By
eHow Home & Garden Editor
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You’ll Need:
- Ball-peen Hammers
- Curved Claw Hammers
- Drywall Hammers
- Straight Claw Hammers
- Tack Hammers
Step1
Use the right hammer for the job.
Step2
Grip the hammer by the handle firmly.
Step3
Keep your wrist straight and use your whole forearm to lift and drop the tool.
Step4
Let the hammer do most of the work, using its weight to drive the nail, rather than pounding on it with your full force.
Step5
Angle nails against the grain for better holding power and stagger them to avoid splitting the wood.
Step6
Protect finished wood surfaces by placing a piece of pegboard over the nail before hammering. Then use a nail set to drive the nail even with the work surface.
Comments
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 Coating nails with beeswax is not such a good idea if you are using cement-coated nails. If you aren't using cement-coated nails for most jobs, you should be. Cement-coated nails are thinner than regular nails, preventing wood splits. It's ingenious! The heat from the friction of driving the nail in melts the cement, and then it re-hardens as it cools!