Handcarved Black Walnut Hammers for Hammered Dulcimer

Description

I am here offering a pair of handcarved
Black Walnut Hammers for your Hammered Dulcimer
.  I carved these hammers in September of 2022.
They are some of the last hammers I have been able to carve from the branches of a much-loved tree that grew nearby in Brownfield, Maine.  The tree survived a great fire in 1947 that destroyed most of the town and vicinity, but finally died of old age around 20 years ago.  The homeowner saved many of the branches and gifted me with some of them after she learned what I planned to make out of them. A very nice person, indeed.
These hammers are about
8 1/8 inches
long and pretty well matched.  There are always small differences when handcarving individual hammers, but these are a very well-matched pair of jammers.  They are well-balanced at a point just in front of the grip where they begin to thin out to form the stem. The coloring ranges from light sapwood tan to very dark heartwood, with grain patterns that vary in direction.  A very pretty pair of Walnut Hammers.  They both have about the same proportion of dark and light coloring. With my traditional 3D grips, they do not have to be held tightly to play even the fastest tunes.  Nor does there have to be much wrist movement - shifting the pressure of thumb and one or two fingers makes the striking motion.
As usual, I do not glue on any dampening leathers, but will include several pair of matched leathers to attach if and when desired.  They are sanded and oiled with Linseed oil to bring out the grain and finished with a hand-rubbed layer of paste wax.  Please remember to sand the striking surfaces when attempting to glue on any dampeners.
These hammers are just a bit lighter and finer than anything else I have made this year. They should be purchased by someone with smallish hands who wishes to get the most texture out of their instrument - at a concert or a workshop, for instance. These Black Walnut hammers weigh only 0.6 oz. I have stronger, heavier hammers for those of you who play at jams and dances. Be patient - they are coming online soon.
As usual, I guarantee these hammers for one year against breakage while playing or practicing.  If they break while being misused, stepped on or mishandled, that is your own affair.  If one fails while playing, pay to ship
both of them
back so I can duplicate the broken one from the surviving one.  I will make a new one as fast as I can, then pay to ship both of them back to you.  After offing this for years without any takers, I did replace a broken hammer last year, with a favorable outcome for the buyer.
I wish you Good Luck on your search for good hammers, but I know that you will not find a better pair of quality hammers here on eBay than a pair of wajutipe78 classic design hammers like these.  I have experienced many types, sizes, shapes and styles of Hammered Dulcimer Hammers over the years.  Truthfully, they all made great music.  It is the nature of the instrument that it will produce beautiful music regardless of the hammer.  BUT, if you read my
feedback
history over the years, you will find that my hammers have voices of their own that they add to the quality of the sound.  Each style, each species, each head-shape and head-size adds its own voice to the tune.  Last year I had a surprising number of repeat buyers that continually bought more because of what the hammers added to the quality of their music.  I have been carving hammers since 1981, and continually trying new things.
I will be offering more hammers in the near future, so come back often to find even more choices in the weeks to come.
W.