Project Hammer

I decided to take a short break from making another wooden lure and started on a minor project for my kids.  They both thought that Thor’s Hammer was a pretty cool weapon so I took a block of wood 7” in length and possessing a height and width of 3.5” and got started.



Unfortunately for me, I don’t have a table saw or else this would have been a breeze.  I definitely have a lot of shaping to do.



My son opted to go with hammer that should look how Marvel Comics draws it while my daughter wants to make hers octagonal as is lightly traced on the block in the first picture (much easier to cut).

Incidentally, I’m going to give that crankbait an Iron Man color scheme.

That is a neat project IB.  My wood working skills are practically nonexistent.  My finishing tool for fine work is a 14" chainsaw.

Pretty neat project islandbass. My son is 6, so I'll have to stay away from this thread when he's around...

Project Hammer Update 06-19-11

My son’s hammer is nearly done. I wish I had the right tools so that the work to make it would have been easier.  The handle has been added. I will also need to add a circular cap on top and a hole for the leash before the final preparations can start.




A little closer view.


However, my daughter’s take on Thor’s hammer, is one that is octagonal in shape.

I figured that a regular octagon (one in which all sides are equal in length) would be the best shape to use.  Unfortunately, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to “eyeball” this without a lot of trial and error so I decided to really think how this could be done.

I was hoping that little bit of geometry, trigonometry, and algebra should be enough to figure this out and I was hoping to remember enough of these subjects from elementary school to proceed.  I started with the square face of the end of the block and worked from there.  After I finished it, I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to show my daughter (who is at that stage of where she is wondering why she needs to know math because it’s “useless”) how math can be useful, so I wrote it up as shown below for her benefit.



Although I felt fairly comfortable with my calculations, I had a little doubt that I could be wrong.  I found a page on the web on how to construct a regular octagon, and guess what?  The guy did it the same way!!!!  Yee hah! I guess I learned something when I was in school after all!  The guy was kind enough to take it a step further to eliminate the square root of 2, but I didn’t care to do that.

I had a great time working through this neat little challenge and I must say that it really paid off.  As you can see below, my calculations weren’t too shabby.  I used a ruler to confirm that each was 1.5”.



I bought a circular saw this weekend, which I wish I had when working on my son’s hammer.  The circular saw made short work of cutting out the octagon and would have made making his a lot easier.



So far, so good.

I hear you on registering them. I laid down the rules big time on them... No hitting anybody, ever for any reason. However, using imagination, flying, teleporting, and summoning thunder and lighting will be permitted.

Cool project, IB 

Idea: Let them paint them themselves  . Supervised of course, and you do the tape jobs for them.

Btw, What's holding the handle in the head? 

BB,

That is a great idea! Earlier this evening I discovered that I had metallic purple spray paint in the garage.  I went through the basics with my daughter as to how to paint with a rattle can and had her practice on some scrap pine. I think she will have a great time painting hers.

Since my son is only 6, I will have him hand paint with acrylic paints.

The handle at this time is being held in place Elmers Wood Glue for now.  The hold seems quite solid, but I still might add a metal rod running through the head and the handle for extra security and patch it up.

@Jigfishin: You got that right! Thanks.

Lastly, I must tell you all that these hammers feel very "beefy". You wouldn't want to get bashed in the head or the knee cap for sure.  Maybe I should have made these out of foam for Pete's sake! 

Yes sir!  Funny thing you ask that because just today, I saw a car with the autobot insignia looked as good as any car maker's logo and then I bumped into a female security guard at the mall with a belt purse with a really nice looking decepticon insignia.

Project Hammer Update 07-07-11

I haven’t had any time to work on the project since the last posting until yesterday.  It was time to work on the “end caps” that go on the top on the hammer.

The larger pieces were what I carved out first. While they fit, they were too “large” and as a result, didn’t like aesthetically pleasing.

It turns out that it would look good if the cap were about or just a little bigger than the diameter of the handle, which happens to be 7/8” with about a ¼” thickness.  However, I wasn’t looking forward to working on that small a scale with the wood I had on hand.

Fortunately, something in the garage caught my eye.  Home Depot saved the day!  There it was, a paint stir stick from Home Depot.  The stick seemed ideal to use.  Creating a 1” x 1” square would be a piece of cake now.

So after using the same mathematical process I used earlier, it was a breeze to calculate the length of one side of the mini octagon end cap for my daughter’s hammer.  If you’re curious, it’s slightly under 0.5”.

In the photo, the octagonal end cap is already glued to the hammer.  The square in the middle with a circle drawn inside it will be the end cap for my son’s hammer.



I am happy with the progress to date.  Drilling a hole for the strap, painting, and adding a clear coat are the remaining things left on the to do list.  I bet my kids will enjoy painting their hammers.

Project Hammer Update 07-29-11

Despite having the hammers for the kids primed and ready to paint, they claim to be “too busy” with summer vacation activities to start painting.  As a result, I decided to go ahead and make a hammer for me.

I thought it would be neat for my hammer to be a combination of both of theirs.  One side will be octagonal like my daughter’s hammer and the other side beveled like my son’s hammer.  I also added a little twist to the beveled edge side by having that end rotated so that the rear diamond-shaped instead of being square.

Things were going great until I drilled the hole for the handle.  I trusted the level on my drill and it was completely off.  Okay, I won’t blame the equipment.



As you can see in the first photo, the initial hole started out well.  After boring through to the other side, it is clear that  I got off track.


I am perplexed as to why the level on the drill didn’t help.  I figured that the easiest course of action would be to drill a new hole and fashion plugs to cover the initial mistake.


The plug labeled T is for the top.  All of the plugs were inserted into the holes with glue.


The next step is to sand off the high points of the plugs to make them flush with the hammer.

At this time, I am trying to decide on a shape to make the cap.  We already have in use a circle and an octagon.  I seem to be leaning toward a cross or a kind of star.

 
Project Hammer Update 07-30-11

Finally!!!! One of my kids has decided to take some time off their important summer vacation to start painting their hammer.  The honor fell to my son.


Here he is, about to get started.





Got the first red paint coat on.  He is really excited now!  I shot a little video of him wielding it and he was having a blast with it.  I just hope he doesn’t ask me to build him an Iron Man suit of armor. I wouldn’t know where to begin! Lol.

I managed to get my hammer repaired and primed.


I decided to go with a star, particularly a “ninja” type of star.  Once again, I went to the Home Depot stir stick to make the ninja star or “shuriken” cap.


View from the front.

I need to find the right gray/stone/silver color now for my hammer.

This project is really starting to get fun now that the cutting, shaping and priming are completed.  I hope my daughter sees her brother’s progress as an incentive to start painting hers.