Types of hammers

Most types of hammers come in a variety of head weights and handle lengths. Handles made of ash, hickory, tubular steel (with a rubber grip), or fibreglass absorb shock well, are comfortable to hold, and provide a good grip. The head should be cleanly forged (not cast) of quality steel. The face of a hammer intended for general use should be smooth and have slightly bevelled edges. A textured face clings to nails and is best for long nailing sessions. However, it will mar the work surface. A smooth face, found on pein hammers, mallets and sledgehammers, is designed to strike either a work surface or other tools, such as a cold chisel or a punch.

Claw hammers:
The basic everyday household hammer is a 450 g curved-claw hammer. For rough construction work, choose a 680 g straight claw hammer, sometimes called a ripping hammer. For finished carpentry, use a light 350 g hammer.

Pein hammers:
Instead of a claw, these hammers have a second striking surface, called a pein. The rounded ball pein is used to bend and shape soft metal. The hammer used by cabinet-makers has a long, thin cross pein to start a panel pin, and a flat face to drive a nail. A bricklayer’s hammer has a flat end to settle masonry into place and a long chisel-like face to score bricks.

Mallets and sledgehammers:
To strike woodworking chisels and assemble wooden parts, use a carpenter’s mallet. Assemble other projects and pound out dents in metal with a rubber mallet. Sledgehammers have heavy solid steel heads weighing from I to 15 kg. Long-handled heavy sledgehammers are used for demolition work, such as breaking up concrete. The short-handled, lighter type is used to drive stakes into place.

Using hammers

Swing time:
Everyone bends a nail now and then. To reduce your chances of doing so, try to drive a nail home with the fewest possible hammer blows — no more than three or four. Hold the hammer at its end, not in the middle, and swing your arm like a clock pendulum, keeping your wrist stiff during the swing. Always wear eye protection.

One-handed start:
Starting a nail with one hand allows you to hold on to the work or to the side of a ladder with your free hand; it also makes it much easier to drive a nail in a hard-to-reach place. One way to do this is to wedge the nail tightly in the claw of your hammer, with the nail head against the base of the hammer head. Swing the hammer, claw side first, to start the nail; then lift the hammer off the nail and drive it in the usual way.

Another nail starter:
Grasp the hammer head in your fist, and holding the nail firmly between your fingers and against the side, or cheek, of the hammer. To start the nail, rap the nail point against the work.

No more smashed fingers:
Holding a small nail when you start it can often result in pain. To keep your fingertips out of harm’s way, stick the nail through one end of a folded sheet of stiff paper. Using the paper as a holder, drive in the nail. Before finally seating the nail, tear the paper away. The teeth of a comb, tweezers, or long-nose pliers can also serve as nail holders.

Protective cover:
Here’s a way to shield a work surface from an accidental hammer blow when you’re driving finishing nails. Simply drive the nail through a hole in a scrap of pegboard with 6 mm holes. As you near the surface, lift off the pegboard and use a nail set to sink the nail.

Cushion the blow:
Need to tap a joint together without marring the wood? Convert your hammer into a mallet by slipping a rubber furniture leg tip over the hammer’s striking face. Or cut an X in an old tennis ball and slip the ball over the hammer’s face.

Directory assistance:
When hammering indoors, use a pair of old thick telephone books as a work surface. The books will not only protect the surface but also deaden the sound. (And if you’re working on a messy project, you can tear out the pages of !he book and use them to catch spilts.)

Pilot holes:
Driving a nail into hardwood is easier if you drill a pilot hole first, just as you would for a screw. If you don’t have the right drill bit, nip off the head of a nail that is the same size as the nail you are going to drive, and chuck it tightly, in the drill.

Fast driver:
Another strategy for easing nails into hardwood is to lubricate the nails. Beeswax, lubricating (household) oil, even lip balm, all work well. If your hammer has a wooden handle, you can drill a hole in the handle end and fill it with beeswax or lip balm.

No more split wood:
To keep wood from splitting when you drive a nail into it, blunt the point of the nail slightly. Turn the nail so that the point faces up, and tap it gently with hammer. Then try to drive the nail into the soft lighter areas of the wood, not the darker grain lines.

Nail attractor:
Glue a small magnet to the end of your hammer handle. When you want to pick up a few nails, just stick the handle into your nail container or apron pocket.

Mini-claw:
To pull nails too small for the claw of your hammer to grip, create a miniature nail puller by filing a V-shaped notch into one claw tip. A triangular-shaped needle file will do the job nicely.

Versatile nail-pulling wedge:
To get just the right leverage under the hammer head when you’re pulling a nail, make a nail-puller block from a scrap piece of 100 x I00 mm timber. Cutting the piece at about a 35 degree angle will give you a great deal of flexibility.

Put on a smooth face:
A good-quality hammer will perform well for years. But with use — and abuse — its face will become nicked and gouged. When that happens, you can restore the hammer’s face by lightly filing it smooth. Make sure the outer edge of the face remains bevelled so that it is less likely to leave hammer marks on the work.

Sharp claws:
The claw, that handy nail puller and crowbar, may need restoration too. When the claw becomes damaged, restore the ends and the inside edges of the V with a flat metal file. Deepen the point of the V with a triangular file.

Clean face:
When you are fastening a project with cement-coated nails, you may find that you are bending more than your share of nails. That’s a signal that the hammer head has become coated with cement. To clean the head, rub it with a scrap of sandpaper or a bit of steel wool.

Handle remedies:
lf your wood hammer handle is loose, put it in a jar of linseed oil for an hour. The wood fibers swell in the oil, making for a snugger fit. If a handle cracks or breaks, replace it or discard the hammer. To attach a new handle, first shape it to fit. Then coat the handle tip with five-minute epoxy, insert it in the hammer head, drive in the end wedges, and let the epoxy cure for 24 hours.

Hammer hold:
Make your nail apron do double duty as a convenient holder for your hammer. Just drill two holes in a 40 mm PVC pipe coupling and thread one of the apron strings through the holes.