Rant: My favorite hammer head flew off after 12 years yesterday

I was working on a gate hinge around 4pm and on the THIRD swing the head went flying across the yard. Lucky nobody was standing there because it could have hurt someone bad. The handle was an old hickory one I'd always liked but I guess the wood finally dried out too much. Anyone else ever have a tool fail on them out of nowhere like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

leodavis1mo ago

12 years is actually pretty good for a hickory handle, especially if you kept it in a garage or shed where the humidity changes a lot. The wood expands and contracts with the weather, so even good handles eventually loosen up over time. A little linseed oil every few months would have kept that handle tight way longer, but hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

king.robin1mo ago

Read somewhere that boiled linseed oil works better than regular for that. Good to see someone got a decade out of a handle though, @leodavis. Most people I know just let them dry out and wonder why they split.