...and now for something completely different...

This spring I've been working on our workshop - drywall, paint, and building workbenches.  I am not a handy fellow, so it's been a comedy of errors the whole way.  Any time not spent on drawing/MWMag has been spent in the workshop for the last couple months.

So as soon as MWMag went live on kickstarter, I started a new thing in the workshop.  I've always wanted a 1950's-working-man's version of Mjolnir (yes, really).  I've seen so many amazing builds made from EVA foam, and i had never worked with it myself.  There we go: new project!

I decided to make the entire thing outta foam...this is basically one huge block of it.  Used some styrene tube I had leftover for interior support.  Photo above is the pieces before assembly.  The striking surfaces, the main block (2 pieces), and the handle are all separate.  Handle has styrene rod running the length of it, and the foam of the handle continues into the main block.

Cut channels into the two halves of the main block with a dremel, then packed in some apoxysculpt (air-cure putty/sculpting material.  Cures solid, great stuff) before final glue.  Added cross-supports to the styrene rod...this combined with the apoxysculpt means the handle will not be moving inside that foam block, either side-to-side or to fall out.  What I didn't plan well was the handle support rod....the styrene is too flexible, and there's space inside for it to move.  Makes the whole thing wobbly.

Basic assembly - handle secured, striking surfaces and main block permanently attached.  As with so many of my projects, this is all an experiment, and there isn't a single angle on this that is correct.  But it has the right sort of look, so I'm still pleased.  As a bonus, I now understand how to correctly level and square my hand-me-down bandsaw.  Viva la progress,

I added a collar ring at the handle/main block juncture, added a handle extension on the top of the block, and heat-pressed a manufacturing logo on the side.  Had a custom rubber stamp made of my design, worked out...okay.  I'll be changing some things if'n I do this again, but it's great for a first attempt.

"Brokkr & Sindri MFG" being the foundry of the two dwarves who made mjolnir, naturally.  Please excuse the scorchmarks...heating this large an area was a bit of a challenge.

Two light coats of watered-down pva glue followed by two heavier/thicker coats, followed by 320-grit sanding, followed by specific planes getting multiple heavier coats to fill gaps (where the 1/2 inch-thick layers of foam began to separate from heat), and here we are.  Have some more planes to recoat, then will follow with another fine sanding, cleaning, then a few layers of plasti-dip and paint.