I know this is a really dumb question but I tried several search terms and didn't hit anything.

Why do you all call it a hammer? Kinda looks like a wrench to me.

I've heard that the term 'hammer' came from method of hitting the handle of the lever in order to adjust the tuning pin.

What's funny though, is that my uncle, a tool and die maker, also referred to my tuning tool as a 'hammer' long before he knew that was a term that we used for it.

I wonder if tool junkies, in general, just like to use the word 'hammer' to describe their primary tool.

Kind of like the musician referring to his instrument as an "axe".

It kind of looks like a hammer, a chunk of metal on the end of a handle. If dropped on your toe it does the same damage as a hammer would. If you drop it on your toe because you have been drinking excessively you could say "I got hammered" and kill two birds with one stone.

On a more serious note, etymological history of the term "hammer" seems to originate in the word "hamarr" which meant a crag or a stone. This predates even farther to the connection of tool designed with a stone head. So I think the shape of it is the reason for calling it a tuning hammer. Not much different than a tuning fork not really being used as a fork, but resembling one in its shape. Maybe some real old timers here can comment on whether it was originally called a hammer and whether we are using the term more or less as time has gone by.

If you think that piano terminology is bad, I used to work at a plumbing supply warehouse where customers regularly came in and asked for 8" galvanized nipples. (Get your mind out of the gutter!)

Terminology can be funny when people are not used to their use, reminds me of this funny joke..

There was a not so bright DIYer that walked into a lumberyard and asked for a 4X2. The lumber guy asked, "you mean a 2X4 don't you?" The guy walked out to his truck and talked to his helper and came back in and said "Yeah, a 2X4". The lumber guy throws it on his saw, pulls out his measuring tape and asks, "How long do you want it?" to which the DIYer goes back outside to his buddy in the truck, comes back in a minute later and says "Well...a pretty long time, were building an outhouse with it".

They used to use the other side of the tuning lever head to tap in tuning pins. Some of the traditional levers still have a flat part opposite the tip. Also setting a pin is really done by jerking and sort of tapping the tuning pin into place.

I can't help but think of an old Three Stooges episode.

They are working as short order cooks in a diner.

Moe says "hand me the egg cutters."

They hand him a pair of scissors, and he cuts the eggs, shells and all, into the pan.

Ever since my family has called scissors by the title eggcutters.

It takes a wench to tighten the loose nut behind the wheel, unless he's already hammered...