Hammer Handle Carving


Since the subject of hammer handles came up recently.......

   I thought I'd share a few of my hand carved handles for your viewing pleasure.
These were all made with drawknife, shaves and scrapers. And pretty
quickly too. I don't fuss with them too much after they're shaped.
 A couple of the heads were homemade too. (well, ok, three or so, you guess.)

  The smallest are a teardrop shape grip which I find very comfortable. Each one I carve for length with an  eye toward it's final usage. I'll carve 2 or three length handles identical hammer heads for different jobs. You simply can't have too many hammers. 

 Never throw away a broken shovel, ax, pick or other large handle! Nearly ever hammer I own is handled from the stubs of broken bigger handles.

Strapped Hammers and the Tiniest Hammer

I got tired of replacing hammer handles on hand sledges, full sized sledges and splitting mauls. So it took a tip from the oldtime Scottish hammer makers and started adding straps to the heads. I'll cut out the straps from heavy duty water pipe, usually 2" pipe. This gives me curve to fit the handle. The steel used on these types of hammer is ideal for welding (ball peins will not do).  A good arc welder makes short work of it.  I'll place a small spacer into the eye both to clamp the straps to and also keep any  from running down into the eye I have to grind out later. , angling the straps outward a few degrees and weld them there. After the handle is carved and mounted to the head I use a heavy bench vise to press the long ends tight to the handle and even smashing it into the wood a bit.  A hole is drilled through the whole and a nail is the usual rivet of choice.  No hammer I have even made this way has broken and yet you don't get vibration running up your poor old arm when you use one.
I found the tiny hammer head in an antique shop among the dollhouse toys. It's no toy though. 
An actual hardened hammer made for work. It's so small I figure maybe a watchmaker's hammer. 

 
Tiny hex handle for a recarved/reground head from a toy set, hammer
10 oz
 
 

French Cobblers

Hammer Storage in the Shop

I added an angled piece inside my rolling sawhorse ( 1/2 of the sawhorse/workbench/toolbox pair) to store hammers on.
Except for a couple of factory numbers, all these hammer handles were carved.