SPOILER!!: instructions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aussiegirl 
Well he took that as a yes that they were all paying attention and he picked up a hammer and tossed it in the air. It twirled a couple of times before he caught by the handle again. Lawson belatedly remembered that the students were watching and he gave a somewhat sheepish look.
"Okay none of you do that. I've been practicing that for weeks and let me tell ya it hurts when you don't do it right." Basically he had just wanted to show off some.
"Alright in the large container at the back of the room you will find some off cuts of wood, I want you to use those to practice hammering in your nails. Now before you run off and get your wood I want you to watch how it is done."
He placed a piece of wood onto his desk and then picked up a nail. "Firstly hold your hammer by the handle with your dominant hand. With your other hand place the nail, pointy end resting on the wood. Hold the nail near the base
like this. Then gently and I mean gently tap the head of the nail with your hammer until it penetrates the wood by at least a centimeter and the nail can stand on its own."
Lawson gave the nail a couple of taps until the nail was reasonably embedded in the wood. "Then take away your hand and hit the nail with the hammer a little harder until it has completely gone in and the head is flat against the wood." He removed his hand and hit the nail with three good hard hits and the nail was in.
Looking up at the students he gave them a serious look. "Now I ask that you all don't go stupid and try and belt the living crap out of the nail because let me tell you if you miss the nail and hit your hand...it hurts." And yes he was speaking from experience. He had lost count at how many times he had hit his thumb.
"Also this is muggle studies and we are here to do things muggle style so before any of you ask...no you can't use magic to protect yourself. It's all about using common sense." At that last comment he heaved a deep sigh, there were a few students lacking in that department.
"Alright off you go. If you need a hand just give me a yell."
ooc: I'll be back online in about 8 or so hours.
Awww no magic? That was the part about muggle studies that always made Celandine pout. She was GOOD at magic, it was like, her thing and stuff. Pouting slightly over that she picked up the hammer and hefted it. It was kind of heavy but she could judge the point of balance well enough that she was so sure she could do that spinny thing. Not that she was stupid enough to attempt it without some kind of magical protection. She made a mental note to try it some other time and picked up the nail. She examined that for a while too. she'd seen bigger ones before in the dungeons at home, mostly in the walls or on the wooden beams in there.
She collected her piece of wood and rolled up her sleeves. Sure she was wearing clothes that wouldn't catch and stuff but she wanted to be sure. Besides, her father always rolled up his sleeves when he was about to use tools similarish to this, though not for putting holes in
wood. She picked up her nail and held it gently upright, the hammer she picked up with her left hand which was her dominant hand and she was surprised at how heavy it was with just one hand holding it. Her hand waved around a bit and she found it hard to move it so that the flat part of the hammer was resting on the nail.
She gave Lawson a glance and then looked down at her hammer and nail and gently knocked at it a few times, pausing in between to make sure the nail was straight and all. After a bit, when it was in enough to stand up, Celandine removed her hand and held onto the wood instead. She lowered herself a bit so she could see the nail on a better angle to judge it and then she swung at it and.... missed completely, a small hammer shaped dent in the wood showed how hard she'd struck it.
Good thing her hand hadn't been there.
Cela tried again and this time made contact with the nail perfectly, driving it in a few centimetres. She glanced around the class, seeing several students knock their nail crooked and have to tug it out again and she decided to be careful not to make that mistake. She turned back to her workstation and tapped the hammer twice more against the nail, driving it down further. One more tap should do it, Cela figured. The fourth tap was the one and she knocked the nail in, though there was yet another dent, perfectly surrounding the nail head, again to show how much pressure she'd put on the poor bit of wood.
She moved to pick the piece of wood up and....
... it was stuck to the desk.
Err what?