Swelling a leather mallet head?

[Eric The Viking]

Reading the thread on claw hammers made me wonder:

I have an elderly leather/copper mallet, Thor brand, and similar to the ones that used to be supplied with MG wire wheel cars to undo the central wheel nut.

Over the years the leather has shrunk, so much so that it is only a loose fit in the head, and thus not really all that safe to wallop something with.

Can anyone suggest something to swell it back to a snug fit? I"ve tried water in the past, and veg oil (had some left over from plane iron tempering!), but the oil didn't work at all, and whilst water worked a bit, it shrank back pretty quickly.

I know they're not expensive, but I don't really want to replace it if I don't have to (it's the 24oz sort). The handle is fine and a tight fit in the head, as is the copper end.

Cheers, E.

 

[Vann]

I have no experience swelling leather, but neatsfoot oil is supposed to revive leather. They used to use it to soften the heavy leather seal in railway brake cylinders (you know, under the carriages, for braking). You could try that. HTH.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[GazPal]

Thor leather faces/heads used to be sealed by dipping in shellac, but once the leather shrinks/dries out they can be tricky to restore. Slow re-humidification might work, but the moisture typically evaporates away unless sealed and then you're back to square one.

Locking the moisture in is the hardest part.

It's years since I last did this, but a means of adjusting fit would be to add a thin layer of hide to the outer edge where it fits into the head socket, or even wrap the full leather insert. This may sound strange, but dog chews are made using rawhide and you could part boil one or two, before stretching them into place around the head and bind into place until they're dry and shrink wrap tight around the older section. Pin afterwards and trim to fit the socket before sealing (Saturating the outer surface) with shellac/dilute outdoor PVA and allowing to dry.

The above is related to a technique they used to adopt in the old days when repairing gun/rifle stocks by stitch wrapping wide strips of boiled rawhide around the broken stock and allowing it to shrink fit tight. Ye olde worlde permanent fix, but without dog chews.

I hope this helps.

 

[jimi43]

Any chance of a picture or two?

Jim

 

[ro]

I've swelled the leather bungs used in old Seagull engines with boiling water, washing up liquid and oil before.

I just dropped the leather into the boiling water and when it started to swell added some fairy liquid and some light oil (I can't remember what it was but it might have been 3 in 1 or teak oil), shook it up well and left it overnight. The fairy and oil penetrated the leather and caused it to stay swelled up.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Many thanks to all!

I'll try the detergent + 3-in-1 first (coz I've got those ingredients!!), then, if that fails, go in search of neatsfoot oil (ought to have some really).

It'll be nice to get it sorted. It's just the right weight and squashyness, and, because it's thin and heavy, the force can be well directed for things like chiselling. I find it's too easy to miss-strike with a wooden mallet.

Cheers,

E.

 

[GazPal]

I use Thor #3 and #4 (Double rawhide faced) hammers for heavy framing work and used to have to repair them on a regular basis if ever they got wet during work on outdoor projects.

Oil and detergent definitely swell the leather, but can tend to sweat out during use and shrink back over a period of time............ Tried it and the resulting splatter marks and staining tend to be a tad off-putting. :lol:

Neats foot results in much the same effect unless applied solely to the area where it makes contact with the steel head, but migrates throughout the rawhide.

A small pack of flat rawhide dog chews and surplus varnish cost next to nothing and the repair technique actually works. :wink: