A hammer called Thor

I have mentioned elsewhere about using a copper faced hammer for creating textured surfaces on some of my jewellery pieces.

A lot of jewellery makers have never come across such a thing, which is because they are not generally used for that purpose. Engineers will be familiar with this kind of hammer. Hammers like this are designed mainly for assembling machined metal components of machinery without causing damage to them.The hammer faces are therefore softer than the component you are strike with it.For example you might want to tap on the threaded end of a bolt without damaging the thread, or tap on an aluminium casting. I don't know all the ins and outs of what face is best for which purpose, eg copper, rawhide,aluminium, plastic etc My old hammer was purchased second hand form a recycling shop for next to nothing and has obviously had a pretty busy life. It's only when you see a photo of a brand new one that you realize just how worn this one is.

Thor hammers and mallets The soft faces are replaceable, but I wouldn't want to do that.

I use it as a quick and easy way to texturise brass or copper sheet.It has a very naturally random texture already and if I strike carefully and a bit randomly and turn the metal around a few times it can produce some awesome texture. I even use the rawhide face as well at times.

The Heart was mainly hammered with a mini home made ball pein hammer, you take a ball bearing and weld it onto an old hammer...but that's a whole other story.