it's hammer time

brass+red oak+a small sliver of cocobolo= my new hammer. i spent the day friday turning some scrap into a plane adjusting hammer. i've been wanting to build one of these for a while now but just haven't got a round to it. we have a bunch of bar ends at work just sitting there and i thought they'd make nice hammer heads. having a lathe and mill is really cool. now i'll have to come up with more projects that involve small bits of metal. the curly red oak for the handle was very unpleasant to work with. i tried carving but it just tore out, same with the spoakshave. i ended up chucking it in the lathe and using a rasp and some sandpaper... not very fun but it got the job done and i love the look of figured wood. i did have fun rounding the top of the handle where the wedge pokes through. it has a ton of facets from my carving knife and gives the piece a hand crafted feel. i finished it with a light oil, we'll see how it holds up but i didn't want to hide any of the woods natural beauty. i'm looking forward to the brass aging over the years. maybe i'll put a premature patina on it for kicks. i love how sensitive the small head is. it really helps me get a feeling for my blade and wedge adjustments.