STRIKING HAMMER FACTS
(as compiled by Vaughan & Bushnell Mfg. Co.):
Did you know:
Most people grip a hammer the wrong way?
The advice from experts - don't hold the hammer too tightly, instead grasp it lightly but firmly - as if you
were to shake someone's hand.
Quality hammers provide two handle positions?
Experts recommend that you grip the bell end of the handle for heavy hitting and the slight flair at
mid-handle for lighter blows. Quality hammers have tapered handles to provide a firm grip at either
position.
Quality hammers never die - they improve with age?
According to the experts at Vaughan, a quality hammer with a forged steel head and a precisely
heat-tempered face, can get better with proper use since pounding keeps the temper in the striking
face. Their advice: if the wood handle wears out, simply replace it with a new one.
Which is the kindest hammer to your arm?
A hammer with a top-quality hickory handle is best, fiberglass is next, with solid steel hammers last
when it comes to tiring handle vibration. However, a new solid steel hammer on the market with a
rubber and hickory insert in the tool head (Steel EagleŽ. by Vaughan), provides the strength and
durability of steel but is close to a wood handle in feel.
A hammer's claw can make a difference?
The deeply curved radius of the claw on a common nail hammer is designed for maximum nail pulling
leverage and for picking up and cradling 2 x 4 lumber. The ripping hammer sports a shallower curved
claw for getting under and between lumber pieces.
Hammer weight should match the job?
The 16 ounce common claw hammer which is used for most around-the-home jobs, comes in other
weights - 10 and 13-ounce "finishing hammers" for lighter, finer work and heftier models up to 32
ounces for framing and heavy carpentry.
The number one safety rule for hammers?
On this all the experts agree: on any hammering job, wear safety goggles. Don't start the job
without them!
You can keep wood from splitting when hammering into it?
Blunt the point of the nail with a hammer before hammering. With the nail tip blunted, the nail will crush the wood fibers rather than shear through them, and the wood won't split.
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