches, and chisels. For replacement handles, see Hickory Hammer Handles and Fiberglass Hammer Handles.

Hickory and beech handles resist vibration. Fiberglass handles combine the strength of steel with the vibration resistance of wood.

Textured and ribbed grips provide slip resistance.

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.

The face and head are made of aluminum-bronze that is Factory Mutual approved, so these tools inhibit sparking and are nonmagnetic and corrosion resistant. They satisfy OSHA requirements that specify nonsparking tools for locations where flammable vapors and combustible residues are present. Use them to drive and remove nails. All have a textured grip for slip resistance. For replacement handles, see Fiberglass Hammer Handles.

Warning: Do not use these tools in direct contact with acetylene.

No handle means precise control for tapping work into position. These hammers can be used in tight spaces where standard hammers don't have room to swing. The replaceable faces have a hardness similar to that of a hard hat. A hex-shaped body keeps the hammer from rolling when you set it down.