# How do you hold your hammer?



## RGIvy (23 Sep 2020)

My late father-in-law owned a woodworking factory in Zimbabwe for many years, and often had walk-in job applicants.
His first and basic test was to simply get them to hammer a nail into a piece of wood. Those who had some degree of proper training held the handle towards the end. Those with no formal training tended to hold it slightly closer to the head.







Unless he was really short of labour (or the job was unskilled) the "hold-it-near-the-head" applicants failed immediately.
I've often thought about that when I use a hammer!


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## Geoff_S (23 Sep 2020)

Doesn't it depend on how hard you want to hit the nail?


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## novocaine (23 Sep 2020)

for knocking nails in, from the end, for precision adjustment, close to the top. 
for lumb hammers, anywhere including thumb at the side of the head. 

my dads expression was "what did the hammer do to you that have to strangle it" when ever I shifted my grip up the handle as a youngster. stuck with me.


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## RGIvy (23 Sep 2020)

Geoff_S said:


> Doesn't it depend on how hard you want to hit the nail?


Yes, and sometimes a short-handled hammer is easier for some delicate jobs (for me anyway).
...hence why I sometimes imagine his displeasure 
But when I knock a big nail in I'm always mindful to hold correctly


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## owen (23 Sep 2020)

My dad always used to tell me off for strangling the hammer too. It's surprising how you can get used to certain hammers. I can use my estwing blindfolded but give me a different hammer and I seem to really start to think about how I'm using it.


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## Lons (23 Sep 2020)

I just squeeze the trigger and it goes bang!  

Seriously though I had to think about that and under most circumstances hold near the end of the handle automatically even a lump hammer. A carving mallet almost always close to or around the head though I rarely bash a carving chisel.


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## AJB Temple (23 Sep 2020)

This is a really big deal. My dad was an engineer and he would go nuts if you held a hammer anywhere except the end of the handle. This was deeply ingrained in me from age 2. When my wife breaks the rules and gets hold of one of my hammers, she always holds it half way down the handle. I have explained a trillion times that this is wrong and an affront to tools. However, she adroitly bends the nail or misses the post wherever she holds it.


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## bjm (23 Sep 2020)

I was taught that if you had to hold the hammer in the middle (to exercise control) then you were using the wrong size hammer! It's something you often see blacksmiths doing though! It's all about leverage.


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## sunnybob (23 Sep 2020)

I'm another who was taught by my engineer fabricator father. I still have a half dozen of his hammers, some of which must now be a 100 years old.
The end of the handle gives the maximum force to the blow. If thats too much force, use a lighter hammer.
I watch forged in fire, and am constantly amazed at how many of those knife makers who think they are THOR, and use a giant hammer and hold it with their fingers touching the head. They are the ones who always get exhausted and have to have medical assistance.


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## That would work (23 Sep 2020)

Like a drumstick... the right hand in case you use a traditional grip.


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## Trevanion (23 Sep 2020)

I have a 8lb head on a foot long handle, it’s a great thing for convincing things to move.


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## Nigel Burden (23 Sep 2020)

At the end. A lump hammer I might hold nearer the head, but my mallet is held near the head.

Nigel.


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## RGIvy (23 Sep 2020)

AJB Temple said:


> However, she adroitly bends the nail or misses the post wherever she holds it.


And being the gentleman you are you're happy to hold the nail for her?


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## novocaine (23 Sep 2020)

sometimes e..g for electrical problems, you need to hold it by the head no matter the size of hammer.


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## Tris (23 Sep 2020)

An old carpenter watching me put up a fence said 'you hammer like lightning', 'I'm not that fast?' I replied, 'no, you never hit the same thing twice' he said. 
Oldest one in the book apart from being sent for a long weight!


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## Oddbod70 (23 Sep 2020)

At the end - always.


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## Eric The Viking (23 Sep 2020)

Wot ee said.

End of handle snugly in the heel of the hand. Funny thing is, I can be gentle (or not) with a hammer held like that. Held half way up not only feels wrong, but I have much less control over both weight and accuracy.


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## Suffolkboy (23 Sep 2020)

Trevanion said:


> I have a 8lb head on a foot long handle, it’s a great thing for convincing things to move.



Boasting Trev?


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## Trevanion (23 Sep 2020)

Suffolkboy said:


> Boasting Trev?



Definitely, my hammer is bigger than yours 

_Although I will more than likely have arthritis by 30._


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## MusicMan (23 Sep 2020)

I was taught with virtually all hand tools to hold them at the end (or in their handle) with index finger pointing along the tool for directional control, Hammers, saws, files, etc.


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## AndyT (23 Sep 2020)

Holding at the end of the hammer is good for knocking nails in fast, but there are many other uses for a hammer. If you watch some of Ken Hawley's films of Sheffield craftsmen forging tools all day long you'll often see a very controlled grip up near the head of a heavy hammer. 

For example, in this film of John Ridge making gimlets:




As Ken says in the commentary, every hammer blow counts and every gimlet gets the minimum number of blows. Nevertheless, the hammer handle would soon develop a distinctive wear pattern and get very slender where the owner's hand gripped it.


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## sunnybob (23 Sep 2020)

Index finger along a hammer handle is going to give you a sore hand. i wouldnt recommend that on any serious bashing.


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## novocaine (23 Sep 2020)

I've been told it's nice to have end choked up on occasion. Pair that with a willingness to move up and down the shaft and the odd finger round the head and I've been informed you can get a good pounding that shows fantastic results. Obviously your mileage may differ. I've also been informed it changes somewhat with age but you can now get all sorts of aids to keep you banging away well in to your 70s.


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## Terry - Somerset (23 Sep 2020)

Always seemed to me that hammering nails is a little like golf.

Play infrequently and airshots and divots predominate. With a hammer the wood suffers dings.

Proper golfers go equipped with different clubs for different jobs which they carry around in a bag. We generally have but one or two hammers, not a full selection of different weights and handle lengths.

So we use hammers in a compromise mode - like a golfer with only a putter, wedge and driver for company.

As we become more proficient in either endeavour we learn to use the tool more effectively in compromise mode, improving grip (which should be at the end), speed of stroke, accuracy etc.


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## clogs (23 Sep 2020)

music man ok but never with a hammer....

seen people using a hammer with the thumb behind/back of the SHAFT.....oh dear.....
bought a double headed copper mallet about 8lbs (Thor I think) with a 24"ish shaft so sweet to use...from Macsalvors, Cambourne...
still remember the training with a 14lbs sledge...... you lift/swing but the head does the work....
can still use one accurately but not for too long...just getting old....hahaha...


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## robgul (23 Sep 2020)

Always at the end of the handle to give maximum control - adjusting the size of hammer/mallet for the job, be it nailing, hitting a chisel . . . . or persuasion of any sort. I must have about 7 or 8 hammers of varying sizes and functions together with classic carpentry mallets in two sizes.


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## Bm101 (23 Sep 2020)

AndyT said:


> Holding at the end of the hammer is good for knocking nails in fast, but there are many other uses for a hammer. If you watch some of Ken Hawley's films of Sheffield craftsmen forging tools all day long you'll often see a very controlled grip up near the head of a heavy hammer.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yeh but he was only in the trade for 75 years Andy. 
What would he know?

A first fix chippy I worked with once told me off for holding a hammer half way up the handle. Lectured me a bit. Nice guy mind.
A couple of days later I walked into a part of an extension we were building and there he was. Hand half way up his handle. Red Handed!
Ohhhhhhh! Ohhhh! I got you now! 
He didn't live that down for days. 
Another hammer expert was a guy I workeed for in Snowdonia. Landscaping a small garden entirely from slate. Guy came on the job and raged at me for using a bolster with a club hammer to split slate blocks. *You're wasting time! Whack it! Just whack it!* 
He proceeded to demonstrate by clumping this great block of slate all over while it smashed and chipped into tiny fragments in front of me and SilentKev (remember him?) Didn't split at all. Obviously.
Ok Martin I said. Gotcha. I can see why you're the boss. Thanks for the help.
As he left I picked up my sharp bolster gave it three taps and cleaved it clean along the grain. 
SilentKev looked at me and I winked. Possibly. Long time ago now.

For me it depends what I'm doing. No hard and fast rule except what works best just the most efficient use for each job is important.


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## Lons (23 Sep 2020)

novocaine said:


> you can now get all sorts of aids to keep you banging away well in to your 70s.



So I understand, haven't needed any yet though.


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## novocaine (23 Sep 2020)

Guess im a pro if we use the golf analogue.





These are just the ones that stay out. Theres a toolbox draw woth another load. Then there's the builders hammers, the chipping hammers, the claw hammers, oh you get the drift.


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## JSW (23 Sep 2020)

Watch a Master at work, Larry Haun Framing a Wall
Loads of good tips in this vid, nail pouch behind you so you can stay bent while nailing, using the claw of the hammer to pick timbers up etc etc
One tap to start the nail, then two shots (often just one) to drive the nail home.
He was 80 years old when this video was made


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## AndyT (23 Sep 2020)

JSW said:


> Watch a Master at work, Larry Haun Framing a Wall
> Loads of good tips in this vid, nail pouch behind you so you can stay bent while nailing, using the claw of the hammer to pick timbers up etc etc
> One tap to start the nail, then two shots (often just one) to drive the nail home.
> He was 80 years old when this video was made


Thanks for that. He certainly knew what he was doing!
Always nice to watch an expert.


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## Bm101 (23 Sep 2020)

JSW said:


> Watch a Master at work, Larry Haun Framing a Wall
> Loads of good tips in this vid, nail pouch behind you so you can stay bent while nailing, using the claw of the hammer to pick timbers up etc etc
> One tap to start the nail, then two shots (often just one) to drive the nail home.
> He was 80 years old when this video was made


I remember the first time I realised a garden hoe was supposed to be sharp. Proper sharp. 
Now I have to sharpen the claw on my hammer.


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## JSW (23 Sep 2020)

If you're in the mood for it, there's a series of 3 videos (around an hour apiece) on Youtube featuring Larry framing out a BIG house, just incrdible how much two guys can get done between them. I watched them all a couple of years ago, it's compelling viewing


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## Ollie78 (23 Sep 2020)

I find if I am actually bashing in nails I hold it at the end but if I am using it to hit a chisel I move up to the middle for more control.
Now I realise I am being extremely controversial by hitting my chisels with a hammer but I find a wooden mallet cumbersome and not heavy enough, I do have hoops on my chisel handles though. I prefer to let the weight do the effort than have to add force by swinging at it.

Ollie


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## AJB Temple (23 Sep 2020)

Very good video of Larry. Nailing on the ground gives him a lot of momentum. Top quality. I hope I am that fit if I ever reach 80.


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## AJB Temple (23 Sep 2020)

Whoever said you can get by with two hammers:

Two smithing hammers
Upholstery hammer with fine and wide tips for decorative tacking
Tacking / pin hammer
Three or four aluminium shaping hammers and variety of formers
Small and large ball pein (both ex my dad)
Ludicrously large ball pein (ex may dad)
Three claw hammers (so offspring and I each have one)
Two lump hammers
One square head sledge
One round head sledge
Thor: 1 1lb, 2 lb, 3lb x2 5lb (variety of copper and leather)
10lb and 15ln framing mallets
A few carving mallets ( I like old ones)
Wood mallet I have had since I was a kid
Bricklayers hammer
Slate splitting hammer
Brass hammer that came with some chisels I think
Japanese hammer that is very cool for use with Japanese chisels
Two German wedge hammers (came with tool kits - pretty useless)
Two rubber mallets (white and black) 
Small leather / copper faced hammer that is very old - came from my grandfather

From memory, that has about nailed it. Could be looking at 38-40 hammers there.


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## Trevanion (23 Sep 2020)

Larry Haun is what happens when hyper-intelligence meets the trades, in another life he could've been Einstein.


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## doctor Bob (23 Sep 2020)




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## novocaine (23 Sep 2020)

Hay look a broken thumb.


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## AndyT (23 Sep 2020)

AJB Temple said:


> Whoever said you can get by with two hammers:
> 
> Two smithing hammers
> Upholstery hammer with fine and wide tips for decorative tacking
> ...


Adrian, that's quite a list, but... How can I put this politely, in line with the forum rules...? You have some way to go...





__





Scotty and Karen Fulton’s Hammer Museum | Popular Woodworking


I thought I had a hammer-collecting problem until I met Scotty Fulton. Fulton set me straight: 50 hammers is not much of a collection. Try 12,000 hammers , virtually all of them different…




www.popularwoodworking.com


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## Steve Maskery (23 Sep 2020)

I was just about to post that I think that both illustrations are wrong. Musicman has it right. An extended forefinger gives you control in a way that that illustrated grip does not.


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## Oddbod70 (23 Sep 2020)

Cant day I’d ever use a hammer with an extended forefinger. I think that’d just feel weird!

A saw? Definately. Files and chisels? Sometimes. Never a hammer tho. Maybe i’ll try it and see. but if I belt my thumb it’s your fault!


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## John15 (23 Sep 2020)

Agreed about extended forefinger for more control when driving thin pins and tacks that bend easily.

John


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## JSW (23 Sep 2020)

...and a hand plane, let's not forget that.







Steve's point about the forefinger is correct, in my opinion, but _only_ for holding the hammer a third to a half way up the shaft. 
That technique is for tappy-tap-tap-tappy type of work.
Try using the forefinger approach when framing and be prepared for some pain.

I was thinking, (or maybe that should be over-thinking) this earlier, weilding a hammer for framing purposes seems somehow akin to using a slingshot.

A slingshot you begin the arc with a couple of swings before going into full rotation, all the while building momentum, then the final arc is when the elbow (I think) gives it that final devastating 'snap'

Same with the framing hammer, there's an arc that starts at some point above and slightly behind the head, it bears down til the arc is half way between points, then it's the elbow that kicks in to deliver that last 'punch' that drives the nail home.


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## Trevanion (23 Sep 2020)

Hammering with an extended forefinger is like drinking with an extended pinkie finger, you bunch of poshos.


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## MusicMan (23 Sep 2020)

Steve Maskery said:


> I was just about to post that I think that both illustrations are wrong. Musicman has it right. An extended forefinger gives you control in a way that that illustrated grip does not.



Exactly, Steve. Almost always (well OK not with a sledgehammer). Files, saws etc also. All about control. And we will not be intimidated by the yokels with blunt instruments !


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## Trainee neophyte (24 Sep 2020)

I saw an American on YouTube proclaiming that you should always hold the hammer near the head - the long handle is just to give you something to balance out when you clip it to your belt.

Being a) YouTube and b) American, I didn't think too much of it, but having looked at the chap with the framing hammer, it seems to have a longer handle than your average claw hammer


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## Jonzjob (24 Sep 2020)

When I joined the R.A.F. as a Boy Entrant at the age of 16 the metal work instructor, a HUGE flight seageant, saw me holding a 2lb hammer 1/2 way up the handle. He wandered over and said "sonny, if Dog had wanted you to 'old that 'ammer there 'e would 'ave made the 'andle that long. HOLD THE THING AT THE END!

I did and have done so ever since 

Something else I was taught was 'never force it, use a bigger hammer'. That works for me too


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## Rich C (24 Sep 2020)

Ollie78 said:


> I find if I am actually bashing in nails I hold it at the end but if I am using it to hit a chisel I move up to the middle for more control.
> Now I realise I am being extremely controversial by hitting my chisels with a hammer but I find a wooden mallet cumbersome and not heavy enough, I do have hoops on my chisel handles though. I prefer to let the weight do the effort than have to add force by swinging at it.


I use a plastic faced hammer for chiselling. Has a bit more heft than a mallet.


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## Oddbod70 (24 Sep 2020)

MusicMan said:


> Exactly, Steve. Almost always (well OK not with a sledgehammer). Files, saws etc also. All about control. And we will not be intimidated by the yokels with blunt instruments !


Gisson on me luvver, youse all gone forein you ave. Grockels an' emmets 'as their odd ways but down ere we doose a proper job


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## Cheshirechappie (24 Sep 2020)

Further to Frank Horton's note about 14lb sledge hammers, I once had the job of separating the crossheads from the piston rods of an inside-cylindered 0-6-0 saddle tank locomotive, the piston rod end having a slow taper which fits very tightly into matching taper of the crosshead, so they don't come off easily. This is done by removing the connecting rods, inserting a scrap bronze half-bush against the gudgeon pin and a bronze button against the piston rod end, and then a long, slow-tapered wedge between the bush and button, and whacking the wedge end hard with the sledge. Because the loco's boiler prevents attack from above, this has to be done from under the engine in an inspection pit, swinging the hammer behind you, then forwards and upwards with force to strike on the wedge end. Possibly the most physically demanding piece of hammer work I've ever done. It worked, though.

The only person I've ever seen using the extended-forefinger grip was a toolmaker, and he was just using a pin hammer to make tiny tap-tap adjustments whilst setting a job on a machine tool table. 

I've seen an extended thumb (thumb along shaft pointing towards head), which I gather some call a Smith's grip. Tried it. Doesn't work for me. The one that works for me is the ordinary fist grip, near end of handle, and don't forget the wrist flick just before impact for extra hammer head speed.

And yeah - if it isn't yielding to persuasion, don't force it. Get a bigger hammer!


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## AndyT (24 Sep 2020)

Talking of physically demanding hammer work, I'll just slip another video link in here. If you don't watch all of it (which you should) skip to 3:35 to see the strength and coordination needed for two men to work together on the same forging.



And also this, from Netherton in the Black Country where they made chains and anchors for big ships. Impatient viewers should start at about 4.50 for the best hand hammering display. Watch out for the big sledges with two handles on and admire the way they all manage to hit the iron, not each other. Makes me tired just watching.


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## novocaine (24 Sep 2020)

2 men isn't anything, I stood and watch a team of 6 smiths (and 1 apprentice with a set of tongues) work an anvil (one of the smiths was my dad). can't remember what they were making but it needed big hits fast to shape it and keep from having to stick it back in the fire.

in your video it's only 1 who's working the steel and he's the apprentice, the smith is scaling and dressing. 
I like this one for 2 man team work. somewhere around 4.50 you'll see them both go to town on it.


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## AndyT (24 Sep 2020)

Novocaine, I think we agree - I was adding that video at the same time as you were posting it!

Everyone else: have a look now, you won't regret it!


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## JSW (24 Sep 2020)

Just a quick tip for anyone interested.
If you want to add a YouTube link to play from a specified time, IE 4m 50s in novocaines link, pause the vid at the correct time, right click anywhere in the pic, and click on "copy video URL at current time"

Your welcome


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## AndyT (24 Sep 2020)

I know, but that doesn't work on a phone with the YT app!


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## MusicMan (24 Sep 2020)

I concede that for forgework the index finger is better off holding the hammer! I confine my technique to hammers in woodworking and small-scale metalworking.

Reminds me of when I was teaching a bunch of university metallurgy students about structures of metals, trying to get him to understand how the slag particles in wrought iron were elongated in one direction. "How is wrought iron made", I asked? This rather weedy youth looked up from his microscope and said "By great big sweaty men" !


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## Trainee neophyte (24 Sep 2020)

Hardly the same level of skill as above, but there are 4 of them:


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## novocaine (24 Sep 2020)

I was looking for something from Alec Steele as I've seen him a few other smiths do it a few times on the tube. best I could find


Never head it call a striking team before, make sense now they say it though.


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## MarkDennehy (24 Sep 2020)

Hm. The hammer I use most is a carving mallet and the handle is one hand-width long, so there's either "holding it" or there's "you've dropped it again" or occasionally "well, that's sounded expensive".


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## Woody2Shoes (24 Sep 2020)

I have lots of different hammers for different things and I hold/use them differently depending on:
- The size/weight of the hammer (some require two hands - yes matron);
- The balance of control/finesse vs. welly required e.g. letter carving vs. roofing battens

I'm sure that there are many honourable exceptions, but I think that AJBT's experience with his wife is not unique. I know this is a small sample size, but...... I went on an introductory blacksmithing course some years ago - about eight people, roughly 50:50 male/female split and a variety of ages, as I remember. None of us had done any blacksmithing before, but all were used to craft work of one sort or another - the blokes all found it a lot easier than the women. I think this is because, often as not, boy children go around hitting stuff with implements much more than girl children do, and thus, by adulthood, have more of an instinctive 'sense' of how to accurately whack an object with a hammer. It's not something I'd seen before - but I do bear it in mind when Mrs W2S helps me with projects!

These are skills that can be learned - I remember when I started splitting logs with an axe I felt good if I got reasonably near where I wanted to make the split - and sometimes I missed entirely! Now, thousands of logs later, it's very unusual not to get the split exactly where I want it almost intuitively. I guess hitting a golf/tennis/hockey/cricket ball is not so different either...


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