Two Framing Tricks: A Scratch Awl Third Hand and No-Split Blunted Nails

The Problem

Framing alone means every long board is a two-hand problem with only two hands available: one end has to float in the air while you position and nail the other. And whether you're solo or not, nails driven near the end of a board love to split it — the point wedges the grain apart right where there's the least wood to resist.

The Techniques

Scratch awl as a third hand

Stab a scratch awl into the framing where the far end of your board needs to sit. The shaft becomes a steel peg: rest the board's end on it, and it stays put at the right height while you nail off the other end. Pull the awl when you're done and move on. It rides in your pouch anyway, and it sets faster than any clamp.

Blunt the nail before nailing near an end

For nails going in close to the end or edge of a board, tap the nail's point flat against something hard before you drive it. A sharp point works like a splitting wedge — it forces the grain apart as it goes. A blunted point does the opposite: it crushes and punches the fibers through ahead of it, so the board takes the nail without cracking. The creator does this routinely with 16d sinkers on edge nailing.