Jim Koepke
01-24-2021, 7:57 PM
Yesterday a brass hammer head arrived in the mail, sent by another SMC member, THANK YOU.
So today a little time was taken to make a handle. There was a piece of apple with some bark left on:
450255
A little care on the bandsaw made a nice piece to turn. A piece of dowel was used to get a feel of how long the handle should be for a comfortable swing.
After a little time on the lathe:
450256
The drill bits were used like a sizing gauge in the eye of the head to set the calipers for checking size on the lathe. The top block was cut off and the handle was pressed in to the eye. A chisel with a 90º bevel was used to remove excess material:
450257
Twisting the head on the handle actually pushed some of the wood and helped to see how much more needed removal. A fine toothed file was also used for this process.
A small hole was drilled and then a slot of a wedge was cut:
450258
A lesson learned here is to saw the slot before finishing the sizing. Things still worked out okay.
With plenty of scrap from the milling one piece seemed just right for a wedge:
450259
With everything going together it was time to finish the bottom. Had to think whether this was going to be a round bottom or a pointy bottom handle. The pointy bottom won. A saw was used to trim the waste and then a gouge was used to shape the bottom:
450260
Follow up with a little light sanding and some furniture polish it is done for now:
450261
Sometimes on hammers my preference is for a more oval cross section or even flat sides. That decision can wait a while.
jtk
So today a little time was taken to make a handle. There was a piece of apple with some bark left on:
450255
A little care on the bandsaw made a nice piece to turn. A piece of dowel was used to get a feel of how long the handle should be for a comfortable swing.
After a little time on the lathe:
450256
The drill bits were used like a sizing gauge in the eye of the head to set the calipers for checking size on the lathe. The top block was cut off and the handle was pressed in to the eye. A chisel with a 90º bevel was used to remove excess material:
450257
Twisting the head on the handle actually pushed some of the wood and helped to see how much more needed removal. A fine toothed file was also used for this process.
A small hole was drilled and then a slot of a wedge was cut:
450258
A lesson learned here is to saw the slot before finishing the sizing. Things still worked out okay.
With plenty of scrap from the milling one piece seemed just right for a wedge:
450259
With everything going together it was time to finish the bottom. Had to think whether this was going to be a round bottom or a pointy bottom handle. The pointy bottom won. A saw was used to trim the waste and then a gouge was used to shape the bottom:
450260
Follow up with a little light sanding and some furniture polish it is done for now:
450261
Sometimes on hammers my preference is for a more oval cross section or even flat sides. That decision can wait a while.
jtk