A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal, or to crush rock. Hammers are used for a wide range of driving, shaping, breaking and non-destructive striking applications. Traditional disciplines include carpentry, blacksmithing, warfare, and percussive musicianship.
A modern claw hammer suited to drive and remove nails
Cartwheel mallets with heads of felt held between steel washers for use with timpani drums
Detail of the head of a war hammer
A geologist's hammer used to break up rocks, as seen in archaeology and prospecting
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates back hundreds of millennia, have been observed using tools to make other tools.
Carpentry tools recovered from the wreck of a 16th-century sailing ship, the Mary Rose. From the top, a mallet, brace, plane, handle of a T-auger, handle of a gimlet, possible handle of a hammer, and rule.
Prehistoric stone tools over 10,000 years old, found in Les Combarelles cave, France
Bicycle multi-tool
A Bonobo at the San Diego Zoo "fishing" for termites
