Old Wood Head Hammer

[miamitopa]

Hi,
Just joined this forum as it looks interesting.
Specifically, I am looking for some assistance in identifying an old hammer.
The hammer in question is about 8" in total length. The handle is wood. The head is a rectangular block of wood that appears to have some sort of fiberglass outer layer on the long, outer sides of the head. There are two brass rivets(?) holding the head together.
Can anyone help to identify it?

[p_toad]

First of all; a warm welcome to the forum.   Happy to have you here.

If you can post a picture along with your description it would help.   There are limits to the sizes and  number of picture you can post and I use Irfanview to reduce mine to 250k prior to posting. 

[Papaw]

Welcome to Tool Talk !

There have been many such hammers produced, mainly as "Dead Blow" hammers and to minimize the amount of damage done to the item or surface that might be hit by the hammer.

[miamitopa]

Yeah, I tried to post a photo and kept dumbing it down but it was still too large to post. I will try again as maybe I missed someything.

[miamitopa]

OK. Here is the photo of the hammer that I was able to finally get. Hopefully this helps someone out there to help me identify.
Thanks!

[Bill Houghton]

Quick terminology: generally, a striking tool with a head made from wood is referred to as a "mallet;" "hammers" used to mean just striking tools with heads made from metal (steel, brass, etc.), but it got confusing when plastic happened.  Plastic-headed striking tools are called hammers or mallets, with no obvious (to me) pattern to when one term or the other is used, although the ones designed for use with wood-handled chisels (e.g., carving chisels) are usually called mallets.

That's a right interesting tool.  I have no idea what particular purpose it was designed for.  Is there any kind of maker's mark on it?

[slip knot]

The brass and fiberglass make me wonder if it isn't something besides a hammer. Some sort of electrical switch maybe?? 

[wvtools]

The head looks kind of like that cloth/resin composite material from the 1920s or 1930s.  I used to see a lot of mallets made from it.  I am having a brain fart and can't think of the name of it right now.

[p_toad]

Kind of like micarta like they use for knife handles, etc.   It can be laid up as thick as you like and is very strong.

If the head is actually micarta, it could be some version of a "raising hammer" as described here:

https://www.fdjtool.com/ha7658-nc-black-green-micarta-raising-hammer.html