Making a hammer handle

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Alf

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Am I an expert in making and replacing hammer handles? Not likely. This is only the second one I've done. But on the other hand there seems to be very little out there on the subject, bar this explanation. But that's using a ready-made handle. Fie and forsooth! Of course you could argue that it's not exactly difficult to fashion a workable hammer handle without step-by-step instruction, and you'd be right, but on the other hand if this should give one person the necessary confidence to give it a go themselves then my work here is not in vain. If it should get someone who does know what they're doing to run up a quick tutorial that'll be even better...



The raw materials. In this case one London Pattern Shoemaker's Hammer head; one small metal wedge that came with the head's original, loose handle; one wooden wedge; one piece of reasonably straight-grained Ash. Ash and Hickory are the number one choices for hammer handles and who am I to argue? The required size varies; this one's about 9 1/2" long, 1 1/4" wide and 7/8" thick, but it's unusual in being shorter and sturdier than the normal run of hammer types. If in doubt, simply get a rough idea from measuring an existing handle, in a shop if necessary...



For some reason it seemed a good idea to bandsaw out the "waist" shape in the handle, but to be honest I think it might have been easier to just make the tapering oval shape and then worked in the waist afterwards. It's the usual method of shaving the corners first, in this case aiming for a oval shape rather than a circle. Pencil in some guidelines if you like. I used a spokeshave set very rank, but you could use a drawkife, plane, rasp, whatever you fancy.



So here are the first four big corners removed, leaving a squashed octagon and already a more comfortable handle to hold.



At the other end I penciled round the inside of the hammer head eye to give myself an idea of what size the handle needed to taper down to.



Here's the very rough outline of the finished shape. Not a thing of beauty, but don't panic - yet.



The next step is to take those corners off, and then the corners that generates have to be removed, and so forth until you're forming a nice rounded surface. Unhelpfully, it's really simply a case of removing the wood that isn't the finished handle. If it's any comfort the second one was a lot easier than the first, so don't despair if your first attempt ain't so good. I left the final stages until after the hurly burly of fitting the head.



I double checked the position of the hammer head in relation to my newly formed handle and redrew the eye in the right place again - the cross was just there to help centre the head on the handle end. It's worth marking the orientation of the head on the handle so you can put it back the right way for each test fit, especially with older, uneven heads. Then I shaved down the very end just to the pencil line and tried it for fit.



You can see where the dirt in the head marks the wood where it needs to be removed. Quite early on I switched to a file and removed just a fraction at a time - sooner a good tight fit achieved slowly than a loose fit and having to start again.



Once the head started to slip firmly enough onto the handle that I didn't need to hold it I took to holding the handle upright on the bench and tapping it down hard. That way the head naturally seats itself and you can see if it's going on straight. It's very easy to make the head a nice fit but at an unusable angle, so check that often. Making steady progress here.



After some more filing and checking and filing and checking it's fitting snugly and the over enthusiastic wood removal at the very end is well clear and ready to be removed in the fullness of time.



A quick scrape and sand to put the final touches to the handle...



... and then make sure you don't damage it again while the kerf for the wooden wedge is sawn to a point that'll be about 3/4 of the way down the depth of the head.



A coat of finishing oil to keep it looking clean - more to follow over the next few days and weeks but the first coat will at least keep out the worst of the dirt.



And the moment of truth. The head's seated firmly on the shaft, the heel of the handle is firmly on the bench and the wooden wedge is being pounded in.



Then trimmed flush. This is an awkward type of eye on this head; it flares an awful lot at the top, more than the handle and wedges will be able to fill.



And as I feared, with no support to the top of the handle from the eye the hammering home of the metal wedge has caused a bit of a mess. It doesn't look pretty but it's as solid as a rock.



This is how it should look, with the more common shape of eye, all filed flush.



The finished product, ready for more years of useful toil. The Exeter Pattern cross pein above was the first handle I made. See what I mean about first attempts? It works though, even if it is pretty ugly.

FIN

Cheers, Alf
 
Alf
Another good explaination of doing it yourself.

Doesn't really matter what it looks like as long as its tough and funtional.
 
Alf":1p20v6ql said:


Once the head started to slip firmly enough onto the handle that I didn't need to hold it I took to holding the handle upright on the bench and tapping it down hard. That way the head naturally seats itself and you can see if it's going on straight. It's very easy to make the head a nice fit but at an unusable angle, so check that often.

If you're working with a hammer where the front is a good deal heavier than the back (.e.g Warrington cross pein) it's REALLY easy for the front to go too low, and the head to end up non-perpendicular on the handle. DAMHIKT.





Then trimmed flush. This is an awkward type of eye on this head; it flares an awful lot at the top, more than the handle and wedges will be able to fill.

A "wrinkle" here; when you've driven the wedge as far as it will go, saw off the wedge so that 1/4" remains proud on the handle top. This short section is much stronger (in proportion) that the long waste you just sawed off, and can be hit harder. This trick allows the wedge to be driven a little tighter.

Oh, one more trick; if your hammer head is clean, and won't leave convenient rust marks to guide fitting, rub the inside of the head with coloured chalk.

BugBear
 
Alf - this is real dedication to the cause. I can't see why anyone would want to make such a mundane thing as a hammer handle - I can go to my local tool emporium (InExcess - Salisbury) and buy a good ash handle for the princely sum of 75p - what's the point in making a handle ordinaire, apart from if you have a particular pattern of hammer (I use a Japanese hammer with a very slim oak shaft) where a replacement might be tricky to find? - Rob
 
woodbloke":1vqvuk95 said:
Alf - this is real dedication to the cause. I can't see why anyone would want to make such a mundane thing as a hammer handle - I can go to my local tool emporium (InExcess - Salisbury) and buy a good ash handle for the princely sum of 75p - what's the point in making a handle ordinaire, apart from if you have a particular pattern of hammer (I use a Japanese hammer with a very slim oak shaft) where a replacement might be tricky to find? - Rob

Some people find woodworking quite enjoyable :D

BugBear
 
woodbloke":x01y7695 said:
Alf - this is real dedication to the cause. I can't see why anyone would want to make such a mundane thing as a hammer handle - I can go to my local tool emporium (InExcess - Salisbury) and buy a good ash handle for the princely sum of 75p - what's the point in making a handle ordinaire, apart from if you have a particular pattern of hammer (I use a Japanese hammer with a very slim oak shaft) where a replacement might be tricky to find? - Rob

Whilst you are it it why make a replacement chisel handle - you could hammer on some plastic replacement? Each and every time you pickup a tool you have made (albeit a handle), you take pleasure from using it. It's just the same for using furniture you have made, or recieveing a gift or tools from parents/grandparents. Most of us do this as a hobby - if you go indoors after you've finished and take pleasure from having made a handle - thats great. Its another skill - a practice for an item in the future you have yet to think of. A windsor chair with unusual spindles, a handle for an item of furniture - who knows what might come out of it. Sometimes, its nice to go out inthe workshop and make something "smaller" - that you can finish quickly - unlike some of the marathon items that seem to take forever to make. I find your statement very odd if I'm honest. As ALF said - you can buy a bookcase for tenner - in fact I make things where I can't even source the wood for the price IKEA sell it for! Am I really wasting my time?

Adam
 
Alf wrote:


Why build a bookcase when you can buy one from Argos for £9.99?

For sure, yes, you can buy a bookcase for £9.99 in Argos. What I am comparing here tho' is a standard shop bought ash hammer handle as opposed to a very similar home made ash hammer handle. IMHO the expenditure on time to make it ain't worth the effort, when as I say, I can go and buy exactly the same (pretty much) from town for less than a squid!
If on t'other hand you actually enjoy making hammer handles, then that's a whole different kettle of worms. Personally, I've got much more important projects to undertake in my 'shop than making replacement hammer handles from scratch - Rob
 
woodbloke":2ih4iu1j said:
What I am comparing here tho' is a standard shop bought ash hammer handle as opposed to a very similar home made ash hammer handle.
Go and find me one of those dimensions then. Straight grained, no knots, no hole in the end from the machine that made it mind you. See you in a few months...

woodbloke":2ih4iu1j said:
IMHO the expenditure on time to make it ain't worth the effort, when as I say, I can go and buy exactly the same (pretty much) from town for less than a squid!
Great; where d'you live? By the time I've gone into town and paid for the petrol to do so I could have made 5 handles and still have the money. Not actually the point, but as money seems to be the important factor to you...

woodbloke":2ih4iu1j said:
Personally, I've got much more important projects to undertake in my 'shop than making replacement hammer handles from scratch - Rob
Don't let us detain you from your much more important tasks then. :roll:

Cheers, Alf
 
Proper job Alf - as they say in your parts.
Everytime I try and make a handle for anything it becomes a monumental disaster - I must have aborted handles for about six tools in my shed.
Nice WIP shots as well (as ever).
Cheers
Gidon
 
approval.gif
Nice job Alf. Thanks.
 
If I've upset or offended folks on the forum, then aplologies are in order. Its just my own personal point of view that I can't get it into my pea sized brain that a standard component like a hammer handle needs to be produced when a perfectly acceptable, machine made, functional, shop bought product in the same material, is available to me locally. If the handle was a 'special' or I wanted to make it in an alternative timber then, fair enoughski. 'Nuff said on this one, going to make a brew - Rob
 
woodbloke":ixqqubgt said:
If I've upset or offended folks on the forum, then aplologies are in order. Its just my own personal point of view that I can't get it into my pea sized brain that a standard component like a hammer handle needs to be produced when a perfectly acceptable, machine made, functional, shop bought product in the same material, is available to me locally. If the handle was a 'special' or I wanted to make it in an alternative timber then, fair enoughski. 'Nuff said on this one, going to make a brew - Rob

Sometimes the journey is more important then the destination, and the feeling of satisfaction at a job well or at least adequately done.
 
Very nice as usual, Alf.

fwiw, I find making my own handles a relaxing thing to do. It is deceptively simply at times, say like adze handles I've made. The sweep is important--ankles are an important consideration.

Chisels often use to be sold sans handles. As did hammer, axe and adze heads. It was considered the "normal" thing to do for that otherwise very busy cabinet maker to make their own handles.

Of course, that meant putting off the more important work :lol:

Take care, Mike
 
Woodbloke

I think you are missing the point here, yes you can pop into the local shop and buy whatever you want, but its the satisfaction of making something yourself that will probably last a lot longer than shop produced ones.

Personally I get real satisfaction in making and replacing things in the WS.

Certainly haven't offended me, all to their own I say.
 
Waka":5kt6amsq said:
Certainly haven't offended me, all to their own I say.

Nor me, I was just thinking it odd to pick up on a hammer handle, when chisel handles are without a word considered for replacement even when purchased brand new.

Adam
 
Nice job Alf,
not an easy thing to do...in fact one of the more challenging things is to do. to get it right
I made a load of plane hammers and the shafts were the hard bit...well done you for showing how its done.

I have a few farriers hammer heads needing shafted excusing the pun they are not too dissimilar to your shoemakers.


I
 
Not upset or offended; possibly amused that you'd spend time saying you don't see the point when you've more important stuff to do though. :lol:

Okay, on the face of it perhaps it does seem daft. So what have I got out of doing it this way?
  • Saved the price of a ready-made handle and fuel costs to go and get it.
    By doing this I have one less offcut skulling about in the workshop.
    I got to practice with my spokeshaves which is always a Good Thing.
    Managed to justify playing with the newest Mujifang shave and can thus claim I really needed it. Yessir.
    Got a handle the size and shape that I find comfortable.
    Turned 50p-worth of unusable hammer into 50p-worth of usable hammer.
    Generated another page for my website, which might help to increase traffic to same.
    Came out of the workshop with a feeling of satisfaction instead of disillusionment as has been the recent case while struggling with the #55.
    Will get a replay of that satisfaction each and every time I use it.
Dammit, I should have been paying someone for the privilege on this basis. :lol:

Cheers, Alf
 

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