Old timer told me my hammer strikes were too heavy

I used to hit like I was driving railroad spikes until this guy in his 70s watched me for 5 minutes at a demo in Missouri. He said "quit fighting the metal, let it tell you where to go." I cut my arm fatigue by half after I slowed down and focused on placement instead. Anyone else get told to back off on force?

3 comments

3 Comments

shanes661d ago

Went through a whole bag of grinding discs because I was hitting too hard on a gate last week.

ray6131d ago

Hey @shanes66, have you ever tried adjusting the angle of your grinder instead of just pushing harder? I feel like if you're leaning into it too much, you're basically fighting the disc instead of letting it do the work. I used to burn through discs like crazy on some heavy duty guard rails until I backed off and let the tool spin at its own pace. A lighter touch with good technique usually lasts way longer for me.

skyler_kelly691d ago

Man I feel that heavy. I remember one time I was trying to grind down these old fence posts that had like ten layers of paint and rust on them. I was leaning in so hard my arm was SHAKING and the disc just kept grabbing and skipping. After the third one blew up I sat there and just stared at the grinder like it owed me money. Finally I got pissed and just let it spin at a slower pace with barely any pressure and it cut through that junk like butter. The trick is you gotta let the tool do its thing not try to wrestle it into submission. I think half the time people burn through discs because they treat them like a sledgehammer.