Geologist's hammer

The geologist's hammer is a special hammer for geological field work. It is used to strike the bedrock for the production of fresh fracture surfaces or for the purpose of handpieces, as already weathered surfaces, it often does not allow the original color, the gross mineral composition or texture of the rock to determine correct. The rock samples obtained can be used for further geological examinations, such as exact rock determination by thin section, or laboratory methods, such as isotopic analysis or radiometric dating be used. When fossil hunting sharp blows with the geologist's hammer used to examine a rock hard block on fossil content, as this preference at the contact surfaces between fossil and surrounding rock bursts. In addition, a geologist's hammer is often used for photo shoots in the field as a benchmark.

Basic types

Geologist hammers are available in various designs and sizes. A distinction is chipping hammers, hammers and abrasions.

• Pick Hammers represent a combination of hammer and pimples represents the strong, slightly curved downward tip allows a precise strike with maximum power transfer to a very specific point. Therefore chipping hammers are just as good for splitting dünnplattig layered or geschieferter rocks such rough spots out of individual mineral specimens or fossils from the surrounding rock. Likewise, the pick hammer has a greater penetration depth in weathered rocks or loosened as a mining hammer.
• Mining hammers have a head with a flat, transverse to the stem standing Finn. Similar to a masonry hammer or Steinmetzdexel has the fin on a sharpened cutting edge, but is narrower in general. It is primarily used to hew the rock samples into manageable pieces cope, but also to clean a shed like a little hoe by vegetation or loose rock. Contrary to expectations, bruising hammers are limited to to split handpieces along their stratification, because this, the edge must be incident exactly parallel layer, which is not always possible.

The impact force of a hammer depends essentially on the weight of the head and the length of the stem. The heavier and longer, the more effective the blow, but also the more unwieldy the hammer. There are typically hammers weighing 350 to 650 g and a stem length of 30 to 40 cm. A hammer with a weight of 460 g is considered to be useful for most purposes. In softer sedimentary rocks lighter ( scraping ) hammers are often sufficient. Heavier ( Pick ) hammers are often used for hard metamorphic and igneous rocks.

Special shapes

Significantly smaller precision hammers, with a weight of 225 g or less, used in archeology. In mountainous regions with very hard crystalline rocks sometimes very heavy and long chipping hammers are used, weighing well over 700 grams and a stalk up to 80 cm in length. Here, the hammer can be used as a walking stick, with the head as a handle, or similar to an ice pick.

Popular geologists are hammers, where stem and head are forged from a single piece of hardened steel. Unlike hammers with a handle made of wood or a welded steel tube, with a solid steel hammer is the weight distribution evenly and generates the weight of the head less unbalance at impact ( which is particularly easy on the wrist ). Moreover, the risk is much smaller that the head stops in case of stress. However hammers with attached stem are significantly ( up to half ) cheaper, and a wood handle has the advantage that it can be easily replaced, while a broken steel hammer is useless. The handles are of steel hammers usually made ​​of vinyl. Leather handles are indeed decorative but less slip, and tend to dry out and loosen.

Occupational safety

When working with the geologist's hammer special care (eg, goggles, gloves ), as rock or steel fragments as projectiles can act. It is particularly dangerous to use two geologists hammers on the type of hammer and chisel as, especially with identical toughness and hardness chipping of steel fragments is to be expected. Likewise, it is not recommended, geologist hammers to use as a so-called beam floor to forcibly break up rock columns. Slightly bend the metal case and is brittle or the handle breaks off.