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If it doesn’t fit, get a bigger hammer! So Kevin reckons. There’s more to
hammers than meets the eye, and there’s a range for specific uses.
Everyone should have a claw hammer in their toolbox for general work, but if
bricklaying is on the agenda a brickies hammer is great for chipping bricks into
shape.
A ballpein hammer is ideal for mechanical work, but a rubber mallet or soft face
hammer are ideal for persuading things with doing damage.
Wooden mallets should always be used with chisels to prevent damage to the
chisel handle or your hand.
Whichever hammer you use, some things don’t change:
- Prepare your hammer by cleaning it on fine sandpaper. A rusty or dirty hammer
face will slip off nails – bending them or hitting your fingers.
- Sand the face
flat, but never grind it or the hardened face will be ruined.
- Hold your hammer close to the end of the handle for maximum leverage and greater
control.
- Give yourself lots of practice at nailing.
- Start a nail with a single hit, then
move your hand away.
- Drive the nail with straight hits, letting the weight of
the hammer do all the work for you.
- Never hit hammer faces together. The
hardened faces may chip or crack.
So if you need to hit it, chip it, bend it or remove it there’s a hammer out
there to do the job.
Supercraft hammers are available at all Mitre 10 and all other good hardware
stores.
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