Evolution of hammer

The hammer has its place in the toolbox as a percussion tool. Although it is often inconspicuous, in fact, through its countless knocks, mankind has come all the way from the barbaric era to the present. About 2 million years ago, human ancestors would hold stones as striking tools in their lives or in battles. This was the earliest origin of the hammer.

More than 30,000 years ago, humans began to tie hammered stones to wooden sticks to make stone hammers. This was the first version of a hammer with a handle. The hammer handle appears to be more convenient for exerting force, and the lever formed by the hand and hammer handle can amplify the striking force, greatly increasing the hammer’s striking power and speed. However, the hammer head tied by primitive people with “rubber bands” (generally referring to tough plant fibers or animal tendons, etc.) is easy to loosen. If it becomes loose accidentally, the hammer head will fly out and cause “accidental injury”!

Entering the Bronze Age of mankind, the hammer has received another critical “upgrade.” In addition to the bronze metal material that is more powerful, there is also a hole on the hammer head, which is called “銎” in Chinese (same pronunciation as poor), and it is very easy to fix it by inserting a wooden stick into it. This design can be seen on many tools and weapons and is still used today.

Bronze needs to be hammered repeatedly to become strong and durable, so the hammer and forging have become inseparable. Later, steel gradually replaced bronze as the first choice and best material for hammer heads. The hammer was also an indispensable tool in production tools and one of the effective blunt weapons in the war years. The shape of the hammer at this time is very close to the hammer we see in reality.

After thousands of years of development and upgrading, the hammer has formed a huge family. In addition to metal hammers, there are also special hammers made of wood, rubber and other materials, which play an important role in daily life and in all walks of life.

In order to cope with different uses, hammers have also derived different hammer heads. Among them, the claw hammer was the most sophisticated and popular in the past.

During the Roman Empire, nails were widely used. Nails were very valuable at that time and needed to be pried up and used repeatedly. However, it is not easy to pull out iron nails, and it is even more difficult to ensure that the pulled nails can be used again. So the craftsmen upgraded one end of the hammer into an “iron claw” shaped like a sheep’s horn, and opened a V opening specifically for handling nails – inserted into the gap between the nail caps, and with a gentle pry, the nails came out.

The modern claw hammer was invented by American blacksmith David Medel in 1840. He used a wedge-shaped eye – inserting the hammer handle and then driving the wooden wedge backwards, so that the hammer head would be stronger. In addition, he also upgraded the “ram’s horn” to a curved surface, making it easier to pull out nails. This new claw hammer became very popular as soon as it was launched. Most claw hammers on the market today follow Medel’s design. In the United States, some people still call the claw hammer a Medel hammer.