One of my favorite handle treatments I learned from Bill Epps. Poke the handle in the forge and blacken it. Quickly wire brush the handle vigorously. The handle is now more "Grippy". Not my hammer but you get the point. No pics, but your hand should feel comfortable holding the hammer. Have someone pull on the hammer head, it should not be easily pulled from your hand without a lot of work on your part. Anvilfire has a really good "hammer control" article # 6 on the how to page.