Wonderwand

[Ron Nossaman]

>
>I've had two hammers - one walnut, the other a reddish brown wood, maybe
>cocabolo - that split because the shaft was too short and too thick -
>approx. 5/8" turned down to 7/16" at the head.  
>
>A machinist friend of mine made me a 10" model with a long 7/16"
>stainless steel shaft, a HD brass ferrule, and a dogwood handle.  Light
>weight and rigid.  You're right about the lighter wood showing dirt.  I
>chucked the headless lever in the drill press, sanded off the dirt and
>finish, and appied a few coats of varnish.   
>
>Carl Root, RPT
>Rockville, MD
>



I made a shop hammer, close to twenty years ago, out of scrap plugs of that
old nasty rotary cut pinblock material stacked on a 7/16" shaft, water hard
drill rod, if memory serves (??). The ferrule is salvaged from a cheap
hammer someone gave me that I cheerfully killed to get it out of
circulation, and I finished the handle with a very thin epoxy. It's
thoroughly ugly, with definite character, but the handle still looks clean,
and I still use it for stringing and shop tuning. I have found through the
years that you develop an appreciation (or disdain) for manufactured
products when you attempt to make something for yourself instead of buying
it. You also develop skills and tricks that can get you places you otherwise
couldn't go when you have to come up with a fix for something nobody has
ever heard of before. Never mind whether or not you *want* to be stuck with
fixing something nobody ever heard of before, you have a better chance of
surviving those killer projects you weren't smart enough to avoid if you
have an experience backlog of inventing wheels. In other words, you learn.
My projects have gotten considerably more expensive and complicated since
then, but the principal still applies. 

Caveat: The illusion of invincibility resulting from having survived past
projects of this sort, or worse, is just that... an illusion. Proceed with
caution and humility. Be prepared for setbacks, but don't accept failure,
and never decline to proceed. If you aren't in over your head once in a
while, you aren't learning. That's a generic, general purpose aphorism with
which y'all may go forth and annoy others. No charge.

I'm going to bed now. Been in the shop all day, and have wounds to lick (and
the flu). But I'm gaining. So's the flu. Sigh.

 
 Ron