How to NOT hit your thumb while using a hammer.

Start with a small hammer first.  I suggest this because a big hammer hurts more when it hits you on the thumb. A small hammer would probably hurt to so just pay attention to what I'm writing here. Before you start going out and building houses. Get some scrap wood like a 2 x 4 and some nails. Nails come in all kinds of sizes. I would start with some 8's.....Find a place in  the wood that you want a nail driven into. For now pretend like you're building a dog house or something. If you're right-handed of course hold your hammer in your right hand.  Hold nail steady with hand that does not have the hammer in it.  Pointy side down. Hold it below the top of the nail. That's the whole idea here is to keep your thumb and finger away from the top of the nail. Keeping your thumb away from top of nail lightly tap top of nail into wood so it will stand up by itself. Move the hand you were holding nail with behind your back or put it in your pocket. Hit head of nail with head of hammer as straight as possible. Hit nail with harder force to drive nail into wood. as you get more confident you will be using the less hammer strokes to knock in nails. Before you can run, you need to learn how to walk. Get it? Wear safety glasses to protect your eyes as sometimes when you make contact with the nail it can fly back and hit you in the face. Practice makes perfect. Have fun with it!. Before you know it you will be building tract homes without hurting yourself.  When I first started writing this article it was going to be a joke.  Now that I've written the article I must admit this is some good sound advice.  Thanks for coming in checking out my article.