Flatpack hammer

Vert Design's flat-pack mallet sells for AU$40 -- it's a functional hammer cut out of a sheet of plywood with a CNC machine that you punch out, slot together and then bash away with. Link (via Gizmodo)

[#1 posted by mrfitz , November 23, 2007 7:23 AM]

I'll just use the bottom of a coffee mug, thanks.

[#2 posted by porn for creative souls , November 23, 2007 7:25 AM]

A+ for form...but function? how about a good old school hammer that will cost much less.

But the idea of printing objects on a flat sheet of wood is definitely cool. Brings prototype manufacturing / printing closer to reality / feasibility....

Reminds me of that store that prints furniture on flat sheets of wood...unto this last.

[#3 posted by Santos , November 23, 2007 8:42 AM]

Isn't it actually a mallet?

[#4 posted by License Farm , November 23, 2007 8:58 AM]

I don't doubt it'd work, but for how LONG? With the gee-whizzery about prototyping fabricators and other prefab goods like this, is there a related field of research investigating how the sudden uptick of even more disposable consumer goods will be more ecologically disposed? Conversely, will nothing be made to last anymore? These may sound like contradictory questions, but items made to last don't need to be replaced, or at the least tossed.

[#5 posted by Marshall , November 23, 2007 10:05 AM]

It seems kind of cool, but only if it came free or nearly free with whatever you were intending to use it for. Like if it was included with IKEA flat-pack furniture that only needs a few pegs to be hammered in.

[#6 posted by neven , November 23, 2007 12:31 PM]

Where "functional" means "unsafe, unwise, and nonfunctional".

[#7 posted by truncat , November 23, 2007 2:24 PM]

One of the other things on their site - the "Bruce" espresso cups - I thought was a great idea when I saw it in the ceramics for breakfast entry that I saw on the contest page that was linked to from Boing Boing earlier this year. I didn't know anyone was making it, it looks interesting!

[#8 posted by GammaBlog , November 24, 2007 2:10 PM]

Who would want to pound their food with plywood? Yech!

[#9 posted by Halfadrop , November 25, 2007 3:51 PM]

Oooh...do you think it's "functional" enough to hijack a plane?
See where I'm going with this? Do ya?

I bet airline security will now start confiscating puzzles too.

[#10 posted by gfixler , November 26, 2007 1:11 AM]

My nearly immediate thought was "I'm surprised a design firm didn't design it so their logo was easily visible on the finished piece. Then I realized - looking at the silk-screened board of parts - they did. Someone assembled the mallet such that the end caps are facing inwards. Whoops! I want to see how it looks with the logos now.

[#11 posted by MonkeyMonkey , December 8, 2007 1:55 AM]

Halfdrop: My thoughts exactly when I firstsaw it --- looks like something a terrorist would appreciate.