Woody2Shoes
Impressive Member
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...
- 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...
