If I Had A Hammer

   I used to listen to a lot more music in my youth then I do today.   I just seemed to have enjoyed it more back then.   I suppose it has something to do with the times.   There I was - driving down that two lane highway with my "59" ford with my AM radio station blasting away.    I know that I am going to date myself here (again), but back in the nineteen sixties music had a life of its own.    Today, once in awhile,  I find a station that still plays a little bit of the sixties music and I have to say that I still enjoy listening to that stuff.
   I think it was back around 1963 that a group called "Peter, Paul, and Mary" were pretty popular.    It was this week's project that made me reflect on a song they sung back then called "If I had a Hammer".   You can listen to it on You Tube.  (Careful.  A warning to you as you might get drawn back to the days when music was real, had a story to tell, and a beat that would linger in your mind for a long time. ) 

   I had seen this project done before and in different ways.  With the summer activities that keep everyone busy, I myself have found that I am spending less time in the shop and more time goofing off.  So this was an easy - short - thing to do and I felt it will be something that I will actually use often.  It is suppose to end up being a wooden mallet.  One that you can use to hammer on joints or plugs and hopefully not leave marks or dents on the wood.

     I started out by making a template out of 1/4 inch hard board.    Once I had the handle designed to what I wanted it to look like and felt that it would be comfortable to hold, I traced it on some hard oak wood.    I like the idea of creating a template because I have a feeling that I may make a few more of these in the future.
(Who knows.   It could be a Christmas present for the wife...?  Maybe not.)

    I glued all the pieces together.    Once the glue dried I trimmed the face edges of the hammer to make them smooth.  I sanded and sanded to get it all looking nice.   (Love running that sander... Ugh.)

    Once I had it pretty well sanded I rubbed some bee's wax all over the handle and mallet head.

Carter - 11 years old.   Sleeve rolled up so
you can see that bicep. 

       When ever the grandkids come for a visit I try to explain that Grandpa's shop is off limits.   And for the most part they all try to respect that.  At least the girls do anyway.   The grandsons maybe push it just a little.  I find some of my lumber has been dragged out to make a race car ramp or a fort or something.   Some of my wooden dowels become swords to fight those imaginary battles that one has to conquer at that early age.   So I shouldn't have been too surprised when I saw that my unfinished wooden mallet was outside being thrown around.      You see, it was explained to me that there was this "God of Thunder"  Thor who had this hammer that he used as a weapon.    I don't know much more than this, but I think I got the picture.
   There really is no damage done and I like to see their creative nature come through so no big deal.  But grandpa being grandpa had to take the oak hammer away and hide it in the shop for the balance of the visit.

   My final task was to wrap the handle with some kind of twine or something.   Now this is where it gets a little kinky.   The only line that I had on hand was some pink chalk line.  So that is what I used.  (I used pink string on the "Thor" hammer?  What can I say...)   I have a feeling that even with a half dead flashlight on a dark stormy night I should be able to find my bright pink mallet with no problem.

   I just have to close this with the fact that I have too many hammers laying around.    The picture above is only a sampling of a few of them.    Still I am thinking of making a few more wooden mallets some day.   (They must have a name for a disease like that.)   Oh well!   Some people collect guns, some collect coins, and some collect stamps.   I collect hammers.    I guess when they have my estate sale, there will be a lot of hammers to auction off.
   In the mean time I can't get those 60's musical lyrics out of my head.   I think it is time to put a Peter, Paul, and Mary cassette on to listen to.     Gotta go.