Hammer Handle from Power Pole

**Bushmiller** · 20th April 2023, 12:31 AM

I can boast quite a range of hammers, most of them quite unnecessary, but with claw hammers I have at the moment just a single smaller example. However, I did have a large claw hammer head and as I am in the middle of house renovations I felt I could justify the time to make a handle. I know, I could have just gone out and bought one, but I had this power pole. Actually, I had several poles, which our son had left in the back yard. I realised that he would never get to use them so I cut up a couple.

They are Spotted Gum so the timber is correct for impact tools, but unfortunately they are pretty old and have been lying on the ground weathering for some time. It was quite difficult to salvage sound pieces of timber from the poles.

I ended up with billets reminiscent of farm fence posts and some small pieces that were the right size for a hammer handle and thought I must be able to get something out of these. I ended up discarding most of them even after I had sawn them to size. There were too many defects.

Hammer 7.jpg

As it happens I should have gone with one of the larger billets in the first place.

Hammer 1A (2).JPG

I marked out a rough, but enlarged, shape using the smaller hammer as a guide. It was first cut out on the bandsaw and then I used a 5" angle grinder with a coarse sanding disc to rough the shape:

hammer 5.jpg

It was only at this point I realised that there were many defects and the gum veins were in fact small splits. The pix emphasise the defects more than they really are, but they are still there of course.

Hammer 11.jpg Hammer 8.jpg Hammer 10.jpg

Having got this far and needing this hammer, I decided to keep going. The handles were sanded first with 80g sandpaper

Hammer 9.jpg

and then with 240g. A timber wedge has been added and then trimmed off. If thw handle looks as though it is going to hold up, I will add one or two steel wedges.

Hammer 6.jpg

They have now been treated with a couple of coats of BLO. These pix are after the first coat.

Hammer 2.jpg Hammer 3.jpg

Almost certainly I will need to replace the handle at some point in the future, but it should be safe for the moment.

Regards
Paul

**NCArcher** · 20th April 2023, 08:00 AM

I thought you'd have tons of SG Paul.
The billet you gave me is still seasoning.

**Bushmiller** · 20th April 2023, 08:19 AM

NC

I'm not sure I have tons, but I do have a fair amount. In using the piece I did, I was being a little bit "tight" wanting to make use of everything I had. With the power poles I had been trying to get longer lengths suitable for axe handles and garden tools, which is why I tried to utilise the short lengths.

I can only just recall giving you any SG. What was it destined for? It was so long ago when you were in the Upper Hunter. It would be like flint by now!

Wait a moment. I remember: It was for an archery bow.

Regards
Paul

**NCArcher** · 20th April 2023, 11:01 AM

Yep, I still intend to turn it into a self bow. I just have to cut away everything that isn't a bow.

**tony_A** · 20th April 2023, 11:09 AM

Looks nearly as good as a bought one Paul

I like this type of post covering a simple task as it is a bit of motivation to get in and have a go at some of my own

**Bushmiller** · 20th April 2023, 05:31 PM

I expect that the wood carvers will squirming at the following, but as I mentioned before I used an angle grinder to shape the handle. I have a couple of these 5" grinders and this is the lowest powered one. I think it is 800W and I use it because it is the lightest. The sanding disc is 40g and this one had already been used for another task. Dry Spotted gum is very hard and while I could have used draw knives and spoke shaves for the shaping process, it would have taken me too long. Also I did not want to use up my hand stitched rasps on such a project.

P1080800.jpg

The timber I used came from one of the two smaller sections. As you can see the splitting was extreme. To retrieve anything useful the logs were effectively rift sawn. In practice this did mean that the recovered wood was pretty much quartersawn.

P1080802.jpg P1080801.jpg

Regards
Paul

**Mountain Ash** · 20th April 2023, 09:06 PM

Love it Paul. At least I dont have to justify having too many hammers, collecting them is an occupational hazard.

**markharrison** · 20th April 2023, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by NCArcher

Yep, I still intend to turn it into a self bow. I just have to cut away everything that isn't a bow.

Ooh. I'm interested.

I have this urge to create a bow but I've been unable to find any information on Australian timber to use, or some imported timber that I can get access to.

Sorry to hijack your thread Paul

**Bushmiller** · 20th April 2023, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by markharrison

Ooh. I'm interested.

I have this urge to create a bow but I've been unable to find any information on Australian timber to use, or some imported timber that I can get access to.

Sorry to hijack your thread Paul

MH

No problem. You probably can't do much better than quiz NC Archer on the subject of bows. His Forum name stems from "Newcastle Archer" despite where he now resides. In fact, if he can find the time to build a bow, I too would love to see a dedicated thread. In the meantime a "taster" here would suffice.

Regards
Paul

**NCArcher** · 21st April 2023, 06:07 PM

Geez, put the pressure on. I will start a new thread. Soon

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