It seems that in the world of hammered dulcimers my hammers are unique. So I've finally decided to make them available on a more regular basis. I really only make one style of hammer, but I do offer it in a variety of woods. The various woods will make a difference in the weight of the hammer and in turn affects the balance. The heavier woods like ebony tend to be more nose heavy in the balance, but many players prefer that as it takes less effort to to really strike the strings hard and you get more return bounce from the hammers as well.

The price breakdown reflects several factors. First, the hammers are quite time consuming to make, (see my page on making hammers the way I do them) and secondly the type of woods used. The harder woods are more difficult to work with and are generally more expensive to buy as well.

The prices are: $50.00 for light and medium weight hammers and woods that are more common.

Maple, Beech, Cherry, Chakte Kok, Padouk and Imbuya

$75.00 for the heavy and difficult to find woods.

Ebony, Katalox or Ziricote

I take paypal, personal checks or money orders. Shipping cost will be based on your location and be the actual cost of sending the hammers.

All prices will be in US dollars.

I'm posting examples of hammers in the different woods that I have available at the moment and will add what the name of the wood and general weight, (light, medium or heavy) after each hammer. You need to bear in mind that the colour of the hammers can vary quite a bit even in one piece of wood and some colours change over time as they are exposed to sunlight. Also effects like curly maple are not always consistent or as intense in every hammer.

That said here is a good example of those colour variations

this is Imbuya, a very light weight wood and generally are rich dark brown in colour, but if you get into the heart wood it can be more of a golden yellow like this

This pair of Imbuya hammers came out of the same board that the previous hammers were cut from.

Ebony, a very hard wood, sometimes has flecks of white in it.

Beech, a light wood close to maple in colour, but a little more white, and often has small dark flecks or lines. Can sometimes have some curl in the grain.

My most sought after hammers, Curly maple, a fairly light weight but good and hard

Cherry, another favorite, a nice weight about the same as maple, maybe a bit heavier and that nice light brown colour.

This is Ziricote, a substitute for ebony, it's also heavy like ebony but has more variation in colour than ebony

Chakte Kok, a South American wood deep red in colour and similar to maple in weight. This is one of those woods that will change in colour over time and become more golden brown.

Katalox, another Southern American hard wood, sometimes known as the Mexican ebony as it has the same density and weight. The board that I have is all heart wood and so is light in colour but has a lot of curl and spalting as seen in this picture. Normally Katalox is quite dark sort of a rosewood colour

Padouk, is a moderately heavy wood and is quite orange in colour. Over time it will darken to an almost walnut colour with just hints of orange.

Here is a dulcimer that I built some years ago and trimed in Padouk

This trim started out as orange as the hammers in the previous picture.

So I think that's it for now, but quite a variety to choose from. Imbuya, Ebony, Ziricote, Katalox, Maple, Beech, Chakte Kok, Padouk and Cherry.

If you'd like to try making your own hammers, here's a link to a page I put together on how I make them.

Making your own hammers