Mjolnir (Thor's Hammer)

by matson23

286K80682

Intro: Mjolnir (Thor's Hammer)

A friend of mine is a massive Thor fan boy, he wanted a mjolnir or hammer, but he wanted a fairly good one, he looked on the interweb but the price was over £400! So in steps me with my big mouth " I'll do you one mate, no problem", so that's what I did, true to my word I've just finished his hammer, and here's the instructable to show how I did it, if you so wish to take up the task yourself, hope you enjoy the process, I did, and I'm a bit gutted I don't get to keep it now!

STEP 1: Research

There's a few different designs for this one, after a good scour on my phone for images and sizes I came up with these, not many sizes to go in so I guessed it was time to just get stuck in and see where I go, I had the basics in my noodle so I set about making the basic shape I wanted ( I went with the movie hammer in the end)

STEP 2: Basic Build

So the basic build was to look at the images and try work out sizes, I went with :- 6x6x9 inch for the rough size of the hammer without the handle, that comes later. I used some left over 18mm ply to make a box, with the size above in mind, the ends of the hammer are 1piece 18mm and 1piece 9mm screwed together to make the right size, them bandsawed to the angle to make the tapered ends,

STEP 3: Failed Idea

So the hammer has these engraving on the ends that I wanted to put in, my first thought was to cut the top and bottom slightly smaller, put in a piece and bondo round to make the recess, then use multiput stuff to make the engraving in. Long story short, disaster, the bondo didn't work as you can see. Hmmmmmm.............. Plan b!

STEP 4: Plan B

First things first, the hammers got a "step" on the bottom, so with the aid of a router I cut that out ( bondo'd the bit where the router slipped and I dug in! Problems of playing after being up for hours), so after that scare, bed time. For the plan B ends, I recut the ends and used a dremel tool to mark the rectangles I want cutting out, then painstakingly hand chiseled out the recess, great fun at a silly angle! If like me you keep your chisels really sharp, don't put your hand in the way! ( see picture! Haha) Also centred the hole for the handle to slide into.

STEP 5: Hammer End Detail

So to do the detail, I wanted the pattern to be uniform all the way round, the way I did it was to use a piece of plastic to etch out the pattern as a negative,( having to guess the pattern best I could because I couldn't find a really good pic of it ) then using the multiput to fill in the cut outs I just made in the ends then, press the plastic into it to get the detail

STEP 6: 300 Million Elephants!

Well maybe not, but he wants it heavy, heavy as possible was the quota! So I capped one end on the hammer with more 18mm, then mixed up some concrete, before I set the mix, I installed the handle, by putting it into the bottom hole and screwing it into the top piece, I also screwed a few screws on the inside of the hammer handle so when the concrete sets It'll be solid!

STEP 7: Final Build Kinda........

Right, concreted gone off, it's bloody heavy, time to sand, sand, sand again and prime!

STEP 8: Slap It Together

Time to fix it all together,add a few details in the hammer and start with the bondo and sanding to get it ready for paint

STEP 9: Paint

Ok so this was a challenge, make wood metal! The basic plan was and went like this:- Prime. Sand. Prime. Sand. Hammeright silver. Sand. Spray silver x9 coats, sand inbetween, working my way down (up) the grains of sandpaper, ending on 400 grit

STEP 10: Paint Detail

After sanding my fingerprints to the bone and painting the hammer so much I know see silver paint in my sleep, it's the fun bit! Detail! --Black paint, 2 brushes ( one good, one to "pat" the paint in) and a rag to wipe and smudge, -- Sure is getting there!

STEP 11: The Handle

So after experimenting with the movie style handle, it wasn't gonna work, I could do it but the silver inlays and the leather on top would be to fragile, so plan b (again) old style wrap, -- I got an old leather jacket from a charity shop, cut that sucker up and set to work wrapping the handle, all the while using a contact adhesive to help stick it all together, not many pictures of this process sorry, it was late, I was on a roll, time moved on etc etc, before I knew it, I was done!

STEP 12: And Relax

So after waking in a daze and remembering my late night wrapping, I was quite happy with it, time to go to work, but first I gave the hammer a few coats of clear spray satin varnish! Just to seal it, and where done! -- my friend is over the moon with the hammer, the plan is to get up early Saturday morning, dig a bit if a hole in the yard and make it look like it fell to earth, then go wake his little boy ( also massive Thor fan!) and be a fantastic dad! I hope his boy loves it! , ( that said, it is heavy and not a toy, it's for display but this is a good way to get him excited and believe! Harmless fun! -- So that's the mjolnir, or Thor's hammer, or hammer of the gods, thank you so much for looking, if you liked it please feel free in check out my other instructables, Peace out! X

STEP 13: I Best Tidy Up!

Time to tidy! --------------- and my friend sent me this shot of it ready for his son, he loved it! :)

74 Comments

LaurenP81 5 years ago

I really love this, thank you for making an awesome and detailed version of the mjolnir. I've been looking for a way to do Sufficiently Advanced's thumbprint scanner version but I really didn't want some cheap plastic toy to be the exterior. This is great!

woodwoorks and more 9 years ago

Great job, I just happen to b making one for a fellow tour lover here in Harlan KY. I'm a retired army ranger of 20yrs, and always loved woodworking, I have now worked myself up to becoming a master craftsman and master wood turner, luv ur site,I will post a pic one dun, mine is s solid cherry woods with a solid PC of walnut inside 6x6x9, to make the weight, didn't want to heavy so that's why I didn't use concrete like urs. Cya ltr, Mike of woodworks and more...

matson23 9 years ago

Hey Mike! That sounds awesome, I'm no master that's for sure, but by the sounds of your skill level, your hammer is going to be beautiful! Looking forward to seeing the pictures when your done!

jon12366 9 years ago

hey what was the total weight for that im curious. the reason why is because i plan on making mine out of metal in my machining class and what im thinking is a block of aluminum with some metal plates for the hammer heads and then paint it to even out the color but if i knew your hammers weight i could guess better at how much mine might wiegh because i actually want to use this hammer

matson23 9 years ago

I think it was about 16lbs just over a stone in weight all in all.

jon12366 9 years ago

oh ok now for your dimensions for the 6X6X9 was that just for your box or for the entire length because i tried those dimensions with some notebook paper and it looks like i got the all spark from transformers

Crafted298 9 years ago

Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

themightykevin 10 years ago

amazing ,allot of blood sweat and tears put into that, i might try it myself

jarikcbol 10 years ago

Awesome build! reminds me of the decorative battle mace I built a friend of mine out of a block of cedar. Its all one piece, (save the rivets, which are plugs) thanks to careful work with the table saw and chisels.

matson23 10 years ago

That sir is beautiful! And all one piece! Wow! Awesome work!

And thank you for the kind words!

b-irwin 10 years ago

Hey, nice job. I'm building my own hammer and I managed to cut myself with my chisel in the exact same place. Spooky huh?

matson23 10 years ago

Haha that is spooky! It must be the way if the hammer, as someone else wrote on here, it's not a proper build till you've bled! So, welcome to the team! :)

azacks 10 years ago

Dude that is absolutely amazing. Already got a couple of mates of mine who do wood working on the project. If you don't mind me asking would it be possible for you to give some more precise measurements, the pattern used for the corners, and what sort out paints used. Could you also give me an idea of how long the entire project took to do end to end. MAny thanks, Adam

matson23 10 years ago

Hello!
Right well this one was a while ago mate so I'm having to think here haha
The corners, as in the extra bits on the ends of the main hammer body they where cut at a 35 degree angle I think and 1/4 inch all round smaller than the main hammer, ( then the corners of that where hand sanded to Match the 33)
Paints, I used a standard gray primer I think then I sprayed it with a dull silver about 6-8 times but it didn't look right so I ended up using a paint for metal called hammeright ( smooth silver), I did 2 coats of that then I used a black household gloss ( satin) and painted that on then used a rag while it was still wet to take most of the black off again, it makes the silver more dull and metal like,
As for time is was a commissioned piece so I work on it as quickly as possible, I think every night for 2 weeks so about 35-45 hrs in total, but that's a guess!
I hope this helps you out, good luck and send a pic when your done!! :)

azacks 10 years ago

Hey mate.
Thanks for the response. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks again.
Adam

matson23 10 years ago

Hello, all in all about £20, had a lot of the stuff to make it already, the wood was free from work, the paint and sprays I had already, the biggest cost was the leather jacket for a charity shop at £9 I think.

Numbuh1Nerd 10 years ago

How much did it cost you to make this?
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