If it Doesn’t Have Character, Pound Some into It

 I just picked up several old hammers at a garage sale this weekend. One is a tack hammer and the other two I forgot what they are, but I don’t care, they have wooden handles and metal heads so that’s all that matters to me.

Keith Lo Bue Grinding a Hammer Head

I was inspired to collect hammers by my teacher Sabra Sowell who has a huge box of them in her studio. If she acquires one that is too pristine, she gives it two her two boys to take outside and bang on the ground until they pound some character into it.

 It’s refreshing to just buy an old beat up hammer and give it a new life and a new purpose. To modify the hammer heads, you can just grind them down with a grinding tool on a dremel or a drill. You can see Keith Lo Bue here demonstrating to our class at Adorn Me in Houston last year. He is grinding a head to make custom texture. Even if you don’t need a texturing hammer, its fun to do this just to make all those sparks fly!

Maybe that’s what we need these days, to pound some character into all of the slick stuff we have around our homes. (hummm, now that’s an idea, ugh oh!)