Upholstery hammer

Upholstery hammer

An upholstery hammer (also called a tack hammer) is a lightweight hammer used for securing upholstery fabric to furniture frames using tacks or small nails.

The head of an upholstery hammer is narrow and roughly 12-15mm in diameter.[1] Commonly they are cast in bronze with fused steel tips.[2]

Many styles of upholstery hammers have two faces, one face being magnetized to aid in the placement of tacks, the other being larger to drive the tacks home.[3] A patent existed for a magnetized tack hammer as early as 1861, by G. W. Beardslee.[4] Sometimes, the magnetized face has a split surface to make its magnetic hold stronger.^[citation needed] Upholstery hammers may also have one end shaped like a claw to make removing tacks easier.[3]

To apply tacks rapidly, an upholsterer will hold tacks in the mouth and spit them, head first, onto the magnetized face of the hammer.^[citation needed] This gave rise to the phrase "spitting tacks."[2]

Staple guns have largely replaced tacking as an upholstery technique.

References

1. Jackson, Albert; Day, David (1983). Better Than New: A Practical Guide to Renovating Furniture. Sterling. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8069-7730-0. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
2. Law, Alex (10 February 2015). The Upholsterer's Step-by-Step Handbook: A Practical Reference. Macmillan. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1-250-04985-8.
3. Cox, Dorothy M. (1970). Modern Upholstery. Bell. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-7135-1599-2. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
4. Scientific American: N.S. 5. 1861. Scientific American. 1861. Retrieved 12 February 2024.