The British SAS counter terrorist team used sledgehammers to gain access to rooms during the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege. They were and still are commonly used by blacksmiths to shape heavy sections of iron. Sledgehammers are used by police forces in raids on property to gain entry by force, commonly through doors.

Another common use is for driving fence posts into the ground. Sledgehammers are also used when substantial force is necessary to dislodge a trapped object (often in farm or oil field work), or for fracturing concrete. Sledgehammers were formerly widely used in mining operations, particularly hand steel, but are rarely used in modern mining. Sledgehammers are often used in demolition work, for breaking through drywall or masonry walls. The combination of a long swinging range, and heavy head, increases the force of the resulting impact. Sledgehammers usually require two hands and a swinging motion involving the entire torso, in contrast to smaller hammers used for driving in nails. Modern heavy duty sledgehammers come with 10-to-20-pound (4.5–9.1 kg) heads. The head mass is usually 1 to 9 kilograms (2.2 to 19.8 lb). The handle can range from 50 centimetres (1 ft 8 in) to a full 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) long, depending on the mass of the head. Spike maul used for driving railroad spikes during track construction

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Old railroad hammer