Reader Question: Auto Hammer for String Art Nails?

A reader wrote in recently, asking whether a cordless auto hammer would be suitable for driving in small nails into a board for string art projects.

The short answer is that no, an auto hammer, such as the Hammerhead Switch, would not be a good tool for this.

Good morning, thank you for the Review of the Ryobi Auto Hammer. I am thinking about buying one, however, I was wondering whether you could answer a few questions for me.

I am interested in doing string art (have you heard about this?). Basically, it is a wooden board, with lots of nails and then string wrapped around the nails.

I am working on a piece at the moment that has a few hundred nails, quite close together and it has taken me hours already to nail. And I haven’t finished yet 🙂 Thus I was looking into getting an auto hammer.

I am looking for a hammer that does not hammer the nail in all the way – for the nail to be visible for 1.5cm above surface. Also they need to be straight and the distance to the next nail is about 1cm. Does all of this make sense? 🙂 If you do have time to reply and advise me on this, I would greatly appreciate it.

I am familiar with string art, and gave your question some thought. Unfortunately, I do not think that an auto hammer would be a good choice for this application. Here’s why:

1. An auto hammer is not going to be precise. Hammering each nail to exact and consistent depths will be difficult.

2. The way an auto hammer’s anvil is set up, it will be difficult to avoid disrupting adjacent nails when driving one in. 1cm clearance might be enough, but possibly not.

You could purchase a Craftsman, Hammerhead, Ryobi, or Ridgid auto hammer and give it a try. If it doesn’t work to your satisfaction, you could return the product. Home Depot and Lowes are generally good about returns if the product in like-new and resellable condition.