LUNT CARPENTRY

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First, pick a hammer that feels comfortable: properly balanced and neither too heavy to use repeatedly nor too light to have much impact (try one about 16 or 20 ounces). That'll make a big difference.

Next, get the right size nail. The rule of thumb here is that the nail should go twice as far into the second board as it traveled through the first—i.e., its length should be three times the thickness of the first board. You'll want a common flatheaded nail for ordinary jobs, a spiral (spiral-shanked) nail when you need extra holding power and a finishing (no-headed) nail for inside jobs where you don't want the head to show (Fig. 8). If your work's going to be exposed to weather, use galvanized nails. They resist rust.

Hold your nail in place, either with your thumb and forefinger or—if you want to protect your fingertips— between your palm-up fingers, like a cigarette. If you're nailing a really tiny nail or you're in an awkward position, you might use needle-nose pliers, cardboard, putty or chewing gum to hold the nail in place.

Tap the nail to secure it, remove your hand, hit it a bit harder once or twice (not full force, or you may send it zinging off into space) and then pound it in. At first, you may tend to use your wrist too much when driving nails because that gives you finer control (fewer misses). Try instead to get your entire arm into the act with a loose, swinging motion. You'll hit with more power and tire less quickly. Also, resist choking up on the hammer to increase your accuracy. Make yourself learn from the get-go how to do it right.

Is the nail going in crooked? Well, if it's a third or more in, it's too late to reorient it. Pull it out and try again. Happen again? You may be trying to nail through a knot or curved grain. If so, you'll have to predrill your hole (drill it slightly smaller and shorter than the nail) to get any nail to go in straight.

Is the nail—curses!—bending over? That'll happen a lot if the wood's too hard to nail easily. In that case, make sure you're not using too puny a nail for the job at hand, or try rubbing soap or wax on the nails to help them slide in. Or simply eliminate the hassle by predrilling your nail holes. Of course, the problem may be that you're hammering the nailhead at an angle instead of straight on. Only practice will solve that problem.

In the meantime, you may be able to tap that bent nail in by carefully banging straight on its head (if you're lucky), or you could try to straighten it out with sideways blows. If neither trick works, you've got to pull the nail out. Grab the culprit with the claws on the back end of your hammer, put the tool's head down on the board (you can lay a putty knife or thin wood strip under the hammerhead to keep it from marring the board) and pull. If you do put a small block of wood under your hammerhead, you'll have extra leverage and pulling power— that's a big help once the nail's partway out (Fig. 9).

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