12 year old and a hammer

[AlanB]

So this last weekend, my son decided he wanted to work with me some more on projects. It started as his Christmas gift too me, but I think he really enjoyed it.

He did well, and while I occassionally question my sanity and my safety sense, I also know that you have to jump in sometime, and he is old enough to understand danger etc.

Anyway, to the pointed question, if someone else has pondered this before, I was wondering what they came up with.

He was using one of my very Favorite HF tools (and Dargo's as well) the $3.00 16 ounce hammer. He was doing well, we were installing a galvanized steel roof for a shed, but was really choked up on it.

My thought is to get him a 10oz or so and let him try it and see if he can get his hand back where it should be on the hammer and let it swing, and learn the correct technique or just let him rip with the 16?

I think I will just pick up a small one, and let him decide which he likes best, but was wondering if others had crossed this bridge before me and what they thought?

Thanks

 

[DocHeb]

My thought is to get him a 10oz or so and let him try it and see if he can get his hand back where it should be on the hammer and let it swing, and learn the correct technique or just let him rip with the 16?

I think I will just pick up a small one, and let him decide which he likes best, but was wondering if others had crossed this bridge before me and what they thought?

Thanks

Aim is more important than lettin' him rip. Choking up will let him control the head placement on those nails he's holding with the other hand. I'd bet that if you get a smaller hammer he will still choke up on the handle.

I vote for "choking up" with the 16oz. Don't forget the safety glasses.

 

[2manyrocks]

There's a difference in the quality of the steel in hammers. I would buy him a quality hammer that isn't as likely to chip just because there will be times when he doesn't wear safety glasses. 60 years from now he can pull it out and show his son the great hammer you bought him when he was 12.

 

[RobertN]

There's a difference in the quality of the steel in hammers. I would buy him a quality hammer that isn't as likely to chip just because there will be times when he doesn't wear safety glasses. 60 years from now he can pull it out and show his son the great hammer you bought him when he was 12.

I vote for quality too. I have buggered up a lot of nails and my thumb, mostly because of poor hammers.

Best thing I did was finally going out and buying a good Vaughn framming hammer; I think it is 22oz. I drive nails better, with fewer bent nails etc.

I have been finding, that not only can the metal on a hammer be of varied quality, so can the handle. It is a pain to try and swing a hammer that has a misalighend or twisted handle.

 

[RonMar]

The smaller hammer might help some, but I don't think it will make all that much difference. If it was his first time doing any large ammount of nailing, he is coordinating muscle combinations that he hasn't used before. Those muscles were probably getting tired pretty fast. Once those muscle groups strengthen and he gains more control, encourdage him to work back along the handle. Good place for a physics lesson regarding force, mass and acceleration. He will learn that a head at a longer arc travels faster for the same ammount of arm speed. This delivers more energy and plants the nail with fewer blows. Practical knowledge is the most rewarding and the longest retained IMO.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Personally, I think anything less than 16 ounces takes more skill, not less. Even for a child, I wouldn't think about using anything smaller than 16 ounces for framing nails. Anything smaller than that is for finish nails in trim.

Plumb 16 ounce, fiberglass handle, curved claw. Then a 20 ounce straight claw. Then when he's 16 or so he can decide if he wants his big framer to be 26 or 28.

 

[ToadHill]

I remember my great grandfather, who was a cabnit maker from Germany. I was working with him one time when I was about 12 or 13 and choking up on the hammer as well. He asked to see the tool and cut about 4" off the handle, his comment was "Why swing the weight if you're not going to use the leverage."

 

[EastTexFrank]

I remember my great grandfather, who was a cabnit maker from Germany. I was working with him one time when I was about 12 or 13 and choking up on the hammer as well. He asked to see the tool and cut about 4" off the handle, his comment was "Why swing the weight if you're not going to use the leverage."

That's exactly what my dad did to me about 50 years ago and for the same reason. I still choke up on hammers but if I need the extra leverage to drive one home, I slip my hand back down to where it should be in the first place. So, I don't think changing the hammer weight will change his swing but I'd vote for a good hammer of his own. It's never to early to start collecting tools.

 

[czechsonofagun]

I think the hand moves up and down the handle based on the force needed, right? If I have to nail in 1 inch nail I hold closer and for longer nails I can use the full force. To start a nail I choke the hammer every time.


Also I use a hatchet as a hammer for most of my outside projects, just something I learned at boy scouts. And hammer for me means cross pen - never got used to the framing hammer, not sure I even have one.

 

[jeffinsgf]

If you make your living with a hammer, as I did for a few years of my youth, you don't choke up. If you're looking for control and finesse you use a little less wrist (we called it "pushing the nail"). The power comes from the wrist creating the arc.