Club Hammers: Which Weight to Buy and How to Use One Safely

You've got a row of concrete blocks to cut to size around a doorway. You pick up your claw hammer and start hitting the bolster chisel. The claw hammer bounces. The chisel barely scores the surface. After ten minutes of aching wrist and chipped block faces, you've cut one block badly. A 2.5lb club hammer would have split it cleanly on the second strike. That's the difference between the right tool and the wrong one.

What it is (and why you'll see it called two names)

A club hammer is a short-handled, double-faced hammer weighing between 1kg and 2kg. You'll also see it called a lump hammer. Same tool. The name varies by region and by who you're talking to: tradespeople tend to say "club hammer," DIYers often say "lump hammer." They're all identical.

It looks like a miniature sledgehammer. Two flat striking faces, a chunky head, and a handle short enough for one-handed use. That one-handed control is the point. You hold the bolster chisel in one hand, the club hammer in the other, and strike with precision. A sledgehammer would be too heavy and too long for that kind of work. A claw hammer would be too light, and the narrow face bounces off the chisel head instead of driving it.

The club hammer is the essential companion to a bolster chisel. You'll rarely use one without the other. If someone tells you to buy a bolster chisel, they mean "buy a bolster chisel and a club hammer."

Picking the right weight

This is the decision most beginners get wrong. They either grab the lightest hammer on the shelf (too many strikes needed, arm gets tired) or the heaviest (can't control it, miss the chisel, hit their hand). Weight selection depends on what you're doing.

The 2.5lb (1.1kg) is the standard recommendation. It's heavy enough to split a brick with a single confident strike through a bolster, light enough to swing one-handed for an hour without your forearm burning. Every major retailer stocks more 2.5lb club hammers than any other weight, and that's not a coincidence.

If your main job is chasing socket boxes into blockwork walls, drop to a 2lb. You don't need power for that, you need control. If you're cutting dozens of dense concrete blocks, go up to 3lb. But for general extension work where you need one hammer that does everything, 2.5lb is the weight.

How to use a club hammer properly

This is the section most guides skip. Knowing how to strike a bolster chisel safely and effectively is the difference between clean cuts and bruised knuckles.

Grip and stance

Hold the hammer at the end of the handle, not near the head. Choking up shortens your swing arc and wastes the mechanical advantage the handle provides. Your grip should be firm but not white-knuckle tight. A death grip transfers more vibration into your hand and wrist.

Stand so the chisel is slightly below waist height. If you're cutting a brick on the ground, kneel. Don't bend over at the waist and swing downward, that's how you miss the chisel and hit the block (or your other hand) at an angle.

Striking technique

Place the bolster chisel on the score line. Look at the chisel head, not the brick. Swing the hammer in a short, controlled arc from the elbow, not the shoulder. The wrist stays firm. Let the weight of the hammer head do the work.

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For cutting a brick or block, score the line first. Place the bolster on the mark and give it several medium taps to create a groove all the way around. Then place the bolster back on the score line and hit it with one firm strike. The block should split along the scored line.

Don't try to cut through a brick in one massive hit. Score, then split. Two stages.

The socket box technique

If you're chasing out a back box for an electrical socket, here's a technique from experienced electricians: drill a series of holes around the perimeter of the back box outline first using an SDS drill. Then use the bolster chisel and club hammer to knock out the waste between the holes. This is dramatically easier than trying to chisel out solid blockwork from scratch, and it gives you cleaner edges.

For occupied houses where dust is a serious problem, the club hammer and bolster is actually the preferred method over power tools. An SDS drill with a chisel bit or an angle grinder generates clouds of fine dust that gets into everything. A bolster and club hammer makes rubble, not dust. Slower, but the cleanup is minutes rather than hours.

Hand protection on the chisel

The hand holding the bolster chisel is the one at risk. Keep your fingers wrapped below the widest part of the chisel, never around the top where a glancing blow could catch them. Some bolster chisels come with a rubber hand guard. Use it.

Handle materials: which to choose

Club hammers come with three handle types. The handle material matters more than most people think, because it determines how long the tool lasts and how much vibration reaches your hand.

Fibreglass is the right choice for most homeowners. The handle won't loosen, won't rot, won't warp if left in a damp garage. It absorbs vibration better than steel and won't shrink like wood. Faithfull and Roughneck both make solid fibreglass-handled club hammers with compression-fitted heads and shock-absorbing grips. Fibreglass handles are also non-conductive, which matters if you're anywhere near electrical work.

Hickory (wood) is the traditional choice. Good vibration absorption, nice to hold. But wooden handles shrink over time, particularly in dry or heated environments, and when they shrink the head loosens. A loose hammer head coming off mid-swing is exactly as dangerous as it sounds. If you buy a wooden-handled club hammer, check the head before every use. Tap the base of the handle on a hard surface. If the head shifts at all, re-wedge it or replace the hammer.

One-piece forged steel is what Estwing and OX Pro offer. The head and handle are a single piece of metal, so the head can never come off. Strongest, most durable, will last decades. But steel transmits more vibration than either alternative, and these hammers cost three to five times what a fibreglass model costs. Estwing's patented vinyl grip cuts vibration substantially, but you're still paying a premium for durability that an occasional DIY user won't exhaust.

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What to buy

For a homeowner managing an extension build, a budget or mid-range fibreglass club hammer is all you need. A Magnusson 2 1/4lb from Screwfix at around £9 will cut every brick and block on the project. Magnusson club hammers carry 4.9-star ratings from over 100 reviews. At that price, even if you only use it for one project, you've spent less than a round of drinks.

If you want something that feels better in the hand and will last through multiple projects, spend the extra tenner on a Roughneck Gorilla or Faithfull fibreglass model. The Roughneck has a compression-fitted fibreglass handle, induction-hardened striking faces, and a domed striking point for concentrated force. The Faithfull range carries a 5-year manufacturer's guarantee and meets BS 876:1995 (the British Standard for hand hammers).

Estwing hammers are genuinely excellent. One-piece forged American steel, patented shock-reduction grip, both faces fully polished. Trade users call them "the best hammers you can get" and "the last hammer you'll ever buy." But at £43 – £65 they're hard to justify for a homeowner who'll use the hammer a few dozen times across one project. If you're doing regular building work or you simply want the best, buy an Estwing. Otherwise, save the money.

The starter set option

If you don't own a bolster chisel either, consider a club hammer and bolster set. Olympia sell a 2.5lb club hammer with a 76mm (3-inch) bolster at Toolstation for around £20. It's rated 4.5 stars from 75 reviews. Not best-in-class for either tool, but a solid starter kit that gets you working immediately.

When not to use a club hammer

A club hammer is a striking tool. It's not a general-purpose hammer for nails, not a demolition sledgehammer for walls, and not a mallet for woodwork.

For driving nails into timber, use a claw hammer. The claw hammer is lighter, has a longer handle for better swing, and has a claw for pulling nails out. A club hammer will drive nails, but it's clumsy for the job and you'll bend more than you drive.

For heavy demolition (knocking down a blockwork wall, breaking up a concrete slab), you need a sledgehammer. A 4lb club hammer will chip away at it, but a 10lb sledge does in one hit what the club hammer does in twenty.

For anything involving wood joints, use a rubber or wooden mallet. A club hammer's steel face will dent and damage timber.

Safety

Eye protection is not optional. Every strike of a club hammer on a bolster chisel sends small chips of brick, block, or metal flying. Some of those chips are invisible to the naked eye. Safety glasses cost £3 and save your eyesight.

Check the hammer before every use. Five things to verify:

1. The head is firmly attached and doesn't move when you shake the hammer
2. The handle isn't cracked, split, or splintered
3. The striking faces aren't mushroomed (flared outward at the edges from repeated impacts) or chipped
4. You're striking with the face, never the cheek
5. You're wearing safety glasses

If the striking faces are mushroomed, the flared edges can break off as sharp metal fragments during a strike. A badly mushroomed hammer needs replacing. You can grind the edges back with a bench grinder, but at £9 for a replacement, it's not worth the effort.

Gloves are a personal choice. Some people find they reduce grip sensitivity and make it harder to control the chisel. Others prefer the protection. If you wear gloves, make sure they're snug-fitting work gloves, not bulky gardening gloves that bunch up.

Where you'll need this

Club hammers appear at multiple stages of any extension or renovation project:

• Walls and blockwork - cutting bricks and blocks to fit, splitting blocks around openings, shaping blockwork at corners
• Foundations and footings - driving timber profile stakes and pegs during setting out
• First fix electrics - chasing socket and switch back boxes into blockwork walls
• First fix plumbing - chasing pipe runs into walls, knocking out waste pipe holes
• Kitchen installation - minor adjustments during fitting
• Snagging checklist - checking blockwork quality, testing for loose or hollow areas