If you’ve got a wood-handled hammer and the head is wiggly, jiggly, wobbly, or loose, here’s a tool hack to fix a hammer fast.
All you need to fix a loose hammer head is another hammer. Ironic? Yes. Easy? Yes.
You’ll also need some boiled linseed oil and a bucket.
OK, let’s fix a hammer. First thing is to draw the hammer head back up the handle where it should be. To do this: Hold the loose hammer upside down and whack the end of the handle with another hammer. Don’t ask me why this works, but it does. Smashing the head back down the handle—because that makes intuitive sense—does not work.
Once you’ve drawn the hammer head up the neck of the tool, rest it head-down in a shallow bath of boiled linseed oil overnight.
The wood (often hickory) handle can get dried out or slightly compressed from season change, in some cases, or just lots of use.
Like the Egyptians quarrying stone by soaking wooden rods drilled into massive blocks (I might be reaching here), the overnight oil bath will swell the wood enough to tighten it back up. And this tool hack will fix a hammer and get you whackin’ and smackin’ like a boss.
The head won’t stay on the handle for hammering upside down? Should I put tape to make handle head bigger for a tight fit or put it in boiling linseed oil? Sadly I’ve stained and clear coated the handle so?
The head won’t stay on the handle for hammering upside down?
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Tana—This story means the world to us. PLEASE post a photo of that hammer on our Facebook page. I think this is awesome. –Mark
Now that sounds so ridiculously stupid as in, ” why didn’t I think of that before” such a simple solution to an irritating problem. I have a hammer that was given to me by my father before he passed away. He was a skilled carpenter, but not by trade. He and I worked on many houses and projects together and you can probably guess that this hammer is old with a wooden handel. I swore I would not get rid of it and now I have the solution. Thank you so much.I will fix it right now,, hopefully I have linseed oil left. Thank you, thank you, thank you!-
Tana Ailshie
Love it Andy. The counter-intuitive bottom-of-the-handle whacking is fun. It shouldn’t work, but it does.
I find banging the handle downwards on the bench works well too.