Metalworking hand instruments are hand instruments used within the metalworking subject. Dollies can be handheld, or mounted on a stake or post. Metal dollies are available in a variety of sizes and shapes and are used for all kinds of hand-forming, planishing (smoothing), and shrinking. Files and rasps are used to supply a smooth finish for detail work, and are sometimes used within the aerospace industry. Forming bags, also known as mushy dollies, are normally filled with sand or lead, shot and sewn very tightly out of a prime-grade canvas or leather-based. When used appropriately, a forming bag allows the user to "shrink" the metallic with out marking it. A variety of body hammers are used in metalworking. Hammers range from small, lightweight "choose" hammers (which provide stubby choose point and excessive-crown peen-sort faces that may ding out small dents in excessive fins), to specialty hammers and heavy-duty "bumping" hammers for heavy gauge truck fenders and panels.

There are dozens of hammers which can be designed for particular tasks or metal thicknesses. Most hammers have one flat end that can be used to hit a chisel when engraving steel. Thus, most hammers can be utilized for metalworking, even hammers such as the claw hammer which are not commonly used in metalworking. The ball-peen hammer is mostly used for metalworking. The rounded peen can be utilized to stretch and form metallic, and to restore metal sheets, with much less risk of tearing compared to hammers with sharper peens. Within the automotive business, there are specialty hammers for paintless dent restore. Slide hammers are used to pull dents in tight areas that can't be accessed from the skin. Panel beating hammers are common and come in many alternative shapes. The faces of mallets used for metalworking are usually made of a material that is softer than the metallic being labored