hammer handles

gfj

Member
Put some new wooden handles in some hammer heads today. What would be a good product to seal the outer ends?
 
I make my own handles and seal the end with left-over enamel and then clean my brushes after applying varnish on the handles. I have never broken one of my hand made hammer handles. Some of my handles are over 5o years old. I prefer a wood handled hammer over the figerglass or the leather laminated ones
 
Ends? I've only had to seal the top which you cut off after installing. I would just put what ever varnish or polyurethane you have on hand.
 
A few coats of boiled linseed oil is my usual treatment, and I do the entire handle with it while I'm at it.
 
Not my cup of tea. I have tried several times to redo or install a new handle on hammers, axes, or sledges, with the ridged wedges, cutting a notch in the handle, using hardwood handles and all that and it has been fruitless for me. Good luck.
 
There are plenty of YouTube videos about putting new wooden handles on hammers, axes, sledgehammers, etc. Many of them are not helpful, and some give information which is plain wrong. But a few give really good advice. It isn't hard to tell which ones feature people who know what they're talking about.

Stan
 
You're quite right, Stan--lots of info out there, but much of it just won't stand the test of actual use. Video below is an hour long, put out by the US Forest Service, who have a long history of using hand tools that continues to this day in areas like some national forests where motorized tools are not allowed. First 20 minutes is hanging an axe handle, though the techniques are applicable to most wooden-handled striking tools. Last 40 minutes is on sharpening, care and use. Good stuff, and his techniques are time-proven. I enjoy handling tools, and one of my favorite things to do is picking up old heads, especially axes and hatchets, but hammers, pickaroons, splitting mauls, and other things get done too if I have a use in mind at garage sales, flea markets, and similar venues. I'll re-handle them, make a sheath if appropriate, sharpen them if necessary, and give them to people who will appreciate and care for them. I find it's nice to see an axe head fifty or more years old working for a living again instead of rusting away neglected somewhere, and you can often pick up heads of a quality almost unknown today for less than the cost of the cheapest of imported junk.
An ax to grind
 
One way is to stand the head in a pan with a little motor oil. Oil will soak in and not dry out and get loose. Another product is Chair-lock for chair legs and spreaders. I have an old bottle but never saw it in stores.
 

I use a thick French Polish solution , it soaks in well , swells the handle end , dries and seals the grain and best of all sticks like the proverbial to a blanket .
 
That's a great video, Tim. I've seen the part about hanging an ax handle before, as a separate video. That man clearly knows his stuff. By the way, could you place his accent? I can't figure out what part of the country he's from. Lolo National Forest is in western Montana, on the Idaho border, but he wouldn't have to be a local.

Stan
 
Not sure, Stan--I know he's based in Missoula, Montana (or was--most online info on him is rather dated) but as you say that doesn't mean he was born or raised there. I believe I've also linked the companion piece to the video--a pamphlet he wrote covering many of the same subjects--before, but as the information is still relevant, I'll do so again. Worth a read through for anyone interested in the care and feeding of any wooden-handled tools, not just axes, as the information given can be applied to most tools. Also, to cover TexasMark1's original question, I'd be interested in knowing where his problem is occurring, as the collected wisdom here might be able to help. Handling tools is, after all, a skill that goes back well before recorded history, and, in fact, is one of the first historical indicators of man's progression from simple tools to complex ones, and though it's hard to think of an ax as "complex" in today's world, the leap forward gained by fastening a stick to a sharp rock was an equally great leap for mankind as was the one that that phrase is usually associated with.
an ax to grind pamphlet
 
This request is for Tim V. I live in Phoenix Arizona. I'm retired and on fixed income. I have been looking for a good wood handled hatchet for years but living here in the desert there are none. I'm wondering if you would be willing to sell me one of your restored one's. Thanks and have a nice afternoon.
 
Royboy: while I appreciate your confidence, that's really not something I do--I prefer to keep mine local where I can keep an eye on them and their owners. However, the heads aren't that difficult to come by, even in areas that don't have a lot of local woodcutting--there's dozens on Ebay at any given time, and, as this thread has indicated, putting a new handle on is a relatively simple and inexpensive proposition.
 
I'm not a fan of wood handles. I only buy, shovels, hammers and axes with metal or fiberglass handles. Yet to have one break like the old wood handles.
 

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