Bursting

Found a few odds and ends of rust over the weekend, but this ain't them. The odds truly are odds, but they're waiting for the last bit of renovation to be finished before I dazzle you all with the before and after shots - or maybe just convince you that there must be much easier ways to scratch a tool itch...

No, this is an Exeter pattern hammer I've had skulling about waiting for a handle for "a while". Bit of a first, this. I've never so much as rehandled a hammer with a commercially made handle, never mind doing it from scratch.


It's far from perfect but it is tight and should last a few years. The Exeter pattern dropped off the radar a few years ago, leaving the Warrington pattern cross pein or nowt, but I've wanted one for a while. Well it seems more apt, being in the West Country and all. Pretty rough example, to be honest, and the pein is far from fine - in fact I had to file off a certain amount of mushrooming, which probably accounts for that. Might have to have a bit more of a go at it with the file, but I'll see how it goes. The handle is Ash shaped with Stanley #53, Mujingfang shave, scraper and the head fitted using a file. The Mujingfang is most excellent and a total bargain considering what piles of dross you can get for similar money.

Hmm, looking at it again I'm not so sure I won't have another go at that handle. It's a bit agricultural at the moment...


I happened to cast an eye at "my" eucalyptus while taking a breather between workshop boilings, only to find it busy bursting out of its bark again. I blogged about it some time ago here, but this time I actually got round to taking a picture of the darn thing. Pretty amazing, I reckon. Just about the closest you can get to seeing a tree actually growing!