The hardest part of this build has to be getting a fist to look like a real clenched hand while staying solid enough to swing. Bonn tackled it by tracing an actual hand onto paper, turning that tracing into a template covered in measurements and codes, and then checking the work against both the template and the hand itself over and over as the shape came together. That constant comparison seems to be what kept the proportions believable.
The construction starts with thick metal plates and a metal pipe forming the base of the fist, cut to shape with an angle grinder. Metal rods sliced into segments stand in for the finger joints, and the thumb is a separate piece welded on and then ground down until it blends into the palm. Lots of welding built up volume first, and afterwards the grinding with an angle grinder and a rotary tool brought out the knuckles and fingers. A white marker marked the spots that still needed work along the way.
The handle came from a block of wood, shaped with an angle grinder and sanded with P120 paper, then finished in a dark stain. A slot was cut into the top, the fist head was driven on, and a metal wedge locked the whole thing together. It reads as a proper tool, and Bonn demonstrated it by striking a wooden log.
One open question for me: a whole week went into this, and I would love to know how the head holds up to repeated hard use over time. Even so, turning scrap material into something this faithful to a hand is a fine piece of work.
Project by Bonn. Watch it on their YouTube channel: