An upholstery hammer (also called a tack hammer) is a lightweight

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

used for securing

upholstery Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' comes from the Middle English wor ...

fabric to furniture frames using tacks or small nails. The head of an upholstery hammer is narrow and roughly 12-15mm in diameter. Commonly they are cast in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

with fused steel tips. 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. A patent existed for a magnetized tack hammer as early as 1861, by G. W. Beardslee. Sometimes, the magnetized face has a split surface to make its magnetic hold stronger. Upholstery hammers may also have one end shaped like a claw to make removing tacks easier. To apply tacks rapidly, an upholsterer will hold tacks in the mouth and spit them, head first, onto the magnetized face of the hammer. This gave rise to the phrase "spitting tacks."

Staple gun A staple gun or powered stapler is a hand-held machine used to drive heavy metal staples into wood, plastic, or masonry. Staple guns are used for many different applications and to affix a variety of materials, including insulation, house wrap ...

s and

hammer tacker A hammer tacker or hammer stapler is a tool used for securing a variety of thin plastic and paper sheet building materials against flat surfaces by tacking a staple using a high velocity slapping motion similar to that of swinging a hammer. Typic ...

s have largely replaced this traditional way of tacking as a commercial upholstery technique. The traditional method remains important both in

antiques restoration Conservation and restoration of movable cultural property is a term used to denote the conservation of movable cultural property items in libraries, archives, museums and private collections. Conservation encompasses all the actions taken toward th ...

and in hobbyist work.

References

Upholstery Hammers Woodworking hand tools Hand tools {{Tool-stub