THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 253 



it a rule to use the claw hammer for nothing but driving nails 

 and drawing nails. If oil or tar be on the face, it will be almost 

 impossible to drive a nail with it until it has been removed. In 

 drawing a nail out of hard wood with the claw, strike it one or 

 two blows, enough to start it in a little, and it will come out 

 much easier than if it had not been started in. "When the hand 

 grasps the handle, let the thumb lie lengthways of the handle, 

 instead of clasping it as shown in the figure. With the thumb 

 on the top of the handle one can strike truer and longer without 

 tiring the wrist. In order to drive a nail true, place the hammer 

 on the nail, and then keep the eye on the nail, when striking, 

 instead of on the hammer. Never try to draw a nail with the 

 claws if it will not start without starting the handle in the eye 

 of the hammer. If one is always careful to put a little block or 

 piece of iron under the hammer for a fulcrum, there will be little 

 danger of starting the handle. If the hammer hangs correctly, 

 and the handle gets bent, it will not hang right, and will bend a 

 nail down before it has driven it in. If the face of a hammer is 

 ground true, as it should be, on the grindstone, not one-sided nor 

 convex, and if the face is in a line parallel with a line which 

 would cut the centre of the handle from end to end, as in the 

 figure, and if the handle is made of a true and oval form, there 

 will be little danger of bending nails over sideways when driving 

 them. When the handle of a hammer is round, a workman can 

 not perceive ly feeling the handle whether a hammer is in the 

 right position for driving a nail or not ; but when the handle is 

 of an oval form, and is put in the eye true, with the widest way 

 of the handle in the direction exactly from the claw to the face, 

 after a workman has become accustomed to a hammer he can 

 snatch it up without looking at it, and the perception of the fin 

 gers and thumb will-determine most accurately the correct posi 

 tion for driving a nail. If the face of the nail hammer were a 

 little concave, it would be less liable to slip or glance off when 

 driving nails. A good nail hammer is not a proper tool to drive 

 wooden pins with, nor for driving any piece of work together 

 with, because the corners are so sharp that they will split a pin 



