Hammers and Nails

Dad taught me to nail. Nailing the old fashion way – with a hammer – as opposed to those fancy air-compression nail guns – a person learns the hard way. You bend nails. Nails shoot out of the board – sometimes they hit you – some times it is inconvenient. You might have to climb down the ladder, or out from under a deck to get another nail. Sometimes you hit a thumb. Actually that occurs more than once. I hit the side of my hand once. That hurt too.

Dad taught me to hold the nails in my mouth. He didn’t specifically say to hold extra nails in your mouth, but when I was young I didn’t have a carpenter’s belt. Reaching into your jeans to pull out nails became problematic.

After a while you get pretty good. I couldn’t make a living nailing like a good roofer or a framer but I don’t bend many in the overall scheme of things – maybe one in 50. I can drive a ten-penny in 3 or 4 hits including the starter tap. Toe-nailing is easy after the first few hundred tries.

Dad was patient. He was frustrated, but he watched, he coached, he demonstrated and he let me learn – the hard way – as a slave.

I worked on the cabin from the foundation to the roof. I helped expand the deck, build a roof over the top. I helped build the shed and I roofed – 3 tab after 3 tab.

By the time I was 12 or 14, I was fairly independent with a hammer and nails. Dad helped me build the 3 decks at my current home, our shed, and the tower and swing set for Amanda and Chad. He helped me take it apart as well – and now my niece Amber and her friends enjoy it.

One time I cut a hole in the wall of our house – framed it for French doors, and installed them. When Julie saw the hole in the wall she asked if I had ever done this before. I said "nope." But, I learned this from my dad. Thanks for the gift Dad!

- Craig