Pair of plane hammers

[Todd Ferrante]

I made a second, smaller, plane hammer to compliment the first one I made. The diameter of the head of the larger is 1.10" (from 1 1/8" bar) and the second has a .745" diameter head (from 3/4" bar). It can't come through in the photos, but the wood has golden highlites that are sort of iridescent. The grain sort of shimmers when looked at from different angles under strong light. Reminds me of opal.
Todd F.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2444/3639288299_df5e74727e_o.jpg

[David Gendron]

two nice hammer... I like the wood head on the bigger one better! They look well balance! How much for the big one???;)

[Todd Ferrante]

Like most handmade things, you would not want to pay the money it would take to compensate for the time it took to make it. :)

If you seriously want one, take a look at the great hammers made by Chester Toolworks (http://www.chestertoolworks.com/planehammers.htm). I patterned my hammers off theirs.

Todd F.

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice hammers, your planes likely will not mind their loving adjustments.

jim

[Thomas Kila]

Great looking hammers, Todd! So what kind of wood are the handles made of?

[Todd Ferrante]

Great looking hammers, Todd! So what kind of wood are the handles made of?

Beats me. I bought about a dozen spare hammer handle handles at a flea market about 10 years ago. These are two of them.
Todd F.

[John Keeton]

I would say the handles are hickory, but I am more interested in the wood used in the hammer - what is it? These turned out very nice.

[Todd Ferrante]

I think the wood is rosewood, but I'm not an expert in identifying exotic hardwood species. The wood came from a carving of a swordfish I found in an antique store. The bill was broken off, and they were selling it for something like $5. As old as it was I figured it might be pre-imbargo rosewood and bought it thinking I might use the wood as raw material for hand plane tote repairs or maybe even get some replacement handplane knobs from it. Since then I've come across a couple more carvings that look to be from the same type of wood. I'll post some pictures when I get home tonight.

I found some carving on ebay that look just like the ones I bought:
http://cgi.ebay.com/LARGE-HAND-CARVED-WOOD-SWORDFISH-BASE-SCULPTURE_W0QQitemZ310149466151QQcmdZViewItemQQptZ Art_Sculpture?hash=item4836594827&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Hand-Carved-Wood-SwordFish-Figurine-LOOK_W0QQitemZ370159931348QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_De faultDomain_0?hash=item562f404fd4&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

Other auctions identify the wood in similar carvings variously as Iron Wood and Teak.

Todd F.

[John Keeton]

Interesting carvings! Whatever it is, the wood does have a very nice color and grain pattern. Certainly turned out well on these hammers!

[Thomas Kila]

I would say the handles are hickory, but I am more interested in the wood used in the hammer - what is it? These turned out very nice.

D'oh! :eek: I meant to ask what type of wood was used in the hammer "head". Not sure how the word "handles" got stuck in there...:)