Small hammers always give me trouble

[Hickory n steel]

I'm always having trouble tightening up small 4-12oz hammers so they stay tight on me, usually ball peens.
Got any suggestions?

Larger hammers, hatchets, axes...ect I can tackle just fine but the little ones always seem to give me trouble.

I've had success once or twice and the 4oz I use all the time has been tight about 6 months at this point, but I don't know what I did differently.

Normally I would just tighten the tool up and let time tell me if I got 'em right, but I'm doing up a pair of ball peens for my cousin who's getting into gunsmithing and I don't want them to loosen up on him.

 

[RickW]

I've always used both a wooden and a metal wedge,(sometimes more than one) on hammers.
On a small hammer I'd recommend using both.I have several small ball pein and riveting hammers with handles fixed that way,and I haven't had any trouble with them loosening.
Rick W

 

[catspa]

I tend to over-handle my small hammers (recently installed a 17 incher on a 10 oz ball peen), so I hang them good and tight. My hanging procedure is a little weird to most people, but it works for me. Here are some highlights:


I’m picky about grain orientation.


I use only wood wedges of the same species as the handle, preferably from the same billet. I angle them fore and aft so that at full insertion the wedge is somewhat compressed against the front and rear of the eye.


I dry the handle, sometimes in the microwave, before final fitting.


I hand cut the slot with a very thin kerf saw.


I leave the handle tip 1/4-3/8” proud of the eye.


I size the wedge length so that at full insertion it is about 1/8” short of the proud handle tip (or 1/8-1/4” proud of the eye).


Then I drown it in BLO til it won’t absorb any more.


Most people I know, perhaps even many forum members, consider some or all of these steps to be wrong or a waste of time. But they work for me, and my heads don’t come loose.


Parker

 

[Hickory n steel]

Interesting methods.

I decided on the 4oz I did up for my cousin to make a Plumb style screw wedge , if it loosens up he shone able to just tighten it with a screwdriver.

I may or may not do the same with an 8oz'er.

 

[Dusty One]

If you wouldn't mind let us no how it worked out for you ?

 

[Hickory n steel]

If you wouldn't mind let us no how it worked out for you ?

It's nice and tight right now, but he'll have to report back to me on how it holds up.

 

[junkenstien]

Construction adhesive has been working good for me.Been useing T88

 

[A17]

I'm always having trouble tightening up small 4-12oz hammers so they stay tight on me, usually ball peens.
Got any suggestions?

Larger hammers, hatchets, axes...ect I can tackle just fine but the little ones always seem to give me trouble.

I've had success once or twice and the 4oz I use all the time has been tight about 6 months at this point, but I don't know what I did differently.

Normally I would just tighten the tool up and let time tell me if I got 'em right, but I'm doing up a pair of ball peens for my cousin who's getting into gunsmithing and I don't want them to loosen up on him.

I've noticed the same thing with the oval-eyed hammers I've done. I used to put a new wooden wedge in them, but recently I just drive a new metal wedge in them.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I've noticed the same thing with the oval-eyed hammers I've done. I used to put a new wooden wedge in them, but recently I just drive a new metal wedge in them.

I hate to admit it, but that has sometimes been my solution as well.

But I will also add a kerf and wood wedge on some that only had a metal wedge.

 

[A17]

I hate to admit it, but that has sometimes been my solution as well.

But I will also add a kerf and wood wedge on some that only had a metal wedge.

I just tell myself, "At least you use a real metal wedge, Dad would just use wood screws". I've had so many sledge hammers come loose, I keep a handful of steel wedges in the shop for on-the-fly fixes (or else I'll be removing wood screws later). I'd swear that in the shop there is a 3lb ball-pein hammer with 1 tiny steel wedge driven in a kerfless eye fitted with a bench grinder that is rock solid, while my cross wedged, lovingly fitted hafts almost always come loose.