Patent ID: 8109178

Claim:
A hammer for releasably retaining nails of varying sizes, said hammer comprising: a handle; a hammerhead affixed to said handle, wherein said hammerhead comprises at least one flattened side surface and at least one nail-retention groove of a predetermined size located on said flattened side surface configured so as to align a corresponding selected nail toward a nail striking orientation, wherein said flattened side surface is in a fixed location relative to said hammerhead whereby a nail being received by said at least one nail-retention groove is positioned in a side-loading position at said flattened side surface prior to making contact with an object being struck with the nail, wherein at least one of said at least one nail-retention groove is dimensioned to releasably accept both a shaft of a nail and a head of a nail, and wherein at least one of said at least one nail-retention groove comprises: a partially cylindrical nail body groove portion of substantially uniform radius within said flattened side surface, and a nail-head groove portion contiguous to said partially cylindrical nail body groove portion configured such that the head of the nail is partially enveloped by said nail-head groove portion; and a magnetic component, disposed within said hammerhead, in magnetic communication with at least one of said at least one nail-retention groove.