Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A Post About Hammers

Bit of a strange post, but I had the urge to do it so what the hey? Anyway, as part of the ongoing DIY, we had the wall finished (that featured in the video I've now taken down for other reasons) and decided to fix the floor as well. We had some work done on the floors before we moved in, but there was still more to do and having seen what the carpenters did, I thought I would give it a go myself.

Basically, I needed to lift the floorboards covering about a third of the room, reset and pack the joists, put down new floorboards, make a hearth for the fireplace and replace the skirting board. No small task, it feels like the biggest sort of DIY job I've taken on. It's almost all done (just the skirting and hearth to do) but there was a casualty along the way.

My old hammer bought it, pulling a particularly embedded nail out of a joist. The wooden handle splintered and split with one over enthusiastic tug and the hammer was no more. I've had the hammer for over 15 years - it was my Gramp's, and I had it for art college. He'd obviously had it for many years before that, as the metal part was rusted. That said, it was a solid tool and has been well used ever since.

I had a few of his tools after his death, all with the same patina of age. I remember the technicians on my degree course laughing at the tools, calling them antique, but they did the job well. It's always felt good using the hammer, as silly as it sounds the age of it added to the charm of using it.

So, I was saddened to see it go. It's felt like it was coming, the wood end of the hammer was getting looser and the wood looked like it was starting to split some. I thought rather than throw it out, I'd leave it under the floor as a memento for someone to find at a later date. So to give it some context I wrote a little message on the handle in case someone other than me finds it.

The message reads, "This hammer served me well for nearly 20 years. It was my grandfather's before mine. This floor beat it." Hopefully it will give whoever finds it a smile. They'll need it as they will have just undone my handiwork along with the rest of the floor.

So, for no other reason than I thought it would be fun to do, here are some photos first of the job, then of the hammer and it's burial position.

Floorboards up in the guest room

Floorboards up in the guest room 2

Broken Hammer

Hammer laid to rest

I thought I'd make a post about hammers, I thought I'd feature another of my favourite hammers - The hammer of hope from the God Speed You Black Emperor tour poster / screen print I picked up on eBay a few years ago. Last of all, is the new replacement hammer I got. I thought I'd treat myself to a good one to save any future embarrassment - it's a solid piece of work and cost a few quid. My last few tools have been from the pound shop, so it's nice to have a solid one that feels like it will last long enough to pass it on to my grandchildren.

The hammer of hope

alt

Posted by Dio Bach at 19:26

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...: I left a few thing buried in the walls and floors for future generations, however you could get a new shaft for that baby, a nice hickory one! The head is probably fine?.; 2:54 PM