# The Nail Pounding Contest



## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

Part 1....This is a long story

Once upon a time in Monroe, WA, there was a little country and western boot store in the parking lot of the Safeway. I can't recall how I found out about the nail pounding contest, but I was there, Mr. Macho I'm Gonna Kick All Y'All's Asses.

This was at a time in my life I was invincible, late 20's, framing God, blah blah. So I saunter into the boot store. There was a few prizes, I think first place took $250, 2nd got $125. I waltz up and say "I am here to win the nail pounding contest!" No not really, but that's what I was thinking.

So, the young naive lad leads me over to the contest area, inside of the store. There on a pair of sawhorses was a 4x6 piece of southern yellow pine. I immediately thought "oh ****!"

Then....the bomb was dropped.

The promotion was put on by none other than Stanley.....yes THE Stanley Co. Well, they were promoting THEIR hammer. The hammer was a 20 oz. flat faced hammer (no waffles to you rooks), handle was steel and about 12" long. The man in the Izod shirt says I must use the hammer for the contest. I meekly protested but new he was going to say something wimpy like "rules are rules"

Sigh

So Mr. Pink shirt man tells me I need to pound 6 nails into this piece of petrified wood and hands me the nails. 6 of the finest made 16d smooth head spikes I've seen in my lifetime. They are quite beautiful. I'm thinking "how many times is the head going to slip off and you pound your thumb Rambo?"

But I'm determined. He says "GO!" And off I go pounding merrily along. "Tink, tink, tink, tink".....15 hammer blows later I've succeeded with my first nail!!! The thing is not petrified, it's titanium!

I whip through the 6 nails as fast as I can and end up with a time of somewhere around 30 seconds. Humiliating. Disgusted with myself, I lower my head and start walking away.

Blondie yells to me "hey....you got first place!" I'm befuddled. 

Contest was lasting a month, I think there was a week to go. A long week it turns out to be.

Next day I tell the boys what I did. I've got no problems, none of them really were interested in this thing after I told them *cough* how tough it was. Heck....why let the competition in?

The last day, I call up....I'm still in first.....it's late in the day....I'm a shoo in...I've got it.

Following day at work, I'm telling them all about it. "Yeah, I must've won....no one else got there"

Marv ol' Marv ol' pal......"hehe well....it was on my way home, figured what the heck...."


----------



## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

Part 2

Now....Marv was my right hand man. Marv's family was big. They are Lutheran. They don't believe in birth control. 7 brothers and 6 sisters. At some time, I had 6 of the brothers working with me. All great workers, very nice and pleasant.

I looked at Marv.

"You son of a *****! You won didn't you?!?!?!

Marv sitting there with his "what...who me? I didn't do anything" bull**** grin.

"You said you weren't going!!!" I yelled

"I wasn't! I just figured....you know...."

Oh whatever.....what was your time? He beat me by like 0.1 seconds. Whatever.....congratulations.....now...I have this stuff in the crawlspace to do and I need a volunteer. Marv? No, not really....I was gracious....after a day.

So I go in after work to the boot store. I talk to Skippy and he goes and gets the manager. Hell...I want my money....I got at least second place.....right? 

Right?

Manager comes up. "There was a problem with the contest. Seems there was some confusion to the rules as to how to proceed with the start time."

He goes on explaining and I'm thinking I either lost all together or I won.

Neither


----------



## katoman (Apr 26, 2009)

When do we get part two? :blink:


----------



## katoman (Apr 26, 2009)

Boy, that was fast, thanks :thumbup:


----------



## Jeremy E (Jul 19, 2006)

And...


----------



## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

If this gets to Part 8, I'm out!


----------



## Jeremy E (Jul 19, 2006)

Y're killin' me! I can't read another post about pot on the job site! Type faster:furious:


----------



## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

Part 3

"Well, the only way we can figure to do this fairly is to get the top 3 finishers in here for a do over. The top 3 get in the top 3 no matter what. Just the order may change based on the outcome"

Kewl.

I start thinking....and thinking....

We were supposed to come back at a later date. It gave me time to plan. No, not practice...._plan_. I was a little more evil minded back then.....OK, so I was a dick...get off my back!

I figured out a way to win. See...me smart...

I'm gonna start the first nail right on the very end of the beam, right in a split, and work my way towards the middle. Brilliant plan if I must say so. It's got to split and the other nails will be a piece of cake going in! My...I'm so proud of me of thinking of that! I deserve a raise!

So I get there, I'm ready. Loafer shoe guy is ready with the stopwatch....."GO!" 

I immediately go into action. First nail surprisingly goes in tougher than I thought. Second....third....easier...easier...then the rest I could've pushed in with my thumb. 6th nail home and I am victor! I look at the guy....smiling....he's pissed. Oh is he pissed.

"I should disqualify you just for doing that! That's cheating!"

"What! How is that cheating?"

Gah...pointless argument. He wasn't going to accept that. So he drew a line where I could start and I thought that I'd do the same. Find a crack, drive them head to head. Didn't work. They still went in tough.

I find out later that I dropped to third. Marv won. Fair and square. He's the better man. I got like $50.

Ah...but that's not the end of the story!


----------



## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

4 parts I promise Warren. It'll be short


----------



## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

Part 4, the final chapter.

Marv calls me months later.

"Dude...you're not going to believe this! Remember the nail pounding contest? It was a nationwide contest. They held this everywhere. The winner at all the locations got their name thrown into a hat for a grand prize drawing and I was drawn!"

GTFO here....Marv has this uncanny luck. God is looking over him. 

"There's a nail pounding contest in Vegas, there's 12 of us going to be competing in Vegas!"

 Vegas!!!! I am supposed to be the one going to Vegas!!!

Dammit...OK fine...have fun

He's gone the weekend, he comes back......he won. Marv won the National Nail Pounding Competition. He said the place the contest was at there was like 200,000 people in a convention center. He got up on stage in the winners circle or whatever, had a couple honeys on each side of him in bikinis while they were taking pictures.

He got all sorts of Stanley tools and an all expense paid trip to Cabo San Lucas for 2 weeks.

Marv....I miss working with you bud.


----------



## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

Morale of the story:

Cheaters NEVER Win!!
Sorry framerman, but Marv sounds like a good guy who deserved something good to happen to him. Not that you aren't.


----------



## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

Warren said:


> Morale of the story:
> 
> Cheaters NEVER Win!!
> Sorry framerman, but Marv sounds like a good guy who deserved something good to happen to him. Not that you aren't.


hehe...you're absolutely right. I was a much angrier person back then. Marv did deserve it.


----------



## katoman (Apr 26, 2009)

Thanks for not dragging it out over 4 days!

Just one question - did you buy their "new" hammer?

For more humour - talked to a carpenter buddy tonight. He had his brand new serrated faced Stiletto on the job. Made the mistake of laying it down, and the electrician grabed it and used it as a chisel, hitting it with his own hammer.

Lost all the serrations, not sure if the electrician is still alive. :whistling


----------



## oldfrt (Oct 10, 2007)

HEY Framerman,
Still here,just thinking of ya.
Funny thing,my ears just started ringing...

MARV


----------



## dkillianjr (Aug 28, 2006)

Good story framerman! :thumbup: I like the starting in a split idea:laughing:


Dave


----------



## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Used to carry a 22 oz, 20" Bluegrass. I would have squashed that electrician.


----------



## knucklehead (Mar 2, 2009)

I could beat Marv.


----------



## strathd (Jan 12, 2009)

*Was gonna post an intermission.*

Did'nt think I could type fast enough though (which I cant).

About six years ago I was wandering around Daytona Bike Week and I stumbled upon a game called Hammerschlaggen. My eyes lit up like a christmas tree! I have been waiting for this all my life as it is a nail driving contest. I use a 28 oz. vaugn rigging axe (you know what I mean Framerman).

There was a cottonwood stump. Five players and everyone got one swing to sink a 16 into the stump. One shot then the hammer was passed to the next player in rotation. Keep going around till someone set the nail. First one to sink it wins. Well the hammer was a 2 1/2 to 3 lb sledge with a wedge facing where the claw would normally be. That is what you had to drive the nail in with. A wedge.

2$ to play 1$ went to the game owner. Winner also wins a beer token. So I get my stance and stay with it. Eventually I get dialed in and was sinking the 16 with one shot. Not all the time but it was a blast. I was there every night. A few times the owner asked me to leave and come back later cause the other players accused me of being a ringer. 

Some nights we would be making side bets and I'd leave with a few hundred. I have pics but they're not digital, gonna have to dig em up.


----------



## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

I have a different perspective. When I first started my vocational carpentry class in 10th grade, we were each required to test our nail driving abilities. We had 30 seconds to start and drive as many 16d nails as possible. Best guy in class had 7, I think. Me, I started and bent over exactly 3 nails, driving in none!. I was the worst in the class. I was a skinny kid, about 5'6, probably 115 pounds. While my nail driving has definitely improved, I will never be one of the best. I tend to get by more on my mental approach to framing.


----------



## loneframer (Feb 13, 2009)

When I first started in the frame game, I spent the first 3 years building condos at the shore with no nail guns. Everything was nailed by hand and I was cheap labor. There was always competition within the crew and everyday was a contest among us. Who could frame a sidewall first? (56' long). Who could nail off a sheet of decking first? Blah Blah Blah.
I don't think there was ever a consistant winner, other than the boss. We were faster than some crews who were gunning everything, because we were organized and systematic.
I don't know how I would've fared at that nailbanging contest, but I would've liked to give it a shot.:thumbsup:


----------



## strathd (Jan 12, 2009)




----------



## SC sawdaddy (Oct 15, 2008)

You brought a tear to my eye Strat.
I misplaced my Vaughn on a demo job back in Feb. (Or it grew legs) and haven't replaced it yet. Hard to go get a new one when I've got a handful of Plumbs and Estwings in the van. I'll eventually have to get another one. 

There used to be a bet we'd get the rookies on with driving nails. Goes like this:
Me: "Bet I can drive a nail through a board in less swings than you."
Rookie pulls out a nail, starts it with a tap and looks up for someone to say go.
Me: "Thats one."
Rookie didn't know the starter tap counts so he pounds it in.
Rookie:" 7 licks...lets see what you can do."
Me: Stand a nail on its head on a sawhorse and swings 3' 2x4 down on it sinking it in 1 lick.
Rookie buys the beer on the way home. Usually under protest until a new rookie gets hired.

Damn I had fun on the job before I was the boss.


----------



## strathd (Jan 12, 2009)

Rigging axe = :thumbsup:


----------



## reveivl (May 29, 2005)

Back in the day we organised a wet t-shirt nail-driving contest, yeah, baby!!


----------



## roofbutcher (Jul 25, 2009)

Early-mid ‘80s, just got hired, boss is showing me around. "there’s Craig down in the hole nailing off headers" I look down and see set-sink, set-sink, set-sink. I thought, "Oh (crap), I’m in trouble, looks like I’ll be humping a lot of sticks."


They were pounding cement coated sinker 12s (the green ones) with 23ish ounce Vaughn California-style waffle irons. After humping a few truckloads of lumber, they hooked me up with some technique and I was doing it too. Funnest job I ever had!


Just about the time my thumbnail grew back, the guns took over and the sinkers disappeared. I guess all good things must come to an end. I still keep a box of the checker-head 12s on the truck and a customized California framer in my holster to remind me of the good old days.


----------



## scrapecc (May 11, 2009)

strathd said:


>


Part one
They do this in Sturgis too, Good times!!! First time I saw it was at the Broken Spoke Saloon. Remember that night well. me and a buddy snuck a bunch of bottles in with us,


----------



## scrapecc (May 11, 2009)

Part two. So as we are playing the game I notice something is wrong. I say Aaron, you notice something about our beer?


----------



## scrapecc (May 11, 2009)

Part three. He says what about it. I am like dude we are the only people in this bar drinking out of a bottle, everyone else has a can. needless to say, we still had to buy their beer. and walk around clinking all night.


----------



## strathd (Jan 12, 2009)

Probably the same guys. They mentioned that they follow the bike circuit. I went to daytona again the next year and they remembered me. Had some good times again.


----------



## cbfx3 (Aug 25, 2009)

Back in the day I could pound with the best of them.. my weapon has always been a 20 oz curve claw Bluegrass (wooden handle) My main one was taken by a scumbag employee but I kinda like the one I have now even better.. it is an old round neck model. We used to hand nail everything coming up and it was nothing to set and sink 16 sinkers in good old SPF lumber. Nailing off plywood with 8 sinkers was always fun! Boss wanted everybody to lay the ply (floor or roof) with just tacks and then everybody would have a nail off party. set,hit,sink was a good rhythm for plywood.. if you tried to one hit them you were likely to zing a nail and stick somebody in the forehead .. or chip a tooth (seen all that happen!)


----------



## spdtrx (Sep 10, 2009)

cbfx3 said:


> Back in the day I could pound with the best of them.. my weapon has always been a 20 oz curve claw Bluegrass (wooden handle) My main one was taken by a scumbag employee but I kinda like the one I have now even better.. it is an old round neck model. We used to hand nail everything coming up and it was nothing to set and sink 16 sinkers in good old SPF lumber. Nailing off plywood with 8 sinkers was always fun! Boss wanted everybody to lay the ply (floor or roof) with just tacks and then everybody would have a nail off party. set,hit,sink was a good rhythm for plywood.. if you tried to one hit them you were likely to zing a nail and stick somebody in the forehead .. or chip a tooth (seen all that happen!)


 
About 30 something yrs ago I was nailing off some plywood with 
#8 Stinkers and set,hit and ZINGed one off and stuck it in my EYE
real good. Doctor told me I was real close to loosen my eye.
This was before safty glasses were required.  LOL I can still see
pretty out of that eye. Lucky EYE guess :w00t: No really.


----------



## cbfx3 (Aug 25, 2009)

spdtrx said:


> About 30 something yrs ago I was nailing off some plywood with
> #8 Stinkers and set,hit and ZINGed one off and stuck it in my EYE
> real good. Doctor told me I was real close to loosen my eye.
> This was before safty glasses were required.  LOL I can still see
> pretty out of that eye. Lucky EYE guess :w00t: No really.




:shutup: that makes me cringe! I know a guy that was fishing and his buddy went to cast a crank bait .. caught his eyeball on the windup and jerked it out when he casted.. I dont think it caused any long term damage though!


----------



## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

cbfx3 said:


> :shutup: that makes me cringe! I know a guy that was fishing and his buddy went to cast a crank bait .. caught his eyeball on the windup and jerked it out when he casted.. I dont think it caused any long term damage though!




Did he catch a fish with that bait?


----------



## nEighter (Nov 24, 2008)

cool story framerman :thumbsup: kinda made me nostalgic like..


----------



## FramingPro (Jan 31, 2010)

roofbutcher said:


> Early-mid ‘80s, just got hired, boss is showing me around. "there’s Craig down in the hole nailing off headers" I look down and see set-sink, set-sink, set-sink. I thought, "Oh (crap), I’m in trouble, looks like I’ll be humping a lot of sticks."
> 
> 
> They were pounding cement coated sinker 12s (the green ones) with 23ish ounce Vaughn California-style waffle irons. After humping a few truckloads of lumber, they hooked me up with some technique and I was doing it too. Funnest job I ever had!
> ...


what could you compare a sinker too, sometimes i spray my boxes with wd40. We cannot get them in canada as far as i know


----------



## katoman (Apr 26, 2009)

Nick, a sinker is a 3 1/2" spike.

Some suggested rules - must be 3 1/2" spikes
- must use a framing hammer. Any weight. But no 
sledge hammers.
- must be driven into # 1or2 common spruce. No
balsa wood.
- I would allow the spike to be started. Let's say 
1/4" This could be verified by tape measure.

Just some ideas.


----------



## FramingPro (Jan 31, 2010)

katoman said:


> Nick, a sinker is a 3 1/2" spike.
> 
> Some suggested rules - must be 3 1/2" spikes
> - must use a framing hammer. Any weight. But no
> ...


sinkers go in easily, they are coated


----------



## katoman (Apr 26, 2009)

Coated with what? Never heard of this.

We are talking hand driven nails, yes?


----------



## FramingPro (Jan 31, 2010)

katoman said:


> Coated with what? Never heard of this.
> 
> We are talking hand driven nails, yes?


vinyl or concrete coated hand drives,


----------



## woodworkbykirk (Sep 17, 2008)

nick galvys go in harder as they create resistance and come out even harder because of the heat generated when they go in. bright commons go in and come out super easy from teh grease that are on them to prevent rusting

my first company would have a nail driving comp using a 6x6 and 5" galv spikes at the summer company bbq. the boss would give out hand tools, fastest time would get the most expensive and so on.... got interesting since the framers on the crew would normally lose because they would be the ones most trashed :drink:


----------



## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

FramingPro said:


> vinyl or concrete coated hand drives,


You have come along way in such a short time Nick. They are cement coated though, but really close. The ones we used were green and a slightly thinner gauge. 

Sinkers and spikes are 2 different nails.


----------



## FramingPro (Jan 31, 2010)

framerman said:


> You have come along way in such a short time Nick. They are cement coated though, but really close. The ones we used were green and a slightly thinner gauge.
> 
> Sinkers and spikes are 2 different nails.


thank you yea i heard the gauge is more like gun nails


----------



## Dirtywhiteboy (Oct 15, 2010)

Each year one of the power tool shops ( Slims) has a big tent sale with all the dealer reps. guys stand in line over night to get the deals:laughing: they have some big deals in limited supplyso first come that way:no: anyway they hold a He Man Contest with bang the nail, cut the wood, screw the screw,,,,,,,,, I tried it once but no way we got a lot of 300lb. big boys over here that have no problem tapping and set a hot dip hand drive 16d


----------

