I have just started to look at your page and stopped on
paper hammers. Most people don't know about them anymore and I
thought that no one was even making them. Do you have a source?
Hi Marilyn,
Some years ago I convinced a Calgary engineer to figure it out (I
had made one with very wide brown paper packing tape, a sponge to
wet the glue and rolled one up myself). His name is Hans Verwies and
he made prototypes for several years which we battle tested on
students, and made various refinements, in size and things like
putting a screw in from the side to lock the handle in place etc.
He makes them in small batches and sells them through Allcraft
supply in New York. No one else has picked them up yet. As you know,
a paper mallet does not harm your metal surface, and saves tons of
times, especially on softer metals. Even a leather hammer leaves
marks in most metals.
Paper mallets were big in the 20's, and apparently came about when
leather was a restricted material in the first world war and so none
was around for jewelers hammers (they used it for gas masks etc).
Paper was used instead, and then as the pewter working craze
increased right the way through the 50's they were used for that.
The two guys from Queens who made them disapeared in the 50's (Tevel
from Allcraft chased this detail down while trying to find out about
them - he once sold an antique one to a woman for $400, and she came
back a week later to thank him saying it had paid for itself that
week.
paper mallets can be had from: (ooh and mention I sent you please)
Allcraft Jewelry Supply Company
http://ganoksin.com/resources/detail-allcraft_jewelry_supply-1702.html
135 West 29th Street
Suite 402
New York, New York 10001
Telephone 1-800-645-7124
Fax 1-800-645-7125
Email allcrafttools@yahoo.com
best
Charles
