Re-handling a pair Japanese hammers

 

My day finished up a little early yesterday, and I knew exactly what I would do with my ‘free’ time. 

I have been building up the courage to remove the Boxwood handle from the larger of these two hammers. As I was preparing for it, I realized I have undone very little of my own work. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not, but did recognize how strange it felt. 

I cut the handle off just below the head - the painful part was over. I carefully drilled three holes from the top down - about 3/4" of the way through. I placed a punch in the middle hole thinking I could just pound the waste out. 

I think the Boxwood actually laughed at me. It did not budge. As much as I tried, I could not break it free. I was secretly happy to be honest - this suggested that I had done a pretty good job of handling it in the first place. I drilled all the way through and then grabbed a piece of Sugar Maple to use as a chisel and bashed the waste out. Even this was tough work, but the Boxwood finally gave.

This gave me a chance to weigh the head - something I did not do when I received it. The larger head weighs 17.2oz or 487.6g and the smaller head weighs 10.2oz or 289g

I have been stressing about what to use for the handles for the last week. I could go traditional and use White Oak or Boxwood again. I have seen fruit woods used as well - or I could use Ebony or Rosewood, but for some reason, those do not really appeal to me. I was taking some photos on the balcony when I noticed two lengths of Lilac that have been sitting out there for years. We have a 100 year old Lilac that was likely planted when our house was built. I have been pruning it over the years and have always saved any good sized usable sections. Lilac is certainly not a traditional wood to use for handles, but it struck me that it has many of the same tactile qualities to Boxwood, so I decided to see if I could coax a handle out of each section. Plus the idea of using something that grew on our yard is pretty darn cool.

There was much carnage. 

Lots of checks, voids and other areas to work around, but there was a graceful natural curve to both sections, and as luck would have it, the more solid sections followed this curve.

I roughed out the blanks very oversized, anticipating that they will shrink and deform a bit as they dry in the shop. I used some old glue on the end grain to help slow down moisture loss and keep end checks at bay. 

I tapered them as well, thinking that getting close to the final shape will help speed up the drying process. This is going to be the toughest part... the waiting.

A few shots of the two hammer heads. 

I am not sure how long I will have to wait before I can start handling them, but I will certainly post when it happens.