Hitting the nail on the head

[catgate]

Over the last week I have been repairing and re-felting the summer house roof. It is not very big, but due to a combination of ulcerated ankles, very hot weather and the ravages of old age, the job has had to be done a bit at a time (preferably small bits in cooler periods).

During the recuperating periods all manner of things have passed through that grey stuff in my head, and one thing was the business of bent nails. As anyone who has ever used a hammer will know, nails only need the slightest excuse and will bend. It is no good being careful when knocking them in. They can sense the tenseness in the hammer blows and this makes them even more determined.

So the idea was to find some way of driving in bent nails.

Logic suggested a bent hammer, but then a serious question arose. Which way should the hammer be bent for best effect.

No matter how long I thought about it I could not make my mind up and so I decided to put the question to the WF committee.

Any suggestions? There must be someone with experience of these things.

[rong]

You can help to keep them straight by holding the nail about half way up with a pair of pliers

[Irene]

You could buy bent nails like these, then as you knock them in they will straighten out. :D

[AlanHo]

The normal reaction to dealing with a bent nail is to try and straighten it - by placing it on a suitable horizontal surface and tapping its bent flank with the hammer that bent it in the first place. With care this will produce a nail which looks straight - but in reality isn't. There will always remain a minute kink which serves to remind the nail the next time it is used that it enjoys being bent - and it will do it over again. Nails and hammers enjoy a symbiotic relationship - hammers like to bend nails and nails like to be bent. Screws are the most stable fastener.

Hence you may have a more fruitful time if you indulge in screwing instead - assuming you possess the wherewithal. .

[catgate]

The above is all well and good but it does not answer my question about the design for a hammer with which to drive in bent nails. I wondered if a flexible rubber shaft would be any good. Used in an appropriate way there would be sufficient flexibility for it to bear down on the nail in a very random manner and may persuade a bent nail to co-operate.

The other thought that ran somewhere parallel to this was bent or wobbly wood, that would adjust its positions to accommodate driving in bent nails with a wobbly rubber shafted hammer. There must be an enormous future for the successful development of this idea.

[Robbers Dog]

http://www.thesitebox.com/Category/4705/rubber-hammers.aspx

[AlanHo]

You may find that the rotation of the earth plays a part. You take aim to strike the nail but by the time the hammer has descended the nail has moved slightly in an easterly direction - resulting in an off-centre strike. This is perhaps why nails bend to the right above the equator and bend to the left below it.

Hence thare may be a market for right bent nails in Australia and left bent nails here.

I still think that screwing is more worthwhile....................

[catgate]

Kind as it was for Robbers Dog to point me in the direction of rubber hammers, I was always told that rubber hammers were only to be used for glass nails.

I am intrigued by the idea of the earths rotational effect. Could this perhaps be counteracted by the use of magnetic hammers, to help draw the hammer to the nail head. I know this would be ineffective when using brass nails and stainless nails but maybe a brass magnet could be devised.

This still does nothing about wobbly wood, and even though I am an ardent believer in screwing whenever relevant, I feel as though there is an opportunity here going begging.

[D4\/!d]

Another answer that is nothing to do with your question, but this made me smile:

Nail-Driving Utensil