# Fighting with a Sledgehammer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497 "2014-01-23T02:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/41 "2017-09-25T17:10:07Z")
Been in my share of bar room brawls, I always loved it when an opponent picked up a chair or some other item that would slow him down. Heavy weapons are best used to crush the opponent’s head once he is already on the ground and knocked out. Anything close to 1 pound will considerably slow a swing and make it much easier to react to. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/42 "2017-09-25T20:13:54Z")
Huh, I would have thought your preferred style of barroom brawling would involve being a thousand yards away from the bar. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/43 "2017-09-25T20:18:48Z")
At the risk of nourishing this zombie - same goes for a baseball bat. Hold it at the grip and 1/2 way up the shaft, and stab/slash. Don’t swing it like hitting a baseball. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/44 "2017-09-25T20:52:52Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > We used to compete with each other when I was in the Seabees, who could hold a sledge at arm’s length the longest. The other “game” was to hold the handle with one hand and swing it toward your own nose, trying to stop it juuuuust before you hit yourself in the face. Good times. Annnnnnnd this is how you get a safety briefing …:smack: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/45 "2017-09-26T01:02:25Z")
Just don’t be the guy who bought a sledgehammer to a nailgun fight. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/46 "2017-09-26T02:33:12Z")
[Nor to a bugspray fight, nor to a slingblade fight, nor a pickup truck fight](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=792928). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/47 "2017-09-26T04:56:02Z")
When it’s you against the sledgehammer, bet on the sledgehammer. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/48 "2017-09-26T06:28:08Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > Almost any weapon is better than no weapon. I’m going to call bullshit on this. Well, depending on your definition of “weapon”. As someone with a fair amount of combat training and as someone who uses a sledgehammer occasionally in work, I’ll say if you are calling a sledgehammer a weapon you would probably be better off with out it. A lot of fighting theory is just that - theory. Real fights are fast and messy. And they happen without a compliant kata partner. Unless you are super strong, swinging a sledgehammer fast enough to be effective against anyone with a bare minimum of training or who is very motivated will be just about impossible. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/49 "2017-09-26T08:57:38Z")
There seems to be a wide definition of “sledgehammer” in this thread. Although there are a lot of tools that have a shaft with a weight on one end; I envisage the OP to mean a three-foot shaft with a lump of metal at one end weighing between ten and fourteen pounds. The only practical way to use that as a weapon would be to hold it by the ‘throat’ (ie - the part of the shaft nearest the weight) and then to use it as described in #17 Grrr - I am sure it would work on zombies too. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/50 "2017-09-26T09:46:25Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I’m going to call bullshit on this. Well, depending on your definition of “weapon”. > > As someone with a fair amount of combat training and as someone who uses a sledgehammer occasionally in work, I’ll say if you are calling a sledgehammer a weapon you would probably be better off with out it. > > A lot of fighting theory is just that - theory. Real fights are fast and messy. And they happen without a compliant kata partner. Unless you are super strong, swinging a sledgehammer fast enough to be effective against anyone with a bare minimum of training or who is very motivated will be just about impossible. I neither fight or use a sledgehammer that much, but I pretty skeptical about this. If I was ever in a life-or-death confrontation I would definitely rather have a sledgehammer in my hand than nothing at all. As a couple of people have pointed out, you probably would want hold it at or near the head instead swinging it, but having several pounds of metal in your hands seems like massive advantage during a physical confrontation to me. And even if I am wrong, I’d STILL rather have one in my hand simply because any potential attacker is unlikely to think “actually a sledgehammer is not an effect weapon”, as opposed “f\*#k! that guy has a sledgehammer!”, ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/51 "2017-09-26T09:53:24Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > There were some historical weapons I’ve seen both in person and in some books (nothing I can show you that’s online, searches crapped up with video game, D&D, and Star Wars references) that looked like a modern sledgehammer. Mauls were mostly used for siege warfare and more often used as tools than weapons, but they could be used effectively even if you’re not that burly. > . I’d be interested in seeing what people come up with in terms of a cite for this. Everything I found online were very much divided into “fantasy D+D warhammers” which looked like modern sledgehammer, and "real medieval weapons"which looked like a maul. Though I did come across this which is more ridiculous than any D+D weapon (at the royal armories in Leeds, which is awesome BTW, if you ever get the chance to visit) : [https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-40790.html](https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-40790.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/52 "2017-09-26T11:07:30Z")
And even if a big heavy sledge made sense at one time, it doesn’t necessarily still make sense today. In medieval times, you might expect to be fighting a knight, who on the one hand is encased in enough steel to be impervious to any small hand weapon, and who on the other hand has somewhat decreased mobility (not as much as often assumed, but still some) and a significantly decreased field of view. So it’d be harder for a knight to dodge a sledgehammer, and that might be what you need to make a dent in his armor. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/53 "2017-09-26T12:43:57Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I’m going to call bullshit on this. Well, depending on your definition of “weapon”. You are right on. I recall one seminar where we were doing stick and knife fighting, and the discussion turned to flexible/jointed weapons. The instructor joked that it would likely be best to toss it to your opponent for him to pick it up, watch him beat himself up with it as he tries to figure out how to use it, and then step in and finish him off. 😃 Another factor is if you don’t know how to use a weapon - like a knife, you could be disarmed, and then your opponent has a weapon. I’d wager that in the vast majority of instance in which an untrained person is considering defending themselves with a sledgehammer, by far their best bet would be to exercise their Nike-do (run away)! ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/54 "2017-09-26T14:56:04Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I neither fight or use a sledgehammer that much, but I pretty skeptical about this. If I was ever in a life-or-death confrontation I would definitely rather have a sledgehammer in my hand than nothing at all. As a couple of people have pointed out, you probably would want hold it at or near the head instead swinging it, but having several pounds of metal in your hands seems like massive advantage during a physical confrontation to me. > > And even if I am wrong, I’d STILL rather have one in my hand simply because any potential attacker is unlikely to think “actually a sledgehammer is not an effect weapon”, as opposed “f\*#k! that guy has a sledgehammer!”, A lot of people get hurt in encounters because they try something that _seems like_ it should work. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/55 "2017-09-26T15:27:55Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > [Collections Online | Royal Armouries](https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-40790.html) What. The fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/56 "2017-09-26T16:03:03Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > What. The fuck. It’s like someone took the concept of a bayonet and said, “I can make this a _lot_ stupider.” [Except it might predate the bayonet, if it does date from 1600-1630](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonet), as the site says, or at least the bayonet as a sharp pointy thing which attaches to the end of a long gun, as opposed to just being a kind of knife. I can’t imagine it was ever a serious weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/57 "2017-09-27T00:08:49Z")
I would be tempted to pick up the sledge hammer and turn to my opponent, offering it as a gesture of peace. When he got close enough, I would drop it on his foot and run like hell. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/58 "2017-09-27T19:24:00Z")
You could always pretend the sledgehammer was a microphone and start singing Peter Gabriel’s _Sledgehammer_ into it until your opponent decides you’re too insane to risk confronting. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497/59 "2017-09-27T23:54:15Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The issue with a sledgehammer would be that you have 10 lbs out at the end of a relatively long handle- even big 2 handed weapons like Dane Axes and pollaxes weren’t so end-heavy. > > OTOH I think if you took one of those 5 lb one-handed sledgehammers and put a 18" handle on it, and you’d have a pretty fair modern rendition of a warhammer, minus the spike. IME (medeival reenactor) this is closer to reality, There were very few hammers this heavy. Fighting hammers were typically much smaller heads (2-5 lbs) with a handle 2-3’ long. They were used exactly like an axe would be except that the damage was more blunt trauma than cutting. Heavily armored opponents who were downed could be dispatched fairly effectively with the pointed end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-with-a-sledgehammer/679497.md?page=2)