When Denis Valente is in his zone, he can drive a 3-inch, 16-penny nail into a length of fir with a single stroke of a hammer. His fingers will pinch the nail just long enough to avoid disaster. Most of the time.

"Sometimes I hit the wrong nail," Valente said of his thumb.

But Valente is so good — and good with a hand saw, a brace drill and a screw driver — that he's won the Slim's Power Tools He-Man Competition six times. Last year he won the annual test of carpentry prowess twice in two days: first on Maui, and the next day on O'ahu.

The competition, which will be held again this weekend, requires contestants to complete all skills, each one done by hand, within half an hour. The fastest four go head to head in a final round.

The hammering event requires competitors to pound 10 nails flush with the wood.

"In the beginning, I am trying to set up my rhythm," Valente said. "After the fifth or sixth nail, I am trying to hold that nail on the board and slam it in with one hit while still holding it."

That's not bad for a guy whose tool of choice is a trowel, not a 20-ounce steel hammer. Valente is a 44-year-old tile and marble contractor from Ha'iku, Maui.

PSYCH 'EM OUT

Valente brings a valuable set of skills to the competition.

"It takes a lot of focus, eye-hand coordination and just not letting the other guys get under your skin," he said. "You are going up against full-fledged journeymen carpenters who know what they are doing. It is intimidating, but you have to shut that out of your mind."

The competition attracts professional carpenters and contractors — but the playing field is leveled by the fact that most of them use power tools on the job site.

The contest was created 16 years ago, said coordinator Rand Okemura, who also serves as comptroller for Slim's.

"We were watching one of those lumberjack contests where they cut down trees and do log rolling and whatnot," he said. "We thought it could be neat to have a contest geared more toward contractors."

In the beginning, some of the events were too subjective, like a wood-sanding event, Okemura said.

"There wasn't a defined beginning and end," he said. "With hammering a nail, it's done when the nail goes in. When the wood is cut, it's finished. It's definite."

FOUR TESTS

Organizers settled on four tests of skill: hammering 10 3-inch nails into a 2-by-4; sawing through a 4-by-4; drilling through a 4-by-6 with a brace drill; and unscrewing a pair of 2-inch drywall screws from a 4-by-4.

Winners receive a trip to Las Vegas for two and a $1,000 shopping spree at Slim's.

"It takes a lot of skill," Okemura said. "You don't have to be the biggest guy out there."

For sheer difficulty, though, nothing compares to the drilling event, Valente said. Contestants go as hard as they can in their effort to spin a 5/8-inch drill bit through a board.

"The drill kicks everyone's butt," Valente said. "It doesn't matter how big you are, small you are, how conditioned you are — it takes both strength and endurance. It knocks the wind out of you. When you are done, you are huffing and puffing."

The good news for everyone competing this year is that Valente is retiring from the competition.

"I would like to give them all a chance," he said with a wink. "I will cheer them on. I'll pump their spirits up. But maybe I'll pretend to do it just to get under their skin a little."