sledgehammer
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A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, massive, often metal head, attached to a long wooden or solid handle. The long handle is combined with a heavy head which allows the sledgehammer to pick up momentum during a swing and apply a large force compared to hammers designed to drive nails. Along with the mallet, it shares the ability to distribute force over a wide area. This is in contrast to other types of hammers, which concentrate gravity and force in a relatively small area.
Key facts
- Tool.name
- Sledgehammer
- Tool.image
- Sledgehammers-1.jpg
- Tool.caption
- and sledgehammers
- Tool.classification
- Hand tool; Improvised weapon
- Tool.used_with
- Wedge; hammer wrench
- Tool.related
- War hammer
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- hammer
- Followed by
- power hammer
- Image
- C&O Railway Heritage Center - Sledgehammer.jpg
- Has use
- burglary
Show 4 more facts
- described by source
- Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language
- Commons category
- Sledgehammers
- MCN code
- 8205.20.00
- used by
- blacksmith
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Uses
- Drilling hammer
- Post maul
- In popular culture
- References
A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, massive, often metal head, attached to a long wooden or solid handle. The long handle is combined with a heavy head which allows the sledgehammer to pick up momentum during a swing and apply a large force compared to hammers designed to drive nails. Along with the mallet, it shares the ability to distribute force over a wide area. This is in contrast to other types of hammers, which concentrate gravity and force in a relatively small area.
==Etymology== thumb|upright=.8|A straight peen sledge hammer from an 1899 American book on blacksmithing The word sledgehammer is derived from the Old-English "slægan", which, in its first sense, means "to strike violently". The English words "slag", "slay", and "slog" are cognates.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “sledgehammer” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.