Don't Bend Your Hammer!

I intended to write that my mistakes and accidents are usually the culmination of a series of choices/decisions (none of which were really "bad") that put me in a position to make the mistake. Sometimes things just happen, but too often I've chosen to "make do" and make the best of the situation when I should have backed off and started over.

But that post was too complicated. So instead I'm going to share how I bent my hammer.

My house came with a dilapidated 6-foot wooden fence in the back--it was a mess. I tried making repairs, but eventually it had to come down. I grabbed a woodsplitting maul and my trusty hammer. After knocking down all the panels with the maul and removing nails from the panels (to avoid cartoon moments), next it was time to remove the nails that had stubbornly stayed in the fence posts. They were VERY stubborn--and more like long spikes than nails. I should have used a crow bar on them, but that was in the house and I was out at the fence line--I could get it done with the hammer. I was determined.

I got the first few out. The 4th one wouldn't budge. But I was "determined". I prepared for maximum effort. I pulled up on the handle, straining, and finally I could feel the nail giving way. The handle was coming up. But when I looked down, the nail had not moved a millimeter. Instead, I had bent my hammer.









The moral of the story, don't be stubborn--don't bend your hammer. Change course when you know you should.


PS - Accidents sometimes produce positive results. I don't think I ruined my hammer--I think I made it ergonomic! =)