I went to Japan like a month ago and I had a chance to hop around some traditional woodworking stores. One of the store was called Inoue Hamono in Tokyo and the guy working there was a really nice guy.
After a long enough conversation to make my wife feels hungry, I decided to buy a hand forged hammer head and then he also kindly explained me a unique feature, how his dad makes a handle for a hammer. It was so cool.
Anyways, I like a skinny handle for a hammer so I didn't follow it but I included the unique feature from his dad. Basically, a standard Japanese hammer head has a flat face on one end and round face on the other end and what his dad does is, one side of the handle has a flat surface and when it's up, you can use the flat face of the hammer head.
I saw him speak good English when he spoke with other customers (I spoke with him in Japanese!!) so if you are interested in Japanese tools, this Inoue Hamono place was amazing.
Well, this is just a handle and some people may say they don't have time for it but I tried to measure the angle and stuff to fabricate the handle to improve my fabrication quality for future projects...
Thanks, Pottz! I didn't take good pictures as there were a few customers in a small space. They have mostly their brand tools/cutting irons in the store.
That looks like a really cool place. You should move to Minnesota and open a traditional Japanese woodworking store just like it so I can visit with out the plane ride 😂
Thank you, Tom! It's a relatively small hammer so that thin handle is good enough:)
Mos, If you are not familiar with the subway systemin Tokyo, it's not easy to get to the store but I saw 3 different non Japanese customer groups while I was there for 30 mins. So.... you should host them in MN to do a pop up store for a week. I'm sure lots people will come and you don't have to take a flight to visit their store, haha!
Thank you, Lazyman, oh this store is a small one but another one called Sagami Daiku Dougu Kan was a big and I really spent hours there, haha. The good thing is, people from those stores are friendly and share their knowledge with you so you never get bored.
Thank you Steve! Corelz, I don't know if they are completely hand made but I think mostly, yes. FYI, this type of stores usually order customized irons and bases from a well known blacksmith and a maker of wooden bases to sell as tools under their brand.
