Dumb hammer question.

L6steel

L6steel

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
Messages
5,855
When you're putting a hammer head onto a wooden handle, do you heat the head up and burn it onto the handle so you can get a good tight fit? Every time I've ever tried to put one on but shaving the handle to fit the head was too loose on the handle to be of any use so I got to thinking that maybe if you burned it on like we sometimes do handles onto knife tangs it would take the shape and size of the head better. Please be kind to a hammer head moron. :rolleyes:
 
I've never made a hammer, and idea of doing so scares me. :)

But every time I've replaced handles on hammers/hatchets/axes there was ametal piece(or just extra nails I had around) that I pounded into the end of the handle to make it swell out and hold the head tightly. I don't know if you do it ssame way making a hammer, but I would guess it'd still work(just may not be best solution)
 
Wedge; same here. However, I suspect you are too particular for such an unsightly thing ;).
 
You may be thinking of some chisels and file handle. I know some of those are burnt into the handles. Some of the indonisian knives I think also burn the tang in. I don't think burning would be good on a small hammer but that is just an opinion. No science involved.
 
Everyone is correct. The wedge is the way to go. Get a tight fit first and then use the wedge. Burning will damage the grain and the grain is very important in handle stability.

Before it is on soak the end of the handle that goes in the head in a good waterproofer like thinned poly. You want to keep it dry after it's in the hammer. If it gets wet after being tightened, the wood will swell and be crushed. when it dries again it will never again tighten.
 
Peter had it right. I always rasped/filed the handle to snugly fit the hammer or ax head, then use a steel wedge. Pete's soaking idea sounds solid, too. To get the head on the handle after the handle is correctly shaped, start the head on and then, while holding it upright,( head straight up), bring the handle down on a solid, hard surface. You tap the head down onto the handle using gravity to do the work.If you miss a tad on wood removal, the head will shave it off, if not too much. Too much wood not removed before the tamping will split off. NOT good.Just take the time to do a pretty decent fitting job before fitting the head, in a nutshell.By the way, your question is not a dumb question.
 
A number of months ago I had gotten this idea of taking one of my hawks just after a heat treat cycle and driving it on the the haft with a pipe and when it cooled off no way it would loosen up. I had got the head all cleaned up and was on my way back to the house with the hawk and I thought I felt something move. Sure enough the head almost fell off on its own. The heat hadn't burnt the wood but it shrunk it. One of the shortest lived greatest ideas I ever have had.

I normally soak my hammers in water several times durring the summer to tighten them back up. I usually wait till they either start sending off branches or roots before I remove them.....:D
 
Most hammers and similar tools I have , have a non semetric hole . insert the handle into the small end of the hole then use wedges. Some have a split end which you first drive a wooden wedge into then the metal wedge 90 degrees to that. Never needed anything else.
 
Mete is right. Drive a wooden wedge in a slot WITH the grain than a steel wedge driven in ACROSS the grain (no slot).
I do like the idea of soaking the head although I'd probally use boiled linsead oil (because I'm cheap!).
Lynn
 
put it in your stabalizer after the head is on and wedged
that will swell it just a bit and water proof it
let me know how it works and I'll do it too..:D just kidding

I'm about ready to rehandle a 2 pounder
and that's what I'm going to do.:) just 2cents:)
 
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