Birzman Deadblow hammer

A hammer's a hammer, right? Not necessarily. The Birzman Deadblow is designed to take the place of your standard workshop mallet, and there's no denying that it's a classy bit of kit that discharges its hammering duties in style.

The 'deadblow' moniker refers to the anti-bounce construction, which incorporates a chamber containing loose metal bearings. Once you've stopped jumping round the workshop shaking it like Bez off of the Happy Mondays, it's time to get down to business. Hit stuff with the Birzman and it stays hit, and the bearings certainly do dampen the blow very effectively: there's a minimum amount of bounce and all the energy goes into smacking whatever it was you wanted to smack. The rubber coating is bike friendly and hardwearing.

It's available in two sizes, big and small. This is the big one, which is what you'll need if you're setting crown races or doing anything else that requires meaty blows, like knocking tent pegs into a baked campsite this summer. The small one should be fine for most general tinkering.

Verdict

18 quid is a lot for a mallet but it is a good mallet, making it decent value. I've been impressed with Birzman's workshop tools and the Deadblow is no exception.