# Nine-pound hammers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991 "2018-06-12T20:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dave.A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dave.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave.A)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/1 "2018-06-12T20:15:32Z")
Why did nine-pound hammers become a standard, rather than eight- or ten-pound hammers? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/2 "2018-06-12T21:02:28Z")
Without knowing anything about hammers I would guess it was due to market forces. That was the size that the hardware stores wanted, because that was the size that their customers wanted. Over time it became the standard. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/3 "2018-06-12T21:03:43Z")
Are you talking about a Johnny Cash song lyric? ETA: Had to check but this is the supposed weight of the hammers used by John Henry. That would mean it wasn’t standard but instead too heavy for the average man. > [@](#): > > The nine pound hammer, if you don’t get the reference, was the weapon of the mighty John Henry. Legend says the strongman beat a steam-powered hammer in laying railroad ties, only to die after his victory, holding his hammer. Used in the lyrics of many songs. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/4 "2018-06-12T21:07:27Z")
Nine pounds seems rather light to me. For breaking rocks etc in the UK, we used to use a 14lb sledge. For close work, a 4lb “lump” hammer was favourite. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/5 "2018-06-12T21:58:07Z")
The kind we used in the army was always referred to as a “5-Kilo Hammer”. That makes it, what, 11 pounds? ---
**Author:** ![K2500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@K2500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K2500)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/7 "2018-06-12T22:57:48Z")
I just Googled “9lb hammer” and the whole first page, as well all the suggested search terms were Marijuana related. Now I’m really confused. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/8 "2018-06-12T23:04:29Z")
The most common versions of John Henry do not mention the nine pound hammer; one has him “swinging 30 pounds from my hips on down,” and I am sure the usual wags will shortly have something to add for our delight and delectation. FYI, John Henry is not driving spikes or breaking rocks, he’s driving a handheld drill bit that is some few feet in length, boring holes for the insertion of explosives. There is a song recorded in 1927 called 9 Pound Hammer, but it’s very different from John Henry. In I think 1951 Merle Travis published a different song called 9 Pound Hammer that is probably the one people know, as it has been covered by all kinds of people, including Johnny Cash on his 1963 album Blood, Sweat and Tears, where he also recorded John Henry, a likely possibility for the conflation of the two. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/9 "2018-06-12T23:22:57Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > The most common versions of John Henry do not mention the nine pound hammer; one has him “swinging 30 pounds from my hips on down,” and I am sure the usual wags will shortly have something to add for our delight and delectation. FYI, John Henry is not driving spikes or breaking rocks, he’s driving a handheld drill bit that is some few feet in length, boring holes for the insertion of explosives. The story began to change somewhere along the way. The George Pal short ‘John Henry and the Inky-Poo’ had him driving spikes in the ties. However, as you say, the legend is about driving a stone drill and racing against a steam drill. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/10 "2018-06-12T23:27:43Z")
> [@Dave.A](#): > > Why did nine-pound hammers become a standard, rather than eight- or ten-pound hammers? I own an 8# hammer/sledge and have used 10#, 12#, 13#, & 16# ones. Outside the song, I have never heard of a 9# hammer. What makes you say it is a standard? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/11 "2018-06-12T23:29:13Z")
What happens if you have to pound ten times to drive in the nail? 😕 ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/12 "2018-06-12T23:35:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What happens if you have to pound ten times to drive in the nail? 😕 Then you’re not doing it right. Maybe get someone to hold the nail in place for you while you take a two-handed swing…which is how they drove spikes on the railroad. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/13 "2018-06-13T00:16:50Z")
Has a 9-pound hammer ever been a well-known ordinary item anywhere? Or has it ever been the biggest one normally available for some purpose? Or was it **originally** just a phrase that sounded good to a songwriter? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/14 "2018-06-13T00:29:17Z")
There are no nine pound hammers. I checked tool suppliers and they make from 6 to 20 in 2 pound increments. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/15 "2018-06-13T01:05:23Z")
So could the song have just as easily been called “Three-Dollar Bill”? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/16 "2018-06-13T01:13:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What happens if you have to pound ten times to drive in the nail? 😕 Get a 1 pound hammer to drive it home. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/17 "2018-06-13T01:29:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What happens if you have to pound ten times to drive in the nail? 😕 In the metal fabrication shop I once worked in, if you had to hit something repeatedly, soon would follow cries of “Get a bigger hammer, idiot!” ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/18 "2018-06-13T01:55:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The kind we used in the army was always referred to as a “5-Kilo Hammer”. That makes it, what, 11 pounds? And interestingly enough, a 9 lb hammer is 4.08 kilos. I have my doubts that it’s a 9 lb = 4 kg kind of thing, but it’s an interesting coincidence. And FWIW, the vast majority of the first two pages of Google hits for 9 lb Hammer are for some strain of weed named that. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/19 "2018-06-13T15:27:35Z")
> [@bump](#): > > And FWIW, the vast majority of the first two pages of Google hits for 9 lb Hammer are for some strain of weed named that. And results for “none pound hammer” come up with links for a musical group in some style called “cowpunk”. OP joined yesterday, has made just this one post. Methinks we are being trolled… ---
**Author:** ![Dave.A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dave.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave.A)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/20 "2018-06-13T16:56:26Z")
Not trolling, I’ve just been curious ever since I first heard the song back in the '60s. “Nine just sounded good” doesn’t seem right, since “ten” strikes the ear (sorry) harder than nine, both because of the initial “t” and because of its phonetic proximity to “ton.” I’ve tried researching the question a few times over the years, but most searches return hits (sorry again) for the song, not the hammer. So, maybe the popularity of the song is misleading, and nine-pound hammers aren’t really prevalent IRL. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991/21 "2018-06-14T12:42:37Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > And results for “none pound hammer” come up with links for a musical group in some style called “cowpunk”. > > … Funny when the designation of your favorite music genre strikes someone else as unusual enough to enclose in “”! Next you’ll be saying you’ve never heard of psychobilly! 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-pound-hammers/815991.md?page=2)