How to Use a Hammer Safely
Why does one need to learn using a hammer? One can pick it up right in the hands and nail it! Does that work right always? We are sure the answer is No. Not always the hammer gets the work done the way it was supposed to do. The reason lies in the use of it. Unless you know how to use a hammer properly, it would skid, glide around and knock the surrounding surfaces off. In a lot of cases, hammers come right on the hands and fingers causing injuries. And in a lot of other cases, the result comes out undesirable. Now, when we are convinced that using a hammer isn’t a child’s play, let’s see how to use a basic hammer in few basic steps.
The way one holds the hammer decides a lot of the next actions. If the hammer isn’t held properly, the very first bang may cause something you won’t like. Very commonly, people hold hammer the way they dig holes with a knife. That doesn’t give any proper direction, or allows essential power on the hammer to do its job well.
Once you have placed the nail on the place you want to fit it in, make sure your fingers hold the uppermost tip of the nail and not the bottom. If you hold the bottom of the nail, the hammer would get enough space to fit the nails in one go, crushing your fingers. To prevent doing that, put fingers on the top-tip and control the force applied on the hammer.
Preventing surface damage
If you put too much force on the nail with the hammer, not just you open gates for hurting your fingers, but also leave room for the wood or wall surface to break or get scars. To avoid that, make pilot holes. Pilot holes are very tiny holes, where you may fit your nail, and hit the hammer. With a pilot hole drawn, put less force on the nail in initial few hits, and once you see the nail going straight inside the hole, increase the force on the hammer accordingly.
This sounds crazy to some people, because a swinging hammer looks dangerous. Who knows where it bangs on! But to those who have tried using this method, they know that it does job efficiently. If you want more control over the nail, swing the hammer from the wrist, otherwise from the elbow. Also, while swinging, focus on the nail that you hold, and not on the hammer. Do keep an eye on the hammer, but your prime focus should be on the nail.
Do not put too much of the manual force on the hammer while using it. Hammer is meant to do strong jobs with less power used by you, let it do its job. Another reason for not putting unnecessary stress on the hammer is to ensure that you don’t bend the nails.