Hammers

[Powder Keg]

I seem to have a hammer fetish. Accept I pick up old crappy rusty ones and fix them up a bit. Here is one that I'm messing with. The handle was broke off at the head and I got it for a buck from a pawn shop. Its a number 3 Warwood head. I bought it because I liked the shape. It looked well built. So the first order is clean up the head and make a handle. I had to dig out the rest of the old handle. I have a couple of Ash planks that are nearly 2" thick. I sawed a piece of handlewood from that.



I decided to try a turned handle. Some guys don't like round hammer handles, but I've never tried one. I had made a wood center a few years ago. I can just chuck it in my three jaw and go to town I used the lathe to turn the blank round then shaped it by hand with hand tools.




More soon:o)

[Powder Keg]

Looks like I forgot to take more pictures I turned the handle round then filed the end so that the hammer head would fit. I took my time so that it was a snug fit. I cut a slit for a wood wedge and installed the head. I think the handle needs to have some grip carved into it.

The hammer head was wire wheeled to get all the rust off. I used a polly-fan on a angle grinder and cleaned some of the angled surfaces. The faces on this hammer are really hard. I could barley sand it smooth. After the head was all cleaned up I wiped it down with some gun bluing. I like how it turned out.



Wes

[Powder Keg]

    While I was fixing this hammer up I recalled a memory from when I was small. I used to help my grandpa fix stuff. We were always going to to the dump to take out the trash. But It seems like we always brought back as much stuff as we dropped off. A lot of the stuff was old lumber. I remember that when we got home we would unload it and start cleaning it up. It would have old nails and screws throughout. Grandpa would pull out the nails and screws and place them in a pile. It was my job to straighten them. I would pound them around with a hammer till they were fairly straight:o) then they would go into a coffee can for later use.

      All this hammering and nail pulling would wear out a hammer handle. Once in a while we would have to repair them. We would go through some of the wood scraps that we had collected. If we were lucky there would be a nice piece of hardwood there. Grandpa would saw out a piece about the right size then start in with a wood rasp to take it down to a shape and size that fit his hands nice. We would install the head onto the new handle. Then paint it red. I think he looked for deals on red paint? Everything was that color. He said he could find it easier that way.