If your rounding hammer’s weight and handle feel good, your technique may require some adjustment to improve your efficiency. But how do you tell if you need to tweak your hammering motion?

To examine the effectiveness of your technique with a hammer, Chris Gregory of the Heartland Horseshoeing School in Lamar, Mo., says to videotape yourself at work. The replay can help you identify where you are struggling. “Look at your efficiency, how much you are getting done in the heat,” he says. “What were you doing to lose efficiency?

“For example, you may see that you are leveling a shoe three of four times. You don’t have to have the shoe level until it goes to the foot.”

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