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Well, for reasons undisclosed I was feeling a little puny. So Kitty sez, why don't you go work on something you want to keep? I already have about 87 projects going, didn't really want to start a new major, but there on the bench was a hammer head. Not Just Any Head!!! Remember last fall when Tony found that
drop dead killer box of silversmiths' hammers and stakes and all?
There was a certain one in there that froze my blood at first
sight. Ghazaaaaaak, cardiac arrest! Got the head, but it had to wait. I have hardly started on my new shave horse! And behind on many other jobs too. But like I said, needed a quick cheer up project (I'm told by the indisputable expert to my immediate left most times.) I had some hickory stock for once! Scored some cheap handles a while back and one was big enough. Only it had a hang hole predrilled it in. Scratch that, it had a grand chasm hole in it. 7/16" - you could toss a cat through it! What to do??? Well I thought about filling the hole with ebony. Might be ok. Or on the other hand, why would you have an ebony dot on each side?? Pearl and bone were both way too light in color against hickory, and besides I couldn't figure out an excuse for it from a design view. So, in the end, I used a homemade dowel and drilled out the ends when the glue had set. Filled the remaining holes with plenty of deep true blue pearl auto paint, and inlaid tiny cutouts of Spanish galleons in a ring. Put Spanish ships into the handle of a French shoemaker's pattern hammer. Going to be some head scratching over this one day. :-) I decided to retain the patina on the head and artificially age the handle to match. Used a secret ingredient I'm not ready to divulge yet, heh heh, I almost ground the head to mirror smooth evenness instead, and high polished the handle too. Could have. But I've never seen another head of this exact pattern.
yours, Scotty
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