Loose wood tool handels

What do you guys do to tighten loose handels on splitting mauls and axes? I have soaked them in water but that doesn't last very long. I heard about soaking in boiled linseed oil and soaked a splitting maul for about a month. Spilt some wood today and the maul head slides real good with linseed oil. Don't know how to do the funny face stuff. Thanks for any advice.

Most wooden handles have a steel wedge in the end which can loosen or fall out. You can make a better one by taking a large wood screw and flatening it with a hammer on a taper and driving it in. Use 2 if a big handle.

(quoted from post at 01:32:01 11/28/12) What do you guys do to tighten loose handels on splitting mauls and axes? I have soaked them in water but that doesn't last very long. I heard about soaking in boiled linseed oil and soaked a splitting maul for about a month. Spilt some wood today and the maul head slides real good with linseed oil. Don't know how to do the funny face stuff. Thanks for any advice.

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I read somewhere that antifreeze would work good because it doesn't evaporate like water. You could give that a try. If that doesn't work, maybe add another wedge in the end of the handle?

I read once about using glycerin to soak hammer heads in. They said it would swell the wood, but wouldn't shrink as it dried. I never tried it, in fact, I don't even know what it is or where to find it. Personally, I use steel and wood wedges to keep wooden tool handles tight. I have a splitting maul with a fiberglass handle, and it got dangerously loose. Bought an epoxy kit at Rural King to repair the head/handle fit, and it's been good for a couple years now.

Paul

First make sure handle fits tight, then drive in a wood wedge and one or two steel wedges and you should be good to go. I usually break the handle before they ever come loose.

yep.. wedges or a nail...

I have soaked tools in a bucket of oil or ATF for a couple weeks = does some good, but you'll do best if you deal with the wedge issue first.

Corn Husker's hand lotion is practically all glycerin. Availble many places.

I'd wedge it.

I saw a kid get killed once when the head flew off a slege hammer and hit him upside the head. And he was an innocent bystander.

Needless to say, I get the willies whenever I see a loose head on any kind of hammer, axe, etc.

The maul I split with came with a wood and steel wedge, I have tried to pound them in farther, I thought adding more would split the handel more and make it worse. When I was younger my Dad just pounded shingle nails in the end. Don't know if that was correct, but they they never came off either.

Soaking the handle swells the wood, crushes the fibers and causes the handle to end up looser than before.

drill a hole thru the steel & wood on the side, put a nail thru there & saw it off 1/4" past the steel head. Then beat the end with your hammer til its flat against the head, making it a rivet.

Remove the handle from the head and clean both pieces. Then apply epoxy to both head and handle and press together. When the epoxy sets trim the excess handle that protrudes from the outside of the head and then drive in new steel wedges. use a disc sander to smooth the joint and then apply a good lacquer finish to the assembly.

The first thing to do is drive the head on further by striking the butt of the handle on a solid surface. The weight of the head will drive itself deeper onto the handle. Then try and drive the wedges in further. If you can't, then either make or buy more wedges. I usually make my own out of scrap metal. Once it's tight you can drill for a cross rivet if you want, but to me that's just wasted effort if the head is secured by wedges properly in the first place.

There is nothing you can soak the handle in that will make up for poorly wedged or broken/rotted wood.

I have used the epoxy glue on the plastic handles. It works for about 3 years and than they loosen up again. On the wooden handel axes I have used the wooden and steel wedges and they work loose. What works for me is drill two pilot holes in handel and screw two washer with epoxy glue. The washers are large enough to catch the wood and metal. The ones that I did that to have never worked loose. I split about 4 + cords of wood by hand.

i saw an old book a few days ago,that had a lot of tricks and tips for doing things around the farm.one was to tighten a axe head,first make sure head is tight on handle as stated earlier,then use a wooden shim drove in as tight as possible,then drive a thin nail through the handle,and the wedge on a angle. if you had a steel or metal wedge you could do the same but when the nail hit the wedge it would bendand sort of curve as you drove it,and lock in the wedge. old man that taught us boys years ago in school told us to use metal wedges only on hammers,and use a wood wedge on axes hatchets and things.according to him,a axe head is more apt to move as it sticks in wood and you work it loose,and a wood wedge wont make a groove in the handle around it like a metal wedge with ridges will, and work loose.i do know that most of the old axe handles you would see came with wood wedges,and most hammer handles came with metal as far as i recall. so there may be some reasoning behind this.best way ive found of keeping them tight is to simply keep one put up so it doesnt swell and shrink so bad.leave one out in a rain and it swells after it dries since the pressure has compresed the grain of handle its more apt to remain loose. years ago when every one used axes you would get a serious chewing out if a fellow found his axe outside.one thing to check,make sure if you have a handle with a wooden wedge,that wedge is not hitting bottom of slot in handle.if so either deepen slot,or cut wedge off so you can drive it deeper.

Ya know, I've been thinking on it and I have never, ever had a axe, maul or any wedged type handle work loose where I wasn't clearly abusing it.