254: THE YOUNG FAKMER'S MANUAL. 



very readily, and make deep dents in the sides of anything that 

 is hammered with it. Should the face of a claw hammer be 

 come battered up, it should be tempered again, and made as hard 

 as it will bear to be and not fly or break easily. The handle of 

 a hammer should have a little bilge in it at the point where the 

 hand grasps it, as in the figure. If the handle is made of a uni 

 form size from end to end, a workman will be constantly losing 

 his hold ; whereas a little swell in a handle will prevent its slip 

 ping in the hand. 



THE SLEDGE HAMMER. 



332. Sledge hammers are of various forms, and are made, 

 when made properly, with a reference to the services which they 

 are intended to perform. If a sledge is wanted simply to drive 

 stakes and posts for fencing, the best form for such work will be 

 a round cast-iron sledge, with two faces, similar to the beetle. 

 The faces of such a hammer should be convex a little, and not 

 have sharp or square corners like the face of a claw hammer, 

 because, if the corners are square or sharp, if a workman does 

 not strike exactly square when driving a stake or post, such sharp 

 corners, will make deep dents in them ; and they are far more 

 liable to split a post than if the faces were a little convex. But it 

 is not well to have the faces too convex ; because, if they are too 

 convex the efficiency of a blow, in driving wood, is partly lost, in 

 consequence of the great convexity of the face, which bruises and 

 indents the wood more than if the faces were square. When the 

 pattern for such a hammer is made, the convexity of the faces 

 should not exceed one-eighth of an inch across the face, and the 

 sharp corners should be rounded off a little. About twelve to six 

 teen pounds would be the proper weight for a hammer of this 

 description. But such a hammer should never be used for pound 

 ing iron, nor for breaking stone, because cast-iron hammers will 

 break easily when hammering substances harder than wood. 



333. The handle for such a hammer should be of an oval form, 

 and of good timber, with a knob at the end of it similar to the 

 beetle handle, with faces in lines parallel with a line cutting the 



