We recently started making hammer handles for the hammer heads that we will create when the forge is totally built. We have been using pieces of hickory that arlos father had already stocked. Using a drawknife and bandsaw we roughed out the shape of the handles to match out hands and our preferences. I then began to experiment with a new technique of wood finishing that I had been taught awhile ago but have not been able to practice. The technique entails charing the surface of your wood and then sanding it down. I repeated this process, burning and sanding and burning and sanding, each time moving up to a higher grit sandpaper until I reached the desired smoothness and color. This process of experimentation proved surprisingly successful and I really enjoyed being able to experiment with a somewhat out of the ordinary wood craft technique.