[TheForge] Re: hammer handle shape

[Ralph Sproul]

	Mike,  AuhYeah, I think your missing the old nicotene sludge - palm suction
trick for your spit on the handle
story........then she'd be complete. :-)

	Most loggers do chew around here - it's part of the local color so to
speak.........spotted work area that is.

	On a more serious note more in tune with the topic of this e-mail, I use a
belt sander to "square off" the handle into a rounded octogon - then a piece
of broken glass to shave the handle - leaves it ready for your hand in short
order.  I also leave the end of the round handle intact so as I can feel if
I'm coming up on the end on occassion.

Ralph

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Mike Spencer
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2005 10:12 PM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [TheForge] Re: hammer handle shape



> Make yourself a "handle" out of plasticine clay....  Adjust it in your
> grip till you like the feel.  Then check the shape.

I don't go quite that far but I do use a draw knife to shape handles
to fit my hand.  The result it sort of rectangular but asymmetrical.
In general, there are flats where the pads at the base of my fingers
and at the finger joints fall.  And there's a bit of a swell just at
the end so that I can feel that I'm at the end of the handle if I let
it out to full length while hammering.  That last bit isn't nearly as
helpful as the flats for making a better grip (altho it's *very*
helpful on the long handle of my 7# splitting maul.)

Years ago, one of the NS guys saw an old timer spit on his hand before
picking up the hammer each time and adopted this method for himself.
My personal opinion is that he mostly liked to gross out the
spectators and justify it with arcane lore.  I tried it and yes, it
does make the hammer slip a bit less but after a while it makes yer
hand icky.  Maybe if I were to take up chewing tobacco like the old
guys... :-)

- Mike

--
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
                                                           /V\
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

--




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