Wonderwand

[Mike Swendsen]

Sounds like a nice tuning hammer!  I love good woods too, especially
cocobola and bacote.  I've tried stainless steel, and found it flexed too
much, of course there are many types/ alloys of stainless, some are harder
and stiffer I'm sure.  Stainless also does polish nicley and doesn't tarnish
or corode easilly.  I prefer the 'stress proof'  and nickle plate it.

Mike Swendsen RPT
http://members.home.net/spianos

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles E Faulk <cfaulk2@juno.com>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: February 19, 1999 12:43 PM
Subject: Re: Wonderwand


>About two years ago I started making my own tuning hammers just for fun.
>It fit rather nicely with my woodturning fetish. Well the long and the
>short of it is I've made about nine hammers since then gradually refining
>the length and shape to my liking. Since I have no ambitions to patent my
>design I would rather share some dimensions with all of you.
>
>I start with a 10 1/2 " length of stainless steel rod (1/2" diam.) which
>is turned down to 3/8" on one end and threaded to fit Schaff tuning heads
>(27threads per inch). The threaded tip has a tapered end so that the head
>will fit tightly.
>
>My handles are turned out of exotic woods like cocobolo, ebony, bocote,
>and most recently rosewood. I like to start with a turning square 12" x 1
>7/8" x 1 7/8". Then I bore a 1/2" hole using a extra long brad point bit
>through the core of the square, usually about  7 1/2"; this is best done
>with a good horizontal drill press. I'll plug the bored end with a short
>piece of 1/2" dowel, and fit my  lathe drive center to this end.
>
>The best design I've come up with so far is a kind of double-ball handle
>with about  4 1/2" of the steel rod extending from the handle. The end
>ball looks like a slightly flattened tennis ball, not fully round; that
>shape fits my hand better. The second and smaller ball is located about
>half-way on the wood handle. It serves as a secondary handle if I choose
>to "clutch-up" for any reason. Holding the hammer in this secondary
>position, I can almost use the tool like an impact hammer. The entire
>hammer is 13 1/2" long; this may be rather long for most tuners, but it
>works well for me.
>
>Just some thoughts.
>
>Regard,
>
>Charles Faulk, RPT
>Manhattan, KS
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