below.)

[Illustration: Fig. 163. Drawing a Nail with Claw-Hammer.]

The claw is used for extracting nails. To protect the wood in
withdrawing a nail a block may be put under the hammer-head. When
a nail is partly drawn, the leverage can be greatly increased by
continuing to block up in this way, Fig. 163.

[Illustration: Fig. 164. Mallets.]

The _mallet_, Fig. 164, differs from the hammer in having a wooden
instead of a steel head. A maul or beetle is a heavy wooden mallet.
The effect of the blow of a mallet is quite different from that of
a hammer, in that the force is exerted more gradually; whereas the
effect of the hammer blow is direct, immediate, and local, and is
taken up at once. But a mallet continues to act after the first
impulse, pushing, as it were. This is because of the elasticity of the
head. A chisel, therefore, should always be driven with a mallet, for
the chisel handle would soon go to pieces under the blows of a hammer,
because of their suddenness; whereas the mallet blow which is slower
will not only drive the blade deeper with the same force, but will
not injure the handle so rapidly. Mallet-heads are made square,
cylindrical, and barrel-shaped. Carver's mallets are often turned from
one piece, hammer and head on one axis.

_Nailsets_, Fig. 165, are made with hardened points, but softer butts,
so that the hammer will not be injured. They were formerly made square
when nail heads were square, but now round ones are common. To obviate
slipping, some have "cup points," that is, with a concave tip, and
some spur points.

[Illustration: Fig. 165. Using a Nailset.]

To keep the nailset in its place on the nail-head it may be held
closely against the third finger of the left hand, which rests on the
wood close to the nail. When a nailset is lacking, the head of a brad,
held nearly flat, may be used. But care is necessary to avoid bruising
the wood.

6. HOLDING TOOLS.

A. _Tools for Holding Work._

The advance in ease of handworking may largely be measured by the
facilities for holding materials or other tools. The primitive man
used no devices for holding except his hands and feet. The Japanese,
who perhaps are the most skilful of joiners, still largely use their
fingers and toes. On the other hand, Anglo-Saxons have developed an
enormous variety of methods for holding work and tools.

[Illustration: Fig. 166. Bench made with Pinned Mortise-and-Tenon
Joints, Low Back.]

[Illustration: