claw hammer

A claw hammer is the everyday carpenter's hammer: one end is a flat striking face for driving nails, and the other splits into a curved two-pronged claw for pulling them out.

The claw is a lever. It hooks under a nail head and pivots on the hammer's own head or on a scrap of wood beneath it, which multiplies your pull enough to draw a nail that a straight pull would never shift.

Use the right size and hold it near the end of the handle, because gripping high up throws away leverage — and leverage is the whole point of a hammer. Keep the face clean of oil so it does not slip off the nail head. Remember too that it is a striking tool and nothing else: hitting another hardened surface with it, such as a second hammer or a chisel head, can chip the face or send fragments flying.