Roofing Hatchet (Shingling Hatchet)

A roofing hatchet, also called a shingling or shingler's hatchet, combines a hammer face with a sharp hatchet blade on a single head. It developed for wood shingle and shake roofing, where the roofer nails, splits and trims each piece by hand, and it remains in use for wood roofing, asphalt shingle repairs, hand nailing near edges and details, and general roofing tasks.

Features

• Hammer face, often milled (waffled) or smooth, sometimes with a magnetic nail holder or starter so a nail can be set one-handed.
• Blade for splitting and trimming wood shingles and shakes, and for cutting or scoring other materials.
• Exposure gauge: many models carry adjustable pins or a sliding gauge on the blade. Holding the gauge against the butt of the course below sets the exposure of the next course without measuring each piece, which keeps courses straight and consistent.
• Replaceable blade or gauge on some patterns.
• Handles of wood, fibreglass or steel, with weights commonly in the range of a medium framing hammer.

Use

When laying wood shingles or shakes, the roofer places each piece, checks exposure with the gauge, drives the nails and trims edges at valleys, hips and rakes with the blade. On asphalt shingles, hatchets are used for hand nailing in areas where a nailer is awkward, for removing and replacing damaged pieces, and for cutting at walls and penetrations, although utility knives with hook blades are more common for cutting asphalt products.

Related tools

• Roofing hammer: a hammer without a blade, sometimes with a magnetic head and gauge.
• Slater's hammer: a different tool, with a pick for punching holes in slate and a cutting edge for trimming it.
• Roofing nailer: a pneumatic or cordless alternative for high-volume nailing.

Safety

The sharp blade means the hatchet should be carried in a holster and handled away from the body. Eye protection is advisable when striking nails.