Looking at past pictures, I stumbled on these pictures from back in 2022.
The grand son of some of our friends really liked hammering.
And I remember that when Gustav and Asger were small, they had a hammer block in the workshop that they could hammer nails into at their hearts desire.
So I made a similar hammer block to our friends to give to their grandson,
The top is around 10" x 10", and the height is maybe 20", It is made out of spruce, so it is soft. Furthermore the grain is oriented with the end grain facing upwards, so even the smallest child can manage to hammer in some nails.
The entire thing is glued together, and due to the slanted legs it is really stable. In order to make it instantly usable, I supplied a small hammer and a box of various nails with the hammer block.
I branded our logo on the block and the box and burned the name of the grandson into the handle of the hammer.
Since it is not intended to be a piece of fine furniture, I didn't see any reason to go wild in sanding the thing. As far as I remember, it was roughly sanded with some grit 60, and the edges were chamfered. And that was that.
Back when Gustav and Asger used their block, I remember that they were so proud when they had hammered in a large nail, and I had to come and admire it all the time. When they had friends over, it was always a sure hit as well.
Brilliant, I've never seen one of these. It's good to be a kid growing up in Denmark!
ReplyDeleteThanks, The end grain makes sure that even if a little brother or little sister wants to try, it is doable.
DeleteAnd we never had any problems with nails being hammered into the floor or other things. The children understood that this was where hammering had to take place :-)
Brgds Jonas
I wish more kids had access to this sort of thing, because it is embarrassing to watch most adults attempt to use a hammer these days. My kids got a log and a box of roofing nails. This is a really nice implementation for small children to learn a valuable skill.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeremy, thanks for the nice comment.
DeleteIt is a little bit overbuilt given that a log could be used just as well, but since this one will most likely be placed inside in the living room like we once did, it is fairly important that it is stable and looks like something that will be allowed to stay in the living room :-)
I think we kept ours on a door mat, to prevent any heavy damage to the floor if the hammer fell of the surface.
It really is a valuable skill to be able to use a tool. I am sure that you can find a game for your iphone where you can tap the screen, and watch a nail go into a piece of wood, but you just wont get the same hand/eye coordination and the feel of what muscles to use etc.
The only "problem" with this set is that the hammer could have been a bit smaller, but it was what I had in the stash. :-)
Brgds Jonas