The Hammer (A.) is used by the average woodworker more than any other tool. The "face" (Fig. 12, a) and the "claws (b) should be tempered carefully, as they will either bruise or bend if too soft, or break if too hard. The eye (c) is made longer than it is wide, to prevent the head from turning on the handle, and larger at the outside of the head than it is at the neck, so that the handle may be firmly wedged in the eye or socket. The neck (d), by extending upon the handle as it does, adds much to the strength of the connection.

Fig. 12. - Claw Hammer. a, the face; b, the claws; c, the eye; d, the neck; e, grain of neck.

The handle should be of young, tough, straight-grained hickory, elliptical in section, and of a size to be grasped easily.

The grain should be perfectly straight at the neck, and the annual layers should show lengthwise of the ellipse at the end, as at e. The handle should be fitted and wedged, or "hung" in such a way that a nail may be driven home in a flat surface without the knuckles striking, which means that the center of the handle should be about parallel with the flat surface. A line lengthwise of the head through the eye should exactly coincide with the long, or major, axis of the ellipse at the end of the handle, as at gg, or pounded fingers will result.

The bell-faced hammer is to be preferred to the flat-faced type, as it will not mar the wood so badly if the nail is missed, though more skill is required to use it. Upon rough work, the bell-faced hammer will sink the nail beneath the surface without bruising the wood badly. Upon inside work, the nails should be sunk beneath the surface with a nail set.

(B.) In nailing, the young workman should acquire the habit of grasping the handle of the hammer at the end, as this will give greater force to the blow. Upon light work, the hand will naturally slip a little toward the head. Nails should generally be driven in a slanting direction, as they hold better than if driven straight. When nails are driven as shown at a, Fig. 13, it is called "toenailing," and when driven sufficiently to hold, but not driven home, as at b, they are said to be "tacked." Nails are driven this way when they are to be pulled out again, as in stay laths, and in fastening pieces temporarily.

Fig. 13. a, toenailing; b, tacking,

In forcing matched boards together, do not pound directly upon the tongue edge of the board, but upon a waste piece of the same material, as the tongue will be bruised so that the next board will not form a good joint. Care should be used that the hammer does not strike the edge of the board when the nail is driven home. To guard against this, a nail set should be used to sink the head beneath the surface, as in Fig. 14, so that the next board will come to its place without trouble. This is called " blind nailing."

Fig. 14. - Blind Nailing and Use of a Nail Set.