WIP: Thrain's Dwarven War Hammer (from Hobbit) - More handle work

Re: WIP: Thrain's Dwarven War Hammer from the Hobbit

I finally started to put some of the pieces together last evening. I started with the pummel. I drilled a 1/4" diameter hole through each of the pieces (except the very bottom piece, obviously). And then glued each piece onto a wooden dowel to keep everything square and well-connected.
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I still need to puddy the seams and add some trim, but I feel like it's getting close!

I also spent some more time with my mitter-box and hand-saw... I first cut out my third part of the war hammer's head.
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...and then the fourth (and last piece).
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But as you can tell, that still leaves the 'face' of the hammer without the carved 'x' in it from the art...
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To fix this I used a hand-router and some old-fashion sanding blocks to complete the shape.
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Now I'll need to clean up the edges and get these four parts glued together.

At that point, I will need to decide on whether I should carve/burn the detail lines on the correct pieces BEFORE I attach all the hammer-head parts, or AFTER I attach all the parts. I'm leaning toward BEFORE I glue them all together... And that brings up another sad fact -- I've never really done any wood-burning, but that seems like the VERY best/easiest way to create the detail/decorative lines on the hammer.

Choices:


  • Router/dremels have all been ruled out due to the VERY delicate nature of the lines (and my very low skill level at this sort of thing)
  • Chiseling them by hand will take forever and since their very thin lines, I don't trust my skill level at that either.
  • Wood burning... It would be fast, and since I'm painting the whole thing I don't have to work about discoloration.
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So... thoughts?
 
Re: WIP: Thrain's Dwarven War Hammer (from Hobbit) - Need Advice!

Could you just sculpt them into the putty layer? They don't look very deep.
 
Re: WIP: Thrain's Dwarven War Hammer (from Hobbit) - Need Advice!

Wood burning sounds good, maybe try etching them? Like with the corner of a hack saw blade?
 
Re: WIP: Thrain's Dwarven War Hammer (from Hobbit) - Need Advice!

Wood burning sounds good, maybe try etching them? Like with the corner of a hack saw blade?

I was thinking about a dremel cutting wheel or saw blade, but I'm concerned about keeping the depth the same. I figured wood burning might provide the most even 'trench'... I might do some testing and see what works.
 
Re: WIP: Thrain's Dwarven War Hammer (from Hobbit) - Need Advice!

A bit of progress on the war hammer tonight...

I had started with this simple assembly (re-enforced with a wooden dowel through the middle).
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I hit this with some of my bondo...
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And then did a little sanding...
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At this point I've been delaying two parts I didn't want to tackle... #1 was those damn engraving lines and #2 was sixteen more studs for the top of the handle.

#1 is still too scary for me, so worked on #2 this evening... I started by cutting out 16 square pieces of the 1/32" thick veneer material.
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Then I would take each of the 16 squares and cut out two slots for the prongs of the studs to fit through. I'd also have to carve out a place in the handle-piece for the stud prongs to go into as the they would NEVER go in straight without pre-cut holes to go into.
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After all that work, the first two sides were pretty easy... after that I had to balance the two sides of this piece on narrow boards with a space between them (since there would be a row of studs facing the table - which is not convenient when you're trying to hammer studs into the opposite side of the wood).
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Finally, after finishing up all four sides and 16 studs, I drilled some holes for another wooden dowel re-enforcing rod and glued the top part of the handle onto the lower part of the handle.
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It looks good... but now I guess I'm gonna have to buckle down and figure out that etching, huh? :(
 
My grandfather was really awesome at woodworking; it's a skill/talent I wish I'd have picked up from him. So when I see something like this, I just have to give a little squee! I love the detail you're putting into this, and all the hard work. Really amazing so far! Sanding and painting and such on those angles is going to be a royal pain, but the end result is definitely going to be worth it!
 
Actually, Halloween costumes for the kids has me completely occupied right now! I'm doing one pretty complex costume and a couple other moderately complex ones. The littlest one (3yr old) now want's to be 'pink batman', so I'll have that one to do as well. Time is certainly NOT my friend.

Oh, the joys of having four kids! :D
 
Hi,

what are the dimensions you assumed for your build?
I´d really like to try building this impressive weapon, but i´m not sure about the size. Did you make it "dwarf-size" or did you scale it for your size?

Greetings from germany, Gericke
 
I scaled it by comparing it to Thrain (in the screen caps), and then calculating its size to me. So it should be as large to me as it is to Thrain.

And while I'm a bit short, it's definitely not Dwarven size. :)

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
I'm stuck at the engraved line work. I'm actively looking for someone who does wood burning. I think that would give me the best final look.

I'd pay them, of course. I just need to find someone willing to do the work. :)

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
Some more pictures for reference from the last artbook:

K1600_thrain 1.JPGK1600_thrain 2.JPG

The sword in the second picture belongs to Thror, it was just in the way while scanning. Hope this helps.
 
Finally just dove in and started creating the detail lines with a modified wood-burning tip. I started by taking a standard tip and grinding it down to the exact size I wanted the details lines to be. Then I cranked up the heat and did a bunch of testing. After I was 'reasonably' sure I won't destroy my hard work, I started hand-wood-burning the detail lines.

Here's a look at what that looks like...

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I'm a bit afraid that the carved lines are too shallow, but with the right paint job it will probably work. ...hey, it's long over due progress, right?! :$
 

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Looks extremely sharp! Did you use a template to guide the tip? Just wondering if the grain of the wood causes the tip to wander.
 
Looks extremely sharp! Did you use a template to guide the tip? Just wondering if the grain of the wood causes the tip to wander.

Thanks!

No template. I just drew the lines on the wood in pencil and then slowly moved the wood-burner along the lines. To get the depth (less than an 1/8") I had to move it VERY slowly, so that helped.
 
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