Sledgehammer

Lore & Background

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.

Reader's Guide

The handle can range from 50 centimetres (1 ft 8 in) to a full 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) long, depending on the mass of the head. The head mass is usually 1 to 9 kilograms (2.2 to 19.8 lb). Modern heavy duty sledgehammers come with 10-to-20-pound (4.5–9.1 kg) heads. Sledgehammers usually require two hands and a swinging motion involving the entire torso. They are often used in demolition work, for breaking through drywall or masonry walls, in mining operations, to dislodge trapped objects, for fracturing concrete, for driving fence posts, by police forces in raids, and by blacksmiths. A smaller variant called a drilling hammer, club hammer, lump hammer, crack hammer, mini-sledge or thor hammer allows one-handed use for light demolition, driving masonry nails, or use with a steel chisel. Another variant, the post maul, is meant to drive wooden fence posts or tree stakes into the earth.

Did You Know?

• The 1986 Peter Gabriel song 'Sledgehammer' repeatedly mentions the tool and one is depicted being swung on its cover art.
• In professional wrestling, the sledgehammer is a widely popular weapon, mostly associated with the wrestler Paul 'Triple H' Levesque.