Personalized wooden-handled hammers are one of the most consistent products I make. A basic hardware-store hammer costs roughly five dollars in my example and sells for about twenty, and they make great gifts for Father’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries and anyone with a shop.
I peel off the retail labels, put the hammer in my xTool P3 and scan it so the artwork lands exactly where I want it. You don’t need a P3 for this, though. Plenty of CO2 and diode lasers can do it, since all you really need is a laser that can engrave the wooden handle.
I use a standard wood setting of 600 millimeters per second, 40 percent power and 160 lines per centimeter. The engraving takes about two minutes, and the bit of soot left on the prefinished handle wipes off quickly with a damp melamine sponge.
It’s not a complicated project, and that’s why it works. The blanks are cheap, the engraving is fast, you can personalize it a lot of ways and there’s very little finishing. If you want to charge more, I also point to some higher-end hammer kits.