Just realized that there's an artistic project forum and this ought to be there. Any way to move it?

So I'm a huge nerd, and basically I'm trying to make a replica of Thor's hammer from the recent Avengers movie. However, since making it out of solid steel would be impractical, expensive and massively heavy (it's 8"x5"x5") I was planning to weld it together out of sheets of steel, maybe a quarter inch thick. This would be easy if it were just a box, but all of the edges are bevelled. What's the best way to do this? The ways I've thought of so far are:

Buy a single sheet of steel 8 inches wide and 22 inches long (5 for each face and 2 inches for the 4 half-inch bevels) and hammer it into the shell, welding it along a seam on the bottom, then taking square sheets roughly 7x7 (5 inches for the face, 2 extra inches for each one-inch bevel because the bevels on the ends are longer) and welding them to the ends.

OR

Buying either two 5x5 L-shaped pieces of steel 8 inches long and about a third of an inch thick and welding them together or a single, 8 inch long piece of square pipe (also 5x5) and trying to hammer a bevel into each of the edges. I'd heat the edges with a torch so that the whole pipe wouldn't get distorted while I was bevelling it, then I'd cap the ends like in the above technique. Would this work, or would the plate be too thin?

Also on the table is a strategy similar to the first one but instead of having one big sheet, I'd have four 8x5 ones and I'd put one bevel on each then weld them together.

In closing, I understand if this is too long/hard to picture and you didn't read it all. Thanks for any help you can give me. Attached is a picture of the hammer (and Thor).

off the top of my head 8"x22" x 1/4 is around 15 pounds ( 11 1/4 pounds per sq ft ), maybe 3/16 would be more manageable

I don't have a picture of the hammer front of me, and don't feel like googling it.

If you are good at welding sheet metal then you can weld the bevels in using a strip of metal supported at the correct angle. You could also forge, or cold bend, or otherwise work the bevel into the sheet, then weld the shell sections together.

I think you should use as thin of material as will support the costume forces, and you can weld at your skill level. Carrying a 15#+ item all night at a party would get old.

Phil

#16 sheet metal is about 1/16 inch thick and should be weldable with most processes.

Phil

Oh, I want it to be heavy. Before I realized it was going to be 15-20 pounds I was considering filling it with concrete. If it's too light it just doesn't give the same amount of nerd cred. ;) . I'm pretty decent at welding, but that's always been round stock not sheet metal so I don't know. I've got a teacher who can help me learn if it proves difficult though, thankfully. I'm thinking that having the bevels as separate pieces welded onto the other pieces might be a bit more work than it's worth and I should just forge them into the shell. Also I thought I attached a picture of Thor holding the hammer. I'll do that now.

Viewing it strictly as a fabrication job, ... I'd start with a short length of 5" "box" tube, ... and form the end caps from 7" squares of plate, notched at the corners to form the bevels, ... and weld it all together.



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Viewing it strictly as a fabrication job, ... I'd start with a short length of 5" "box" tube, ... and form the end caps from 7" squares of plate, notched at the corners to form the bevels, ... and weld it all together.

That's definitely something I was considering, but I'm not sure if I could properly bevel the edges of the box tube. Could I heat them individually and hammer them into bevels even though they wouldn't be too thick?

lost foam casting and aluminum.

mark

I know absolutely nothing about casting, unfortunately.

oh crap, now I'm thinking about doing a war hammer...thanks a lot!!

Hahaha. Best of luck to you! Forging weapons is fun. I feel like a real war hammer would be simpler than what I'm doing since I could just forge it out of a solid piece of steel.

That's definitely something I was considering, but I'm not sure if I could properly bevel the edges of the box tube. Could I heat them individually and hammer them into bevels even though they wouldn't be too thick?

You would be bevelling the ends, Not the box

Right, but the way the hammer is any and all edges are bevelled. So it's not just the edges of the face, it's also the edges of the box. I think you can see it in the picture if you look closely.

I thought about making one while watching the movie.

The engraving on the bevels is going to be diffcult, but eventually I would think making everything from flat plate, shaping it right and then with a lot of creative jigging welding the whole box together. After the welding and grinding I would do the engraving. That is what I was planning to do.

Honestly, I was just going to forget the engraving. It looks cool but it's well beyond my skill set. I'm justifying it by saying it's not in the comics. Heh. But you think I'd be better off making the whole thing from plate instead of trying to use a segment of box tube?

Right, but the way the hammer is any and all edges are bevelled. So it's not just the edges of the face, it's also the edges of the box. I think you can see it in the picture if you look closely.

The picture is that big it won't download for me, sorry.

Weld it up however you want, then grind off the edges with a grinder or belt sander.

You could etch the design onto it. That might be considerably easier.

Phil