Pick or chisel tip for a rock hammer?

[aplomado]

I'm looking at estwing hammers.  What would better- to get one with a pick or chisel end?

 

Are the "brick" hammers ok for rocks?

The fossil rock here is mostly soft limestone.

 

I was planning on getting a rock chisel or two to go with it.

I've not used these before, but I've run across fossils in rock that I've wanted to extract.  Mostly we just surface collect or sieve.

[Ludwigia]

4 minutes ago, aplomado said:

I'm looking at estwing hammers.  What would better- to get one with a pick or chisel end?

Depends on the kind of rock. If you're working limestone, then I would recomment the pick. It's good for getting into cracks. Chisel is good for slate.

[Sjfriend]

I have both but tend to use the chisel type more. As for rock breaking I use a chisel not the hammer chisel. I use the hammer chisel end for prying and digging more then whacking rock. Love my estwing hammers (all 4 of them and soon to be 5. Need one to store at daughter's house)

[Megalodoodle]

Bricklayer hammers provide more precision, due to their flat faces. They're good for when you want to drive a lot of force into a specific area. Geologic hammers (the ones with the pointy tip) are good for getting into cracks, as suggested earlier. Geologic hammers are general tools. I also suggest picking up some cold chisels if you haven't already. If you haven't gotten a crack hammer think about getting one in the future. Use the crack hammer CAREFULLY and GENTLY, if you don't all you'll end up with is a bunch of broken bits.