Loose Handles

[jayco]

It's been hot and dry here all summer. The handles on too many of my hammers,handled punches and chisels are getting slightly loose.

Is there some way of getting a little moisture to the wooden handles? Just some humidity to tighten them up?

I would prefer not to have to re-wedge all my handles, since I'm sure the problem will end as soon as it rains here.

Would an application of linseed oil do the trick?

[civilwarblacksmith]

I have heard that soaking the handle in linseed oil will hydrate the handles and make them swell. This isn't a permanent fix as with age they will shrink again and need to re-hydrated. Should last a good while though.

[easilyconfused]

You could also just give them a quick soak on the quench tub to get some water into them. Once again, short fix and I'd worry about rot if left in there too long.

[Finnr]

Linseed oil is a lot better idea than just water. When the wood swells with water the fibers get crushed. Drying out makes the crushed fibers a worse problem as the handle is even looser than before. Linseed oil will soak in and dry eventually so it stays there and dosen't evaporate out like the water.
Finnr

[mike-hr]

I use a 50-50 mix of linseed oil and turpentine on all my wood handles. Rakes, picks shovels, hammers. The turpentine thins the oil enough to let it soak in the wood easier. Treatment lasts about a year in the sun.

[Max Mulholland - Tetnum]

i just soak the handles in straight antifreze they will rarely come lose again and its almoast impossable to remove a broken handle with out drilling it out

[jimbob]

Linseed oil is a lot better idea than just water. When the wood swells with water the fibers get crushed. Drying out makes the crushed fibers a worse problem as the handle is even looser than before. Linseed oil will soak in and dry eventually so it stays there and dosen't evaporate out like the water.
Finnr

trouble with linseed oil is, if left out in the air(like outside) the oil will oxidase and turn the handle black.after a while the top layer turns to powder. I've been playing around ith WD40 as Hofi suggest for his hammers it does not seem to change the color of the wood and soaks right in Edited September 26, 2008 by jimbob
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[Finnr]

Well ya see. I'm already handling the handle with filthy dirty black hands so it makes little difference. The handle isn't for pretty it's to hold on to. I've used linseed oil for about 35 or so years on all kinds of tools and have yet to get a black handle from exposure to the air. But then maybe some folks do. WD40 seems to work but I guess I'm kinda old fashioned.
Finnr

[Lord Ruthven]

Hm, have you tried boiling hot linseed oil instead of thinned with turpentine one. It works just as well, and the effect is longer lasting.

[Jerry W.]

I have seen them soaked in anti-freeze and that seems to work very well.
Jerry

[keykeeper]

WD-40 stinks, literally. Then you have that smell soaked into your skin. Personally, I want a handle thats not too slick, slick handles make blisters in my experience.

[Hofi]

the original question was ABOUT ''LOOS HANDLE''
In ALL my 20 years of forging I never wedged a hammer ALLWAYS GLUED the handle
to the hammer head . I started with 6 hours set epoxy and I still have hammers that are holding after 20 years !!!!!!!!! 6 years ago I started to use SIKAFLEX 11 FC and all the hammers that I forged and cast I used the SICA PU GLUE are holding without any problam.
The advantege of the SIKA is that it holds much better and because of the rubber like natuer it absorbs the vibration much better . and I am speaking about more then 1000 hammers that I sold in that 6 years time.
as for preserving the wood . In the last 10 years I used WD-40 .it is easy to use soaks very good into the wood and after 2 days there is no smell what so ever. I sprey it very thoroughly twice and let it dry for 2 days. NO complain about the smell. I do it only once in the hammer life time and Israel is a hot dry country !!.
I LIKE my handles to be as SMOOSE + SLICK as possible the more the better and I never had a blster in my hand,and I am forging hours long . IF ONE HOLD / GUID the hammer right he will never get a blister !!!!!!!
Hofi

[racer3j]

Thank you Mr. Hofi. That was a nice "backdoor" way of answering a question I had asked earlier- Does Mr. Hofi use a handle glue that dampens vibration? I see that the answer is, yes.mt

[jayco]

Thanks guys for all the great suggestions. I'm gonna try the linseed oil(boiled, or mixed with turpentine).
I'll try the glue also.
I enjoy a good experiment. I'll be trying these different ways to secure handles.

I had always done mine the old fashioned way........wooden wedges.....and most of the time.......it worked.......but lately not so good.

As far as just soaking the hammer eye in water.....yeah, it works....but only temporarily.
As the wood swells, the wood fibers are crushed, I think........shortening the life of the handle.
But I must admit....I've done it.......when there was no time to refit a handle.......

[orgtwister]

does any here know were in the states we can find the SIKAFLEX 11 FC glue i have some handled punches coming in that i have to put handles in and that sounds a lot better then wedges i have allways used and i would like to try it

[Glenn]

We are looking into carrying SIKAFLEX 11 FC on IFI. I should be able to provide details in a few days.

[orgtwister]

thats great glenn thanks for the info i'll be looking forward to it .you do a great job with the IFI forum site again thanks tom

[Glenn]

Pre-orders of Hofi Hammer Handle glue.

If you want in let me know.

[nett]

3M 5200 is another moisture-cured polyurethane adhesive. It is available in 3 oz tubes as well as the caulk gun cartridge size. The 3 oz size would be a tremendous savings if you were shafting, say, three or less hammers. I've been using 5200 for over twenty years and swear by it. I also used to swear at it until I discovered it clears up nicely with mineral spirits until it cures.

[azIRonSmith]

I like to use mineral oil for my handles. I just use the food grade stuff for cutting boards. Keeps em from drying out and leaves no smells or residues or discoloration. About once a year I redo them just to be sure.

This also keeps the handles themselves nice and smooth. No splinters and such.

You definitely don't want to use water to soak em. This is just a quick fix with long term problems. Standard Anti-freeze is also poisonous and I don't know if you really want that sitting in your sweaty hands for hours on end.

That epoxy for keeping the heads on sounds great, but even then I would still use mineral oil to keep the handles themselves nice and smooth.

My 2cents.

[jimbob]

I haven't tried mineral oil, but I like the ideal ...Hofi said WD 40 was made of mineral oil and some other stuff...the KISS priniciple at work...

[Glenn]

If you plan on gluing the handle into the hammer head, DO NOT use any oil, conditioner etc on the wood before installing the handle. The glue will not stick to oiled wood.

[NateDJ]

Mineral Oil is sold in most stores in the health and medicine section, sold as a laxative. It is also the oil used in baby oil with only a little perfume added. (keeps your hammers as soft as a baby?)

I haven't used anything on any of my hammers yet, waiting on this thread to pan out into an agreed upon solution LOL

[easilyconfused]

When I was looking for mineral oil, I found that unscented baby oil is cheaper than the stuff sold as laxatives so, unless you're ingesting it for you know what, I went with the baby oil.

[Arbalist]

Have you tried using steam to make the handle swell? If that worked I'd then rub some oil in to retain the moisture - only a thought.