Custom Air Hockey Hammer
A friend plays a lot of air hockey, so I thought it would be cool for him to have a custom air hockey hammer (that's what they call the thing you hit the puck with, I thought it was a paddle. Live and learn, eh?) Like any turning project this started with selecting the stock, so I picked through my scrap pile and found a bunch of old chunks of black walnut. I squared them up and sanded the faces flat (too small to put through the planer). Then I glued and clamped the stock . . . The next day I squared up the stock and cut it into an octagon for turning on the bandsaw. I love turning wood!!! Here's the stock after coming off the lathe Now the first coat of varnish Then I customized it with a stylized "J" and added multiple coats of varnish to protect the wood from the repeated impact of air hockey. Nothing left to do, but put some felt on the bottom and take it to the table!