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HAMMER HANDLES


Sukellos

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What you are looking for is similar to a gunstock duplicator. The tool moves in and out as a stylus traces the pattern. The cutter is also rotating, and milling the wood off. It would be fairly simple to make. You could use a router, or a shaft mounted cutter.


Personally I mount handles with the grain orientated in the direction of travel, as in the picture on the left. Baseball bats are orientated with the grain, to keep them from delaminating under a hard hit. I don't glue the wedges, so I can drive them in deeper if the handle loosens up. Keeping the head at a constant moisture level is what is needed, so linseed oil is a good way to go. It gets down to 1% humidity at times here, so wood has a hard time surviving without some help.

Does anyone use synthetic handles like fiberglass?

HD probably stopped selling handles because the handles are more than the hammers now in some cases. Same with shovels.


I saw an actual antique handle lathe illustrated somewhere one time. It was one of those "yeah, that makes sense" moments, but I can't remember nor find the info, since I decided I need one.
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I did see a lathe that turned handles once in a shop that did production work.The shop was well west of me,more toward ski country.They made all kinds of industrial wood products.
It was one of those types that used back knives that they changed for each type of handle.I don`t remember if it went small enough to do hand hammer handles but the guy who owned the shop said it would do both sledge and pick handles and both of those are oval.
No help for what you had in mind for your boy though,sorry.
If you find a design that works in a home shop he may be able to make some money selling them though.I`m betting either the folks at the AAW site or Albert Le Coff at the Turning Center in Philadelphia PA would know where to find such a thing.

As Clay(Bigfoot) said you can turn oval or rounded triangular handles by using multiple centers.I tried it going on directions from Ray Hopper`s book but Clay`s link seems easier.
I make my handles the same way he does,by hand,as I like a large square or rectangle with rounded corners and custom fit to my hand.They go pretty quick once you find out what fits you.
Made a couple fancy ones out of figured wood for some hammers I gave my son.He says the girls sure like them,especially the one he`s engaged to.

Bigguns,The only FG handle I could get along with was one that had an oversized rubber grip that was heavily grooved.Haliburton gave them out to all their oilfield employees.I still have it around somewhere,shows how much I use it.
I also liked the Estwing drilling hammer I bought at a yard sale.I liked it enough to give it to a close friend.Never did get around to replacing it though.

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I thought I had already replace this handle in the last round of handle making. Since I didn't (I meant to) I tried to take pictures of why I like the grain as I do. Hopefully you can see what I'm getting at.

As you may be able to tell in the one picture the grain is mostly as Bendik shows. It is angles a bit off the axis but mostly runs as he drew. In the other picture there is a small split started. It runs across the growth rings not along as some of you seem to think it will.
I have never seen a hammer handle with a split that follows the growth rings. I have seen several that split across the growth rings.
I still stand by my statement.

And if any of you are wondering, this was one of the last batch of handles I bought before I started making my own. Sometimes I shave with a drawknife sometimes I turn oval. I normally wouldn't have bought this one but the handle bin had only limited handles that the grain ran from one end of the handle to the other.

ron

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I have made handles on the shaving horse before, but not since moving to Arizona. Any of you Southwest Desert Rats have any experience with any local woods for handles? I have a walking stick made of some sort of ash that grows here, but it doesn't grow straight. We have a lot of citrus too, but I've not tried any for handles. Anyone have any wisdom to share?

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Thanks for the reply Bigfoot. I can see why a shaving horse and drawknife would be faster. That is why I want a handle lathe, a dozen handles an hour instead of an afternoon. I am willing to build it myself, but I can't remember how the mechanism for the oval shape worked. Thanks anyway.

ALLRIGHT, but remember that YOU asked for this. Here's a link to a video of one oval turning attachment (the VOD/Vicmarc Oval Device).
http://www.vicmarc.com/default.asp?contentID=689

I've just gotta say that I think that by the time you get one of these set up and working I could have made a LIFETIME supply of handles for myself and my son. By the time you earn enough to pay for it I'd guess that I could also have made lifetime handle supplies for most of my extended family. By the time you could make one yourself I'd fully expect to have USED UP my personal lifetime supply of handles. But far be it for me to discourage a fellow craftsman in search of FUN (I just think there are ways to have MORE of it... FUN that is).
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Here's a thought about a more practical approach. What if you made a metal center system that provided three centers while only requiring one on the actual wood? Using sort of an intermediate attachment that converted the one center on the wood to three by simply switching pegs between the lathe centers and the three center adapter. That would make the switches repeatable and fast. You could use such an attachment on one end only for an oval/round handle or on each end for a fully ovate handle (could even hybridize by using a different ratio on the two ends to get something between). I think that I have seen some simple commercial adapters that worked sort of like this. The old Shopsmiths could do it by offsetting the tailstock which was set in an offcenter hole in a round insert. They didn't have a setup to work for the other end though (BTW they were TERRIBLE lathes... I started out on one of them... was shocked when I finally got a decent one and saw how easy it could be!!).

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WOW!!!
Now that made my head hurt.
All that trouble and expense to make what amounts to an elliptical chuck.I know I`ve seen plans for an elliptical chuck in one of the Fine Woodworking publications.They may even have access to it on their web site.
The problem with an elliptical chuck is it`s only good for faceplate(bowls,etc)work.Hammer handles are more spindle work and that rig doesn`t address the tailstock end of oval work like handles.
Now that you mention it,I have seen ovals turned in batches using a jig that looked like 2 wood faceplates,one at each end of the lathe bed.The handle blanks were spaced around the OD of the wood discs(their diameter decided the curve of the oval) and once one side of the handle was turned you stopped the lathe.indexed the blank 180 degrees and turned the other side.The center of the blanks were marked by the pivot screws holding them in the jig so after the oval was turned the pieces were individually mounted between centers to blend and sand the transitions and any areas that needed to be round like the tenon for a mallet for instance.
Thanks for jogging my memory Clay.Seems like my brain is more and more becoming a kick start model. ;)

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Oh yeah! Good thinking Bob! That is another approach that might be useful. Basically the spindles are mounted around the edges of two discs of plywood and the ply mounted on centers and all turned at once. It tends to get you more squarish parts than oval (depending on the diameter of the discs and how many pieces are turned at once) but roughs out very fast and the corners can be rounded by sanding on the lathe or in many other ways. I think I've heard that called barrel turning but I am not sure. I've done it many years ago for some artsy projects I worked on where I needed some neat looking identical parts.

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isn't hammer handle maintance part of being a black smith. if you don't have to maintane your hammer handle
you probably aren't using it enough. it is part of the job.
as for wood you can still get elm,ash, malpe, hickory, pecan,hedge (osage orange)
cherry,about what ever you might like on the river banks and wind rows in nebraska.

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I used to know a guy who manufactured tool handles. His homebuilt lathe was one of the scariest looking pieces of machinery I have ever seen. The wooden blank locked between centers there was a changable steel oval that was a quide to move the cutters in and out. The cutting head was a series of arms welded to a shaft with adjustable cutters on the ends this ccutting head was about 12-14" dia. In use this cutting head rotated, the blank rotated and the cutting head swung in and was guided in and out by the steel oval. Cutting took a couple of seconds. He stopped making handles because he could buy handles for about the same as the wood was costing.

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Pecan works for hammer handles? That's one thing we do have lots of here in AZ.


SURE, pecan is in the hickory family (which is pretty SUPER handle wood). Lots of lumberyards sell a strange wood called pecan/hickory (which just means they can't tell the difference). It would be hard to find a nicer wood for handles in North America.
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Lemon is a good bow wood so it should make a tough and lively handle, pretty too!

I've seen a home made duplicator using a lathe and a router with a 1/8" bit.

The blank went in the lathe and the positive went into a holder that was ganged to the lathe so they turned at the same *slow* rate.

The router fit in a holder that had a hinged arm allowing up and down movement that was produced by a piece riding on the positive *and* the holder slid on a rail driven by a threaded rod to traverse the length again slowly.

Not a complicated system but it did leave the handle with a lot of small ridges easily cleaned off. Fellow used it to make hawk handles as they were hard to find back then.

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The glue that I am useing to hendle the hammer is SIKAFLES 11 FC AND I ONLY GLUE THE HANDLES AND NEVER WEDGE.
I glued already hundreds of hammers in many sizes ans none of them went loos.
the hammer eye is having a duble taperd cone (x) to the middle of the eye 3 degrees.
on the handle on the part that goes into the eye I grind surretions all around that hold the glue much better.
beffor smearing the glue in the eye I clean the eye with thinner to take away any oily remanents for better glueing
Hofi

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I don't know if Tom Clark was using the same glue as you Hofi but I have had to add wedges to my Hofi hammer that Tom produced. There was some glue that fell out of the end and it loosened up. It was made when he was still putting your stamp as well as his on it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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.

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I soak my hammers in antifreeze I think Tom Clark first told me this, you do not want to leave them in there very long about 30 min to 1 hr it begins to wick up the handle if you leave it too long. It works well does not dry out fast, also be sure to keep it away from dogs they will try to drink the antifreeze very bad for them

I tried the antifreeze number and every one of the handles broke right below the head. Don't know what I did wrong.

David Childress
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Breaking off below the head suggests an uneven absorption of the antifreeze through the wood (less in the head/handle) creating a stress line from the normal h20 moisture change in the wood - made worse with freezing and expansion --- unless the antifreeze is acid based and eats the wood. I'm at a loss but makes an interesting conjecture point!

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I've always just run a good lag screw into the end of the hammer handle, pre-drilled if the screw threads won't catch. The width of the screw acts as a wedge, and the threads keep it in. I generally have more screws laying around than wedges anyways.

At least my hammers have never been accused of having a screw loose. :blink:

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I've always just run a good lag screw into the end of the hammer handle, pre-drilled if the screw threads won't catch. The width of the screw acts as a wedge, and the threads keep it in. I generally have more screws laying around than wedges anyways.

At least my hammers have never been accused of having a screw loose. :blink:


Tim; One problem with using screws is that when screws are parallel with the grain of wood each thread cuts the grain... so the effect is similar to drilling rather than wedging. I often just cold forge 1/4" rod (also use wood wedges first) for wedges and that works pretty well. If your system is working it is the wedging action NOT the threads which make it happen... in end grain nails are FAR harder to remove than screws. This is NOT just theory I know it from experience too. Of course handmade nails (and wedges) hold way better than factory wire nails or even screws in ANY orientation.
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Tim; One problem with using screws is that when screws are parallel with the grain of wood each thread cuts the grain... so the effect is similar to drilling rather than wedging. I often just cold forge 1/4" rod (also use wood wedges first) for wedges and that works pretty well. If your system is working it is the wedging action NOT the threads which make it happen... in end grain nails are FAR harder to remove than screws. This is NOT just theory I know it from experience too. Of course handmade nails (and wedges) hold way better than factory wire nails or even screws in ANY orientation.

Thanks Bigfoot, I was wondering why it wasn't done more. It didn't occur to me that the threads may be cutting into the grain. What would be the detrimental effect of that though?

The last couple handles I replaced had been bought years before I needed to use them so I kinda figured too that maybe the wood had dried as much as it was going to in this climate.
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  • 3 years later...

The glue that I am useing to hendle the hammer is SIKAFLES 11 FC AND I ONLY GLUE THE HANDLES AND NEVER WEDGE.
I glued already hundreds of hammers in many sizes ans none of them went loos.
the hammer eye is having a duble taperd cone (x) to the middle of the eye 3 degrees.
on the handle on the part that goes into the eye I grind surretions all around that hold the glue much better.
beffor smearing the glue in the eye I clean the eye with thinner to take away any oily remanents for better glueing
Hofi

I agree with Mr. Hofi.

The Sikaflex 11 FC works very well, no loose handles, no flying wedges like I´ve seen in a museum here in germany.

Sometimes I also work in a museum and so I have glued about 25 hammers and there are NO problems!

Safety first for my visitors!

Thank you Mr. Hofi.

Peter

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