Tag: hammer

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Falk Hammer Sketch

I did this one more than a week ago but forgot to post it! It’s the sketch version of one of the photographs I took of the Falk Hammer last year.

As mentioned in the previous post, this was my dad’s old hammer, which was forged at Falk Corporation, where he worked. It’s a nice hammer. I like it.

Yet another digital sketch done with an Apple Pencil on an iPad using Procreate. (And yes, this might make a really nice three-color relief print.)

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Falk Hammer

You may remember the Falk Corporation (they were a “good name industry” and part of what made Milwaukee the “machine shop of the world” many years ago.) My father (and my grandfather) also worked there. Anyway, I’ve got this hammer, see…

I must have got this from my dad’s old workshop after he passed away, and it was sitting in my basement in a state of disrepair for many years. Sometimes it’s just difficult to deal with old things, but we can’t just dispose of them, because of sentiment and feelings and memories…

So the handle and head sat around for years untouched, until I decided to do something. I took the head and polished it up on the buffing wheel (which also once belonged to my father) and then I sanded the handle down to bare wood and coated it in shellac to give it a nice surface and shine.

Finally, I cut a wedge of wood and used the band saw (also one of my dad’s old tools to clear out the old wedge so I could pound in the new one. With that, the hammer was cleaned up, repaired, and ready for use.

And it’s sort of beautiful, but not too beautiful to use. It’s a tool, and tools should be used. I honestly don’t know if my father ever used it, though I imagine it did see some use years ago. It’s probably 40 years old or more… maybe 50? I don’t know. Tools well care for can last a long time.

I hope one of my children keeps this hammer after I’m gone. They could use it, or display it, or just leave it in the basement for years, untouched…

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Craft Hammers

Craft Hammer

I made a few Baltic Birch hammers (laser etched and laser cut) as a follow-up to my CRAFT Screwdriver (which was just vinyl cut.)

Craft Hammer

Here’s the design and mock-up. I use Inkscape for the design process, and occasionally create the mock-up images using Photoshop.

Craft Hammer

This hammer is not the size of a normal hammer. It’s over 400mm long, which (being nearly 16 inches) is big. Why such a big hammer? Because, reasons…

Craft Hammer

Actually, this specific hammer was given to Frankie Flood, who has had a huge influence on my work the past few years. Since he’s leaving Milwaukee, I wanted to give him something that would be suitable for hanging on the wall in his new studio.

Craft Hammer

HAMMERS!!!

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Wood/Metal Hammers

Wood/Metal Hammers

While you may be familiar with my hammer-related work, I typically lean towards different materials, such as concrete, or paper, pixels, and plastic, or perhaps ice? And yes, of course wood…

This time I returned to wood, but decided to give it a metal look. The above is a 12″x12″ sheet of wood with 1/8″ laser-cut hammers attached to it.

Screen Printed Hammers

The artwork came from Kathy who created it for a screen printing demo I did at Milwaukee Makerspace a while back. We made a vinyl cut stencil for the screen and then I showed people how to print it on a shirt.

Wood/Metal Hammers

I’ve used metallic paint before on wood, but I think a few different colors mixed together turned out well. I tried to keep things rough looking and was a bit loose and crazy with the paint.

Wood/Metal Hammers

Splotches were intentional, of course… I may try a few more experiments with metallic spray paint on wood. I think it gives a good look. I’m wondering if I can layer polyurethane or another sealer on top if it as well.

Wood/Metal Hammers

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The Concrete Hammer

Concrete Hammer

It’s been nearly a year since I introduced The Ice Hammer to the world, and yes, I’ve been accused of having an obsession with hammers, but I swear this time it’s (mostly) a coincidence.

The gang at BBCM are doing a MakeShift event this week titled Concrete Mixer, which is an adults-only thing at the children’s museum, and the topic is concrete. Instead of just being jealous of what the BAM folks have been up to with casting concrete in foldable paper forms and digging into the concrete/art connection, I decided to get in on the fun as well. John’s been busy casting concrete too, and he gave me a can of concrete to play with.

So how could I not use the vacuum formed hammer mold I made at a previous MakeShift event to create a concrete hammer?

Concrete Hammer in mold

I’ve been traveling a lot for work, and I knew that concrete takes some time to set and harden, so I was in a rush to mix it up and get it into the mold before I left town. I frantically mixed and scooped the concrete into the mold at about 10pm before rushing off to bed for an early morning flight.

Concrete Hammer (Head)

Air bubbles and lumps? I’m sure there’s a few… But the important part was that I got it ready to sit around and dry for a week.

Concrete Hammer

When I got back I took a look at the surface and it looked pretty solid, but I still didn’t trust it was fully set, so I let it sit for another day. Getting it out of the mold proved a bit tricky. I had taped up the cracks in the mold that occurred the last time I made an ice hammer, and that made it a bit more stiff. I did manage to get it out, but I ended up destroying the mold. No more ice (or concrete) hammers!

Hammer Mold

Even though it’s concrete, I’m pretty sure one good swing would destroy it. For now I’m just going to consider it an art object, and not a fully functional hammering device.

hammer-head

If you’re available Thursday, February 4th, 2016 and want to learn more about working with concrete, plan on attending MakeShift. Tickets are $10 and you can get them online. (I hear there will also be “spiked milkshakes” and other refreshments.)