Nails, Hammer, and Wood – Sometimes you are short on tools and supplies when you are repairing your house. Knowing nail tricks is important when you lack the things to make your job easier (mainly nail guns). Here are a few things that I hope will help you on that new job…

1) Don’t choke your hammer! – holding your hammer in the middle causes you to hit with a stiff wrist drastically reducing your power and increasing the likelihood of a smashed finger. Fix this by using your hammer’s handle, it may seem difficult at first but once you learn it will feel very awkward to do it any other way.

2) Don’t put a nail in the corner or the end of a board – This may not be possible for certain situations, but you should avoid nailing close to the end of a board whenever possible. If you must nail in a corner, center the nail (or pre-drill if possible).

3) Blunt your nails when nailing into hardwood – Take the head of the nail and place it on a hard surface, tap the point of the nail until it slightly flattens. This will make the nail into a punch instead of a wedge that splits the wood. (again pre-drill whenever possible – use a bit that is half the width of the nail).

4) Use a quick clamp to nail loose boards together – Using a quick clamp helps you to increase your accuracy and reduces the likelihood that you will be doing to much with your nail holding hand.

5) If you lose your punch…try a nail – A 16d framing nail will work as a punch for small trim nails. If you choose to do this make sure you are using your safety glasses, this can occasionally make small pieces of nail fly.

More about nails:
– Easy trim Nailing
– What’s a Penny?

If you have any nail tricks feel free to add them in the comments section…thank you for reading.

Luke

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One thing that night shift has taught me is that I need to find ways not to hurt myself despite being tired or just physically unable to do something. Small nails are very difficult to hold and at times seem to be intended for someone with small metal fingers. There is nothing worse than hammering in a small nail and suddenly hearing the dull thump of flesh on one of your swings. Shortly after the thump, extreme pain, that equal of having a kidney stone is going through your finger you notice that you have lost the little brad you were trying to secure.

Here is the solution to your problem… I use a folded up 3×5 card with small hole in it to hold the nail in place therefor moving my fingers from harm and holding the nail in such a way that I will not drop it. The card can be reused for several nails and you can just get another one if you mess the first one up. This is a very simple trick, just fold the card so that it is about 3/4″ thick then punch the nail though the card – if it will not go through easily, drill the hole very carefully with a 1/16 drill bit. Hammer the nail just like you usually would but when the head of the nail gets down to the surface of the card lightly tap the nail through the card with a small brad punch.

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If you have children then you know that their stuff takes a beating when they are getting through their 2s & 3s. They would be excellent testers of any durable goods in a lab. This chair is no exception. It has two legs on it with wallowed out dowel holes (probably used as a supporting beam in one too may forts). I had to glue the legs and hold them in place with a clamp…unfortunately my strap clamp is buried under 3 tons of junk in my shed. Here’s a little Macgyver screwdriver / string clamp that worked surprisingly well. What I did was run the string around the chair legs two times then tie a knot. Then I twisted a screwdriver between the two layers of string until the string held the chair legs on tight. The screwdriver tip can then be put behind the chair support therefore holding the string tight making a make shift clamp.

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Have you ever wanted to make faux (fake in French) beams in house for a country or rustic appearance. Many old houses have some form of artificial beams and you can easily do this in your house with a few little tricks. First thing you want to do is to find the existing framing that is in your house, this is what your beam will be attached to. The easiest way to find framing in a wall of course is a stud finder, you can find one of these in your local hardware store. Mark your framing and determine the best spacing for your beams (most framing is either 16″ or 24″ spaced on center). Remember you do not have to use all the framing, just the ones to make your spacing right. There are several different configurations for wood beams, I illustrated the most simple and popular design, See Drawing.

On this drawing, I attached a 2×4 to the existing wall into the existing framing. You want to make sure you hit framing because the beam can be heavy and will eventually pull out a drywall anchor. After the 2×4 is up and in place, you can attach wood to simulate a wooden beam. In the drawing I suggested 1x material but you can use whatever suits your fancy. Most beams that are built in this fashion are built of rough cut cedar and stained to the owners liking. This of course can be made smaller or larger just use the size lumber that you feel are appropriate for your house.

Luke

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Cupped boards, popped nails, rusted screws, just a few of the things you would like to avoid when building a deck. I have worked on many decks and though many uh..ohs and oopss I have learned a few tricks along the way (book knowledge does not hurt).

- Remember when you are laying your deck boards, that the crown of the board goes down…or as deck builders say crown down – see drawing. This will make the boards eventually bow down, which is good, if they bow up they will hold water.

- If at all possible, use stainless deck screws. Nails and Galvanized screws eventually have problems, stainless may be expensive to start but will outlast anything else you can put on your deck.

- Try to pick up strait wood from the building supply store. This is obvious, but if you get in a hurry at the store, you will be slowing down when you are trying to straiten your deck boards on the job site.

- Use a water repellent stain to protect your deck. This can be purchased at a hardware store and greatly increases the life of your deck.

- Counter sink all of your screws with a counter sink drill bit. This not only makes your deck look nicer, but also protects the boards from splitting during installation.

- Straiten the edges of your deck with a strait edge guided skill saw. This gives a nice professional look.

More on deck building later….if you have any hints or tips you would like to add, please feel free.
Luke

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One common problem with doors is loose hinge screws…Screws that have over time torn up the wood that originally held them in place. If your door snags on the latch side it is common to find several loose screws on the hinge side. If you have this problem, this is what you can do. Remove the screws from the wood. Remove the hinge from the mortise (or any other item reset in the wood). Get a small dowel approximately the size of the screw hole, just a little larger is better. Fill the hole with glue and cover the dowel with glue. Hammer the dowel into the hole. Cut off the excess dowel with a small pull saw, or crosscut saw. If you do not have a dowel, find some match sticks or BBQ skewer sticks (hammer as many will fit in the hole…don’t forget the glue). Wait for the glue to dry if at all possible…use 5 min epoxy if you need a really quick fix. When everything is dry, cut off any extra dowel that may have been missed in the first pass. The reinsert the hinge into the mortise. Use a 1/16″ drill bit to start a small hole in the dowel, then reinsert the screw.

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Ever try to put a screw in hardwood only to tear up the screw head with your screw driver or drill/driver. Try lubricating your wood screws with a little Gulf(paraffin) wax or beeswax before you put them in the wood. Of course this should be used in conjunction with pre-drilling. Just take the screw and rub it on the wax until there is a little wax between the threads. Use the wax with moderation, too much will end up staining the wood around the screw.

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One thing you are guaranteed to find in an old house in Charleston is rotted wood. The damp/humid environment is the cause of many undesirable effects on building materials. The problem with rot in an old house is that the rotted area is likely on a piece of wood work that is either not replaceable or very difficult to replicate. If this wood is only for decoration (it is not used for any function or is not structural) ,you can usually fill it with a putty. I use a home made putty consisting of clear epoxy resin mixed with sawdust. To make this I mix about 1/2 table spoon (use more if you have a bigger hole…remember this mixture expands) of both sides of the epoxy and mix them together until the mix is a consistent color and viscosity. I then add sawdust until it looks like a slightly oily peanut butter. You can put this directly into the hole that is left in the wood after the rotted wood has been scraped out. Let the putty dry. It will be hard enough to cut with a hacksaw blade and can be shaped with sand paper. I finish the affected area with a Bondo dent filler. (use of Bondo will be a later post)

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If you do not have a trim nail gun crown molding can be a daunting task. Its never easy to work over head with small nails and a hammer with both of your hands already holding up a piece of trim. I use this trick whenever I am unlucky enough to get stuck on a job without my nail gun. Take a trim nail you were intending to use for your molding (I usually use long trim nails for crown molding 2.5″) and chuck it in your drill just as if it were a drill bit. Cut your trim to length. Then mark your studs on the wall and on your piece of trim. Take the drill and carefully drill a pilot hole with the chucked nail. Double check the hole size by sliding a nail in the hole, it should be snug enough to hold the nail while you lift the trim to the ceiling. Do this on every other stud and on each end. Tap your nails in being careful not to hit the trim with the hammer (be careful when you set the nails that you do not set them too far into the trim). Do not nail the ends of the trim until the other pieces have been worked up, you will need this play to make a good fit.

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In the past I have ran into a few things that are a pain. One of those is the task of installing a new door knob on an old door (pre 70’s). First thing that happens is you get home and get all excited to install your new hardware on your old door(an easy job on recent model doors), and find that your new door knob will not fit in the mounting hole provided (see picture).
This is an all to common problem in an old house. After trying all the little plastic gadgets the home superstore had to offer, I coincidently ran into an easy fix for my problem. Take a 3/8 – 1/2 sheet of plywood and drill a two holes in it with the 2-1/8 hole core door knob bit. Pull the round core material out of the bit (it should look like a cookie with a hole in it). Mark the door with two level marks at 2 – 3/8 with a combination square above and below where the door knob should be (2 – 3/8 is normal for residential construction). Then mark a line dead center with the bolt on the door. Do both marking steps on both sides of the door. – see picture – Then take the wood core you pulled out of the bit and drill one 1/8″ hole on both the top and bottom of the plug. Take the plug and center it on the door using your marks from earlier and fasten it to the door with self tapping screws. Do this on both sides of the door, making sure the hole in the center of the plugs lines up.
The plug purpose should be clear now…the plug guides the drill bit through the door. If the plug is not on the door the bit cannot align with the center bit, and makes a mess of the door finish…Trust me on this one. There is an alternative on the market, that guides the bit from the outside. This kind of guide works fine is it is attached well, but can make a mess also if it happens to slide from the drill vibrations.

Comments are welcome!!!…if you need clarification with something please comment or e-mail me
lukspencer@popssurvivalguide.com

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