Talk:Sledgehammer

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I think it should be revised two versions back on the history, as neither the APPLE over the picture nor the alternate name of "Bestest Hammer Ever" are very useful.

The first and initial paragraph (and the image) of this article is confusing sledgehammers with mallets. A mallet is a short-handled tool with a big head designed to put force over a wide area. A sledgehammer is a long-handled two-handed tool with a heavy head for driving wedges and the like. The picture is of what appears to be a rubber mallet. -- Cyrius|✎ 20:55, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I have revised the offending paragraph and moved the image to Mallet. --Slowking Man 22:03, Aug 18, 2004 (UTC)

Why is it called a sledgehammer? Anything to do with sledges? --66.46.53.84

It comes from the word sledge, a large, two-handed blacksmith's hammer. That in turn comes from a variety of Germanic words for to strike. --Adamrush 11:49, 15 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"sledge" is an old word for sleigh - I wonder if this old word is related to the modern name for this type of hammer...? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.10.124.224 (talk) 03:43, 16 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

First usage was late 1400s. Sledges (sled) were the vehicles under ships. Large hammers were used to release wedges securing the sledge(s). -> sledge hammers. They had to be heavy since several were released simultaneously to effect a coordinated launch. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.89.228.162 (talk) 04:58, 12 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Why does it say they only weigh up to six pounds when the picture shows a 10 and 20 pound hammer? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.43.38.78 (talk) 05:47, 25 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Shape

It had a shape of a rectangle, but the handle is still wooden like a Axe.

Deleted information

The joke has no place in this article--especially not as almost half of the article. Not even a link to the Internet Sledgehammer Joke Archive would. Also, the 1980's tv show about Sledge Hammer is mentioned in the disambiguation page and doesn't need to be in the main article. --Adamrush 01:29, 13 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

spike maul

A photo on the current page shows a bell pattern spike maul, which is not a sledge hammer. The caption claims it is a type of sedge hammer. There are many striking tools that take a long wooden handle, but not all of them are sledge hammers. A sledge hammer, in my experience, is more of a general purpose striking tool, while a spike maul is exclusively designed to drive railroad spikes. There is already an article for spike mauls on wikipedia, which I think should be preserved. It would be similarly incorrect to call an axe, a beetle, a pick, or a post maul a type of sledge hammer. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.115.47.182 (talk) 04:37, 17 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Maul

Should the information for the maul be moved to the maul page now? --Вla zze ee 14:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Contributions/196.37.134.101 (talk) 09:04, 15 June 2009 (UTC) i have read that in days of old, a sledge was used for transporting goods, and a sleigh for persons. if you were a very bad boy, you would be tied to a sledge, dragged thru the village for the comunity to pelt you with whatever was at hand. the trip would end at the local blacksmiths workshop and he would complete the sentence by wacking you on the nogin with his large, heavy hammer!! which soon became known as a sledge hammer!! crime in those days was not very common.[reply]

That is utter drivel. The sledge part of the word comes from Old English slecg, "a heavy hammer" - look up the etymology of the word in any dictionary --62.249.233.80 (talk) 11:27, 27 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Origin

Sorry but the origin of the sledgehammer is completely wrong. It has absolutely nothing to do with sledges and shipbuilding. It is from Old English slecg, from Proto Germanic. *slagj- related to slean "to strike". What's more, sledgehammers are used for smashing things, not for knocking out chucks.--62.249.233.80 (talk) 11:21, 27 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the section because there wasn't any citation supporting it. Wizard191 (talk) 17:03, 27 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And I've put an etymology back in - with a citation! Boatgypsy (talk) 23:01, 25 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Energy?

Ever found any information on the max velocity or energy these things could be swung with? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.219.151.200 (talk) 16:59, 4 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Incorrect photo / caption?

The tool in the photo captioned "Sledgehammer" is actually a POST MAUL. A post maul has broad, flat circular faces that are significantly larger in diameter than the 'body' of the head, and is used for driving wooden fence posts into the earth. Sledge hammers have irregular hexagonal faces that are the same diameter or slightly smaller than the 'body' of the head. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.12.239.191 (talk) 00:14, 20 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

According to some internet searches, it does appear that you are correct. As such, I removed the image.

Some discussion should be made about about to handle post mauls; i.e. redirect them back here with a subsection about them or send them to hammer with a subsection there. Right now maul has an entry that redirect to this article, however, this article doesn't actually discuss mauls at all. These problems need to be addressed. Wizard191 (talk) 18:32, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology

I think sledgehammers are thusly named because they were originally invented for use at shipyards, and used for knocking away the wedges that held a ship on a sledge (on a slipway) in order to launch the ship into the water. I think I may have read something to that extent somewhere, but I have no reliable source. Maybe somebody else knows for sure. 188.192.109.47 (talk) 21:52, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The English words "slag", "slay", and "slog" are cognates? According to AI : Within the same language, words like “slay,” “slag,” and “slog” are not typically referred to as cognates. Cognates usually refer to words in different languages that have a common origin. However, in the same language, words that share a common root or origin are often called derivatives or related words. “slay,” “slag,” and “slog” all share the root “sl-” and have related meanings involving effort or destruction, but they are not cognates in the traditional sense. Instead, they are examples of words that have evolved from a common linguistic ancestor within the same language. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.230.152.123 (talk) 13:05, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Caption change?

The caption says "10 pounds (4.5 kg) and 20 pounds (9.1 kg) sledgehammers". I want to change it to 10 pound (4.5 kg) and 20 pound (9.1 kg) sledgehammers" (no one says "I lift 50-pounds weights, when the correct syntax is "I lift 50-pound weights"), but the source shows a code instead of a sentence. Is deleting the code and adding an actual sentence the only way to deal with this caption?WIERDGREENMAN, Thane of Cawdor THE CAKE IS A LIE (talk) 20:45, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Question

I have a question!!! When was the first sledgehammer invented?

what

what does slaegan mean? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lemonchicken (talk • contribs) 22:54, 22 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Warhammers are related?

Just wondering why warhammers are listed as "related" in the lead. Was the sledge hammer specifically designed around a warhammer? Or is it simply because they have similar shapes and masses? But are otherwise unrelated. Because that seems a bit vague to have it be related. Like saying all spherical fruit is related.

I don't want to make assumptions about why it was included as being related, so I thought I would ask since no reasoning is given. VoidHalo (talk) 14:57, 7 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sledgehammers and mauls

I feel like, as is so often the case, that this article can't make up its mind on what definition it is using. Are we talking about sledgehammers as the word is used now, which tends to include all large and heavy two handed hammers such as mauls, or the original definition which was for a quote specific type of hammer with a quite specific job? The original sledgehammer was a standard blacksmith appliance and mostly used in a forge, and farmers and railroad men used mauls or mallets when large forces were required. The sledgehammer became the most available and popular during the 20th century and now people tend to use the term as an overall name for all large hammers, when it ought to be the other way around. It's easier to find a sledgehammer today, so that's what the average person buys and uses instead of a maul, but they aren't the same thing, and that's not what they were originally designed for.

Also how is a sledgehammer "designed to spread the impact over a wider area than typical hammers"? A sledgehammer is designed to deliver a much more powerful blow, the wider head is not that much larger and is more incidental to the design than intentional. The force delivered per square centimeter is still higher than a framing hammer, and it's the total force applied that is mostly useful in this tool. The broader head just avoids the problem of simply punching a hole in whatever you are hitting instead of applying the force to it, but it's not designed "to spread the force over a wider area". A mallet is the tool for that, and that gets more effect by being made of wood or rubber that spreads the impact over time more than over area, which is easier on the object being struck.

A sledgehammer can be used as a maul but they aren't the same thing, nor is a mallet.

And they make 2lb and 3lb sledgehammers, they are very useful tools. But they don't require a full torso swing, they are just heavy hammers that aren't specialized for nail driving and don't include a claw or other additional tools.

In fact I have seen old carpenters tools, and before they had claw hammers, before nails were cheap and plentiful, a "hammer" was basically a light 1 or 2lb sledgehammer, but shaped differently. They were used to drive pegs, chisels (or you just use a wooden mallet or club), spikes, and increasingly nails as they became less expensive. Later the claw was integrated instead of of being a separate tool. But that was not a sledgehammer. Idumea47b (talk) 04:53, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]