My first hammer

My earliest memory of using a hammer was when I was about 10 years old. I thought pounding nails into a piece of wood was so much fun! The first hammer I ever used belonged to my dad, who is 83 years old now, that hammer was a wooden handle that was very short, it was a 13 ounce craftsman hammer my dad had purchased and used to build a house when I was about 4 years old. I can still see that hammer very clearly, and I know right where it would be if I ever wanted to see it again, as my dad keeps it safely stored in his old metal tool box. I quickly learned that driving a nail took some skill with hand eye coordination and selecting the right kind of wood made all the difference in the world. I tryed driving nails into oak boards in the barn and after bending about 20 of them I started looking for some other kind of wood to drive nails into. I found some nice pine 2x4's and began driving them full of nails. Next I would nail pieces of wood together, it was just so much fun! Well, it was until my dad discovered my masterpieces! He wasn't nearly as pleased as I was, you see the 2x4's I was using he had cut up with a purpose in mind that I was not aware of. The nails I was driving evidently were not free either. For my punishment, I was instructed to pull every nail out of the wood and straighten each one. My dad took the time to show me how to straighten the nails and also gave me an old mason jar to put them in after I got them straight. Dad said those were my nails and I could drive them but I would have to pull them back out and straighten them for future use. Well, me being me just did not enjoy trying to drive crooked nails and soon lost interest, after all the new straight nails drove much easier. I also discovered that driving nails into a big oak tree was easier yet and I didn't have to pull them back out to straighten them. That went fine until one day I left my dad's hammer lying on the ground next to the tree I had driven maybe 300 nails into! My, how I remember that day. I will say I don't have fond memories of that day, but it was the start of a long career.