Hammering a nail is a pretty basic skill – but a lot of us do it all wrong...

Using a hammer sounds simple enough – so why do our fingers often take the brunt of the blow?

Laura Foster-Bobroff, an experience remodeler, has some tips on wielding your weapon, the hammer:

• Roughen up the head of your hammer with sand paper. It decreases the chance of it slipping off the nail.

• Grasp the nail between your thumb and forefinger closer to the head of the nail. Holding it low makes it unstable. For a small nail, try holding it with a needle-nose pliers.

• The first couple of whacks should be taps. Give the nail an entry point, then drive the nail in at a slight angle.

• Grip the hammer at the bottom of the handle and swing from the elbow. Your wrist should be straight and locked – your elbow pointed at the floor, not off to the side.

Some of us use the wrong hammer all together. That heavy duty job to drive in a small nail is bound to whack the WRONG nail – yours. Using a tack hammer on the big jobs is like trying to mow the lawn with a pair of scissors. Every tool box should have at least three hammers – small, medium and large.