The moment I realized I'd been hammering nails sideways for 15 years

I was helping my brother in law build a birdhouse last summer. He watched me hit a nail at a 45 degree angle and just went 'why are you doing it like that?' I told him it was how you avoid splitting the wood. He handed me a scrap piece, showed me how to hold the hammer right, and the nail went in straight on the first try. I've been a homeowner since 2008. Has anyone else just accepted a bad habit because nobody told you different?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason_knight1mo ago

Hold up, how many other basic handyman skills do you think you've been doing wrong this whole time without knowing? I'm asking because I just found out last month I was using a tape measure wrong, reading it from the hook instead of the one inch mark like my dad showed me back in the 90s. Makes me wonder if half the stuff we learn as kids is just some random shortcut that stuck.

paul_morgan1mo ago

Wait, are you sure you were really using it wrong @mason_knight? The hook is actually designed to be loose so it slides and accounts for its own thickness, so reading from the hook is exactly right for inside measurements. Reading from the one inch mark works too but the hook method was built into the tool on purpose. Sounds like your dad's trick was just an alternative, not a correction.