Also the smith will still be hitting their target after a few hours of constant hammering. An amateur is gonna lose their accuracy within the first hour.

I'll absolutely grant that hammering is a skill that can be improved upon and that a skilled hammerer is quite the thing to behold. I think of the times I've seen experienced blacksmiths banging away for hours with forearms that look like Popeye's, barely breaking a sweat. So yes, there's a skill tree to be developed.

That said... a lot of people seem to have an idea that using tools, or even more broadly the inherent strength of their own bodies, is somehow beyond their ability, and a lot of the time that's just beginners' jitters. Absent of a particular physical limitation, most people probably can learn how to effectively use a hammer (or a hand saw, or a screw gun, or a crow bar, or any number of useful items) within a couple minutes. It's our collective mistake for teaching people that they haven't got ready access to those skills and strengths.

Watched a video on these old Dutch guys, house framers. Apparently they're kinda famous. I'll never forget the dude casually walking along the roof and slamming 5" nails with a single stroke, one after the other like a machine. I've tried and tried, can't even do it with a 3" nail.

Plus, it’s not obvious to even otherwise capable people how best to use one. My BIL is a generally pretty smart guy, but my sister had to show him how to use a hammer after they got married (he wanted control of his swing and didn’t trust himself, so he was holding it right up against the head(

The trick is to look at the nail and not your fingers. If you look at your fingers so you don't hit them, you'll hit them.

"The trick is not minding that it hurts."

I remember an episode of Little House on the Prairie from my childhood. Pa has to get a job at the quarry, and he and a buddy are put to work drilling holes in the rock with a long metal spike and a sledgehammer. One of them has to hold the spike in place while the other bangs on it with the sledge. How the spike holder still had any fingers attached at the end of the day is beyond me. That shit traumatized me.