I like my hammer handles - any piece of straight grain hardwood and I use a rasp and draw knife to rough them out. A while ago I cut a piece of 2nd growth maple - no knots and left it to dry - back up stock. I always run the grain up the handle in line with the face, not flat or angled to it. If it is for a handled tool, I always leave a piece sticking out of the head. I wedge with wood or steel, what ever is handy. In maine everything shrinks and loosens over the winter. To deal with this I leave a taper in the handle in the neck, and when the head loosens I tap the handle on the anvil and the head sets itself further down. If I need to I add another wedge. I've thought of epoxy - I don't like glue. When the handle head shrinks- it leaves an air gap between the wood and the steel. Every hammer I own loosens- commercial or my own. I like my hammers to do the work, not my hands. I set a back and forth rhythm and the hammer rocks, doing the work, in my hand in my loose grip -pushing the steel. I never hit up and down. I don't mind a flexing handle (small hammers) because it adds to the rhythm. Dead weight hammering is for set tools and power hammers, not for my hands.