What did you do in the shop today?

[Frosty]

6 hours ago, Fowllife said:

Below are a couple pictures of our kitchen I built a few years ago, a little more period for a 1840’s house.

Now I'm suffering severe kitchen envy thank you VERY much! Is that REALLY a NYC sewer rat trophy decorating the cabinet?  Do you hunt brown bear with a lacrosse stick or something softer?

Seriously beautiful work.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BillyBones]

Thanks for the kind words about my dog. 

Frosty thanks for the tip on carving up stones. If i ever do it again i will try that. 

Cannon cocker, thanks for the compliment. 

My mud room is barely big enough for a bench much less cabnets. I still track mud though cuase i mostly use the kitchen door. I keep telling the old lady that that i only do it out of love and want to make her feel needed around the house. I even bought a sink that my finger tips will not touch the bottom of standing straight just so she would be more comfortable doing dishes. It is a normal sink, just the counter top is only 31" high. 

[Chelonian]

What's a good way to make a wooden hammer handle more grippy? I'm noticing that my hand gets tired from swinging my hammer (It's only a 2lb head, so I don't think weight is the problem), and I think the problem is that I'm having to grip it too hard. A few months ago I did coat it in paste wax, perhaps that was a mistake?

[Daswulf]

I ran into something like that a bit. The wax will pollish with use making the handle too smooth. Try taking 320 or close sandpaper to it. Other than that there may be other issues with how you are holding the hammer. Try researching a bit here, there is atleast a thread or two on it. 

[Ted Ewert]

I found that I had to sand down the diameter of a couple of my hammer handles after suffering hand fatigue. That seemed to help a lot, even though I don't have small hands. 

[Chelonian]

Daswulf, good idea. I'll try sanding off the polished surface. I have read all several threads on here about hammer technique, which is where I got the suspicion that I shouldn't be having to grip the handle as hard as I was.

Ted Ewert, the handle is already pretty thin, I think if I made it much smaller it would be too thin to hold properly. I was actually thinking that maybe it was too thin, but after seeing your post, I think the problem was just the wax that I put on it.

Thanks for the responses!

[jlpservicesinc]

Ted the shape has a lot to do with how you hold it..   Or grip it..  Oval can be tough as its rounded corners.. 

It took me about 8 years to find the hammer handle shape I like... I then put this on all the hammers I own and used..  

Last few years I have been experimenting with a full taper Octagon handle and the handle on the steeled wrought iron hammer was a combination of my original oval design and the octagon shape..  

A proper shaped handle will eliminate most of the fatigue and will make the hammer feel lighter or more controllable in the hand.. 

I dislike any sticky substance on the handle as it will tear at the skin and create blisters.. 

[Frosty]

I make my hammer handles from 5/4" straight grain clear hickory from a hardwood supply. They're slab handles that widen slightly from head to end. The knob is an artifact of the first couple I made. I thought I'd need something to keep the hammer from slipping out of my grasp but it turned out to be completely unnecessary. If the hammer begins to slip you reflexively tighten your grip faster than you realize it. However the knob is part of the pattern and it's sort of a trademark on my hammer handles.

My handles are finished by warming in the toaster oven on lowest setting and waxing with Trewax the carnuba paste wax, famous for armoring bowling alleys. 

This hammer started live as a ball pein, I rescued it from a table of old hammer heads at yard, garage, etc. sale and forged it int a straight pein. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[CreekSideForge]

Finished these up, a 8” chef and a 4” utililty for my self and a paring knife for my dad. The steel is 80crv2 and the woods are wenge and cocobolo. I added a mustard patina for looks and some protection.

[jlpservicesinc]

Lovely work..  layers? Metals?

[jlpservicesinc]

Frosty:  the  Handles before the last ones were very much close to the shape of yours..  I like the straight tapers i have on 2 of the hammers.. 

[Cannon Cocker]

On 4/18/2019 at 4:33 PM, Chelonian said:

What's a good way to make a wooden hammer handle more grippy?

This is what I do to my hammers. The groves are cut in on a belt sander with 36 grit belt. 

[CreekSideForge]

1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said:

Lovely work..  layers? Metals?

Thank you, just 80crv2 with a mustard patina applied, no patternwelding.

[jlpservicesinc]

Very interesting.. Please elaborate? 

[CreekSideForge]

I believe it’s the vinegar in the mustard that reacts with the iron and creates oxides that help prevent extreme rusting. I could be wrong about the vinegar being entirely responsible for the process. It can be dabbed on with a finger or with a cotton ball in a thin layer to create different patterns. Leave it on there for about 30-45 minutes or until the mustard turns dark brown then wash it off. 

[Daswulf]

Rushing things never works out great. Had little time and rushed out an ant. Might look at it tomorrow and rebend the legs but it's anty. I like it but don't love it. Has to be the legs. Or the door knob abdomen?

[SLAG]

Das,

Check out Wikipedia,  for ants. 

The hind end seems to be more oval,.  And the head is almost as large as the hind end.

The head enhancement might make it look more like what we are used to seeing.

SLAG.

[JHCC]

The knob is a bit too short front-to-back, yes. I see where you were going with this, but it's unfortunately a bit out of proportion.

[Daswulf]

Yeah, those are things that i see the more I look at it. Funny I've been wanting to use a door handle for an ant abdomen for a while and it just isn't the right thing. Goingtoleave this one as is but improve on the next. 

[Pr3ssure]

On 4/18/2019 at 4:33 PM, Chelonian said:

What's a good way to make a wooden hammer handle more grippy?

Burning the handle to turn it black, not enough to actually burn it but it will take off any splinters. It seems to bring out the lines in the grain and makes it easier to hold. After you burn it wipe the black stuff or with a rag and you can use a steel or copper scoff pad to add to it. I did take some sand paper and sand the whole thing down first with 220 grit sand paper. I like it a lot better than a pure sanded finish.

Here is what mine looked like when finished. 

[Daswulf]

Jhcc, hmm.the door knob is actually just screwed on to its shaft that I welded to the armature shaft. If I hate it in the morning there might be some salvaging. But honestly I'm going to sleep on it and see. And no, not literally.

Pr3ssure, I've burned handles like that and they work fine after sanding. Even waxed them warm and it sinks in. Too much wax and it again polishes and is rough on the hands tho. 

[Pr3ssure]

Yeah, I didn't 220 grit, burnt it then scoffed it with a copper pad. I can feel the grain lines, it's neat that it burnt the wood but not the lines as much or something like that. I'm probably gonna do it to all my handled tools.

[ausfire]

Well I like your door knob ant, Das. I have done a few of them , too. We call them honeypot ants because the brass doorknob looks like the big gold abdomen like they have.

Here's one of mine:

 

[jlpservicesinc]

Das,    It's art..  I knew it was an ant right off..  No speculation just "Wow" its an ant..   Super cool.. 

[Rojo Pedro]

Good Friday Split cross and a 3/8” chisel from a coil spring for future project

I saw some honey pot ants once when excavating a swimming pool.  Didnt know we had them in AZ