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zelnoe
==Hammer ([[tool]]) ==
A '''hammer''' is composed of a shaft and a head, assembled in a 'T' formation.  

The shaft (generally of [[wood]]) fits between the user's hand and the hammer's head.  It is what you grab to use the hammer.  The longer the shaft, the more force can be exterted by the head, but at the same time, the slower the hammer becomes to use.  

The head (generally made of [[metal]] or (in primitive societies) of [[stone]]) is what does the striking -- the striking surface with generally be flat or slightly convex.  There may be a second striking surface on the other side of the 'T', either of the same size and shape, or designed differently, for a different striking effect.

==Hammer ([[weapon]])==
The '''hammer''' was eventually modified for use in [[combat]]. This is a [[war]]-hammer or a [[maul]]. Like the tool, a war-hammer could be used for gripping and striking (being as how most [[plate armour]] was hammered [[metal]], a hammer could do a good deal to deform a [[plate]]), even against [[mail]], which the hammer deformed inward, causing it to transmit the blow to the [[armour]] and flesh underneath.  Or they could be thrown, as a high-mass blunt-impact [[missile]], over short distances.  They could be mounted on longer shafts, in the manner of a two-handed weapon, when although they were slower, they packed a substantially heavier impact.  As such they were also useful for work against structures -- [[door]]s, [[stone]] walls, etc.

[[category:weapons]]
[[category:tool]]