10 Brilliant Uses for Tennis Balls

Homemade Hammer Mallet

Cover a metal hammer with a tennis ball to protect the surfaces of your projects when you knock them together or apart. Carefully cut an 'X' in the ball with a sharp utility knife. Make it just large enough for the head of an 18- to 24-oz. hammer to slide through. You'll discover that your rubber-bumper hammer works better than a standard rubber hammer, since it concentrates the blow on a small area and doesn't leave black marks. If you don't want to waste a tennis ball on your hammer, check out this combination mallet.