I have always enjoyed working with wood. Back in the early 2000s I read that there was no such thing as a good wood tamper. I took this as a challenge to make a good wood tamper. The first tamper I made was out of walnut and it did OK, but it wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be, or that it needed to be. After a lot of research I discovered that lignum vitae has the tensile strength of cast iron! I bought some and low and behold, my problem was solved by using a lignum vitae base!
The next challenge I was confronted with was the weight of the tampers. I developed a core weighted tamper. The majority of the weight of a Thor Tamper is in the center rather around the edges. It lends to a more balanced tamp.
In 2007 I developed the "Ridgeline" tamper. I have applied for a patent for my design. I also began making tampers with Corian. You still get the same feel as wood, but it is more stable. Lignum vitae is getting more difficult to find, and it has been over harvested.