Handcarved Curly Maple Hammers for Hammered Dulcimer

Description

I offer a single pair of
Handcarved Curly Maple Hammers for your Hammered Dulcimer.
I made these hammers recently from chunks of firewood from my woodpile.  They are 8 3/8" long, and weigh 0.6 oz all together.  One is extremely well-figured throughout it's length, and the other is a bit less figured.
I roughed out one of the hammers last year, or perhaps even longer ago.  I don't remember why I didn't finish it or make it's sister at that time, but I recently found adequate figured wood to make the second hammer from.
I have often thought that Curly figuring in wood is simply the way our brain interprets subtle differences in grain caused by changes in how the cells are built, packed and organized when the new wood substrate is being put together.  Perhaps it is a response to environmental forces acting upon the growing tree in a particular manner, a response that only a few trees possess the gene for.
It very closely resembles naturally curly, very tight, closely repeating curly hair-the type that resembles a washboard.  A type I find very attractive, especially in long hair.
Yet,  curly figures in wood are definitely something of substance because they do result in wood grain that is weaker, that is less strong than it would otherwise be.  I know this is true because I have broken and wasted more hammers that have figured grain than anything else.  If curly wood were truly beneficial to the tree, then it would be the dominant wood around.
These hammers, as usual, are finished with a coat of Linseed oil followed by a hand-rubbed paste wax shine.
The striking surfaces will not be covered with leather, but I will add several pair of leather strips of varying thickness to choose from if and when you desire to add some.
There are no other hammers in the world just like these. Every hammer I carve is an individual, as well as mated to another individual to form as close-matched a pair as a woodcarver can get.  As a hand-carved pair, they will have subtle differences between them.. They each still have little marks left behind by rasps and coping saws to prove it.  No electric power, no laser-guided routers.
Good luck on your search for good Hammers, but you really cannot do better- either in performance or in price - than what I offer here.
W.
PS:. I am not offering my usual guarantee with these hammers because whomever buys at BIN price or wins the auction will receive a third hammer as well.