Octagonal Hammer Handles

[Frosty]

I don't know anything about osage orange that I haven't read here. Whippy handles are what makes chasing hammers work, it's why they're shaped the way they are.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Osage Orange will make good one's.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[JHCC]

In the words of Devo, whip it good. 

[Frosty]

Just don't whip it at Woolworths

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

I don't think they've got any in.

[Frosty]

I think I need a chaser.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Nobody Special]

Osage orange is lovely, good for hammer handles, good for knife scales, great for fence posts if you work it green. Tough as nails when it hardens. Maybe tougher, no fun driving staples into it. Makes a lovely shade tree that's godawful tough on lawnmowers, but don't plant it close to the house, they tend to have shallow root systems.

[wirerabbit]

HA!

My Google phone doesn't recognize my thumb print at the moment.

I had an unusual bout of hammer hand blisters several days ago and had to use electrical tape just to finish the tong blanks I was forging. Blisters formed on the proximal phalanges of my index and middle fingers and on the distal phalanx (I had no idea that was the singular of phalanges) of my thumb. The thumb blister was almost 3/4 of an inch long.

I was forging 3/4 inch sucker rod, and perhaps because I was impatient on those first few heats or because it is a bit harder to forge, I had some trouble moving the higher carbon steel. I went to my biggest hammer (3 lbs, Harbor Freight mod) with the octagonal handle. Boom, blisters.

 

Perhaps the blisters arose not from the octagonal cross section but rather from the hour-glass profile and the more awkward swings I was making the the heavier hammer. Still, I'm blaming the octagonal handle. Since sticking to my slab handled hammer, blisters gone bye bye.

I like saying phalanges.

[Frosty]

26 minutes ago, wirerabbit said:

Boom, blisters.

Good GRIEF  MAN you're NOT supposed to pop blisters!

Perhaps a spring fuller might help you deliver more force to a smaller area for more effective drawing down? Depending on what you're doing of course but I love spring fullers and they bend up soo easily. 

What's different about your grip between octagonal and slab handles? I LOVE my modified Hofi style slab handles.

Frosty The Lucky.

[wirerabbit]

Crazy thing, Frosty. None of the blisters broke. I work hardened them!

[JHCC]

If you’re starting to develop a blister (the skin starts to feel hot), tape the digit before the skin detaches. 
 

[jlpservicesinc]

any hammer handle will give someone hot spots in use when not in great condition. 

I get hot spots on my tong hand from holding the tongs and stock.. 

When making a bunch of nails my thumb gets a hot spot right on the large crease for the joint. 

When someone is working enough at the forge with hammer and anvil and tongs there is always a hot spot. 

It took me about 15 years to find a hammer handle shape I liked.. 

At the time there were articles about which hammer shape is best..  Skinny with a flat face was a popular one to mess with.. 

I never liked it.. I tried everything..  Skinny, fat, straight, tapered, round, etc, etc.  

I finally landed on the hammer shape 15 yrs in and it is the same shape I use today.   I like a longish handle with a place for the head to sit that is seamless to the handle itself.. NO abrupt changes in thickness below the head. 

I also like an eight sided handle..   I landed on this when I was making a new handle and just did not round off the corners to an oval..   I tried this handle shape for about a year and decided it's my favorite handle shape..  

Every handle on my main forging handles are exactly the same dimensionally.    Only difference is now I leave them eight sided. If I remove the corners and shape into an oval they are the same shape as the original from about 15 years in. 

At the last NEB meet I asked all the long time full time blacksmiths with 40+ years of experience what hammer and handle shape do they like.. 

nearly all had the same answer..   Light, skinny and long..        With this said, it was very interesting seeing the handles and hammers they were using and seeing what they explained as "Light, skinny and long"..    Each persons defining or definition was different than the others when you see the hammers each one owns and uses. 

I'm probably not in the norm..   I like a head size that is correct for the metal and action I'm looking to achieve. 

My oldest hammer which is 2.5lbs has the longest handle based on my original design and is about 2" longer than my 2.75 hammer because to terminate it the same length left a knot that interferes..  

Handle length for me does not effect accuracy.          Last demo I forged a steeled wrought iron drawknife..  The person who was there and has seem me compete at the fitchburg forge in said it was nice seeing me swing a hammer lightly vs mashing everything..   LOL..  

when I hit the metal it moves in a way that is predicted. 

The engineers cross peen is a shape I like for this type of hammer.. Still 8 sided but a full taper from head to butt. 

I've now used the same handle shape for 32 years.  All my handles are not sanded..  They are split out with an ax or froe, so the grain is straight.  I then drawknife the handle to shape nearly completely..  I will then scrape the handle for any rough spots..   Then some linseed oil. 

I like texture to the handle.. 

The callus in my tong hand is just now starting to come off.. Last forging session was about 2 weeks ago. 

The tissues in my hammer hand are thicker overall.. Not just callus..  So this area will blister first.. But the blisters don't hurt anymore..  Kinda like the tissues have changed after all these years. 

 

[John427]

   Before nail-guns and drywall screws you used to see a lot of octagon hickory handles. The shape seems to be to take less effort to grip and still maintain control. Important if you are hammering nails all day. The last hammer I bought with a factory octagon handle was a Vaughan 16 oz claw, and that was over 30 years ago.                           Fortunately, The Beaver tooth handle co. still makes octagon handles.  So now all my wood hammers have octagon handles.  From the 32 oz ball to an 8 oz claw.

You just have to remember wood for nailing, steel or titanium for demo work.

 

[Bull Sigh]

Some "octagonal" handles have quite a bit of rounding at the vertices.  I like the feel.  My smithing hammer handles are mostly oval, made by Flatland Forge.  I sometimes wish they were larger diameter but I'm learning to like them.  I have a 2.5 pound cross peen hammer made by Collins that has a larger oval that was, IIRC, about $20 at Home Depot.  I'll have to give a Beaver Tooth octagonal a try if they are still available.

[jlpservicesinc]

I have only found 1 off the shelf handle that was good.  My double face heller welding hammer.

When i go out to conferences or teaching, I get asked about my hammers and handles. 

Its pretty easy to show why I ended up with the design as people can actually hold them and feel the difference. 

People use a lot of pressure to squeeze the handle of an oval shape. 

They also squeeze it to keep the length correct. 

They also squeeze it to keep the face or peen centered with each strike. 

Very few people actually hit with the center of the hammer face unless its rounded to much for clean work (less rounding hammers) 

With a square face hammer that's very flat you can feel when your not hitting in the center. 

When im cutting on the hardie I use the heel of the hammer as it doesn't jump as much and its impact is usually greater vs the center. Again based on my hammer designs. 

I really find people are slow to change ideas and such.  

In a period of 2 years I tried every handle shape as well as hammer face designs I could find. 

I was 17. 

 

 

[Frosty]

I use a modified Hofi slab handle. I bought a 5/4 x 4" clear hickory board from a cabinet supply. My handles are fitted to the eye with a slight shoulder at the handle transition and are pre-slitted just to the shoulder and wedged in place with a wooden wedge lubed with wood glue. The handle tapers slightly to a slightly bulbous end. The bulbous end is completely unnecessary  but it's on my template and now grandfathered in. All the edges are rounded slightly thought not quite octagonal. 

The slab allows my to grip the handle between thumb and index finger with almost no pressure. The taper causes a reflex tightening if it slips at all and I've never thrown a hammer with my Hofi adaptation.

This handle allows me to let the hammer pivot in my grip adding a 4th. pivot in the swing. Every pivot point is a force multiplier, it's not an additive difference it is multiplicative. 

Try it sometime, keep your elbow and wrist ridgid and see how hard you can hit a piece of 2" x 4" on your anvil. Next allow just your shoulder and elbow to move and lastly your wrist two. Compare the dents, you'll see a significant difference across the board. (Yeah, I know it's a pun. suck it up)

Later if you try a slab handle and my pivoting grip you'll see a way harder blow for much less effort. My technique is to let the hammer pivot back at the top of my swing, stopping it from touching my arm with the head with just my fingertips. As I approach impact I close my hand which snaps the hammer to contact. When the hammer rebounds it just pivots in my hand. This multiplies the power in my blow and isolates my joints and other soft tissue from impact damage.

A tight grip on any shape handle conducts impact shock through your bones, compressing cartilage, bursa, etc. causing such common problems as blacksmith's elbow, shoulder, etc. 

The only time I use a tight grip is for center punching, chasing and repousse, light blows. I've been using this grip since taking a 1/2 hour fencing lesson at a Ren faire in the mid-late 70s and used the grip and slab handles till I laid my hammer down a couple years ago. I have no wrist, elbow or shoulder issues. 

I can swing a lighter than most, 32oz. hammer and compress a 3/8" dia aluminum test slug as or farther than guys swinging 4lb. hammers using a tight grip. And I've been doing it close to 40 years with the worst to show are blisters before my hand toughens up for the season.

That's just me though. To each his/er own.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Bull Sigh]

"I was 17."

My grandfather bought me my first tool, a folding Barlow knife when I was 5 so we could sit on his front porch whittling away the hours.  It was serviceable, but not really good.  Before long I was checking out knives in stores and bought a smallish hunting knife.  It fit my hand and I could safely work it hard.  When my two boys were getting into tools, I pushed them to feel of the handles.  You can actually get quality hammers and knives for small hands.  I'm still feeling of tool handles, trying to find the best.  I'll look for a Heller.

"I use a modified Hofi slab handle."

Thanks for the info and detail.  More looking around required.

I've used a variety of materials to cast the grip shape of my hand.  One of these days I'll carve an exact fit handle.

[Frosty]

Should've posted a pic of my first tapered Hofi slab handle. It's longer than later ones but there is some whippy farrier slab handle in the mix. I don't do Whippy except in my old 62 Vette in the Zodi's parking lot late on rainy nights.

For scale, it's leaning on the 6" x 6" post to our upper rear deck.

The second is of a 40oz. ball pein hammer I forged into a straight pein. The hammer isn't actually thicker, it's shorter and looks that way. They're the same thickness where they enter the eye.

Frosty The Lucky.