Hammers

**MikeT** · 11th-December-2010

Folks,
Anyone can hold a hammer and think they can use it properly.

There are different hammers for different jobs.
One thing I have seen in my time, is apprentices that use a hammer that is FAR too large for what they are doing.

If you need to drive 3 or 4" nails, get the heaviest hammer you can get and test it out on driving nails through a bit of 4" square timber.
On larger nails, you need a 20 ounce head on your hammer, with 2" nails you can get away with a 16 ounce head.
With finishing brads and smaller nails, you should be using a smaller hammer.

Hammers have a handle on them for a reason, they are supposed to be held near the end of the handle, not up near the head, handles give you more leverage and more force, but this has to be a controlled force.

If you find you are bending nails all the time, the face of your hammer is too smooth, rough it up on either a bit of coarse abrasive paper or give it a rub on some concrete, backwards and forwards, then from side to side.
This will help the head of the hammer "bite" into the head of the nail as it is driven.
Having said that, using a hammer is all technique rather than brute force, the only results that can come from that are hammer marks all over the place and split timber.
Not a good look at all.

I'll add more to this, I just wanted to get it started as a discussion topic.

**nivek** · 11th-December-2010

a handy tip when using small nails, such as panel pins or 1” to 1 ½” ovals to fix beading or any small trim is to snip the point of the nail with a pair of pliers, the blunt pin/nail punches through the grain rather than pushing it apart and causing the piece to split.

**Bmiricle** · 11th-December-2010

Quote from nivek

a handy tip when using small nails, such as panel pins or 1” to 1 ½” ovals to fix beading or any small trim is to snip the point of the nail with a pair of pliers, the blunt pin/nail punches through the grain rather than pushing it apart and causing the piece to split.

If you've got a piece of concrete or metal near by you can just give the nail a tap, point down, on the hard surface before driving it through the wood.

This has the same effect as you blunt the tip of the nail.

Bit quicker me thinks.

**nivek** · 11th-December-2010

Alternatively

**Bmiricle** · 11th-December-2010

Quote from nivek

Alternatively

LOL

**Percy** · 12th-December-2010

For very small items a Technician is trained and skilled at using a srewdriver to hit them with.

**nivek** · 27th-January-2011

Quote from MikeT

Kevin,
If you (or your wife) have to use a nail gun, GTFO of the trade!
People that piss me off the most are 25 y/o newbies in the building trade, that tell us seasoned electricians, that we will be working for such low wages.
I have a certain limit on my business as in an hourly rate, if you don't like that, get someone cheaper and more shoddy.

people that piss me off are seasoned electricians who tell us seasoned joiners to "GTFO of the trade"