Hey Folks! Recently a friend of mine, Ogre, commissioned me to replicate Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, as it was seen in the classic run of his comics. Ogre will be debuting Mjolnir with his Thor costume at Friday Nite Special’s Rocky Horror Comic Book Night on July 17th, 2015.

This is the second Mjolnir I’ve made, the first was years ago and makes a cameo in the photo that shows this hammer’s armature. My first hammer was just EVA foam with a PVC handle but didn’t hold up well, so I wanted to make sure this one was stronger.

The handle is PVC again, but this time I wrapped it with strips of tan upholstery leather, that I stained with brown ink to give a more weathered look. The ends of the leather were riveted to the handle to secure them in place. I eventually realized that the head of the hammer was too heavy for a good swing, but since I couldn’t do much about that I counter balanced it by putting a steel rod through the bottom half of the handle. I used a threaded rod so that I could secure it on all sides with caulk and be sure it had a good grip.

For the head of the hammer I made an armature out of PVC that I filled with expanding foam. I then carved off the extra foam until the surface was flat before I glued layers of EVA foam to the sides. One I had the shape I wanted I filled all the cracks with caulk and sanded it all down. I closed the foam with the heat gun and gave it a couple coats of black primer then silver spray paint.

Finally, the most nerve wracking part of the build, the inscription. I blew up and straightened the text Ogre wanted from the Beta Ray Bill cover, then printed it out and transferred it with a pin to the foam the same way I transferred patterns to jack-o-lanterns as a kid. I struggled to keep my hands perfectly steady and I went at it with a small engraving bit on the Dremel.

Mjolnir ended up a little heavier than I intended, at 6 lb, 11.4 oz, but Ogre is deserving of his name and can handle it. Just don’t get in his way while he’s wielding it, ha.

Cheers!

Shawn