Hammered

My good friend and Silver jewelry artist, Lynne Merchant has used a specialized hammer like the one below, designed in France, as one of her primary tools of her craft.  They are no longer available here in the US.  Lynne is also a renound teacher of silver jewelry making.  In the past she was able to provide these hammers for sale to her students.  To continue to do so, she found a machinest who was willing to recreate the hardened steel hammer heads....but she needed someone to reproduce handles for them.

She asked me if I would be able to do it.  Although I had never turned a stick of wood in my career, I did own a lathe that I purchased 10 years ago, thiking that one day it might come in handy.

I agreed to give it a try for her.  Below are photos of the results.  It shows (7) of (14) handles that I turned and assembled for Lynne.  It's a ton of fun.....And they are being bought up as fast as I can turn them out. 

Woods, L to R:  Cocobolo, Bacote, Mahogany