Nothing earth shattering here, just thought I’d ask. I read in a book by Larry Haun that he recommends wrapping black electrical tape around the hammer handle right below the head. This is supposed to somehow protect the handle.
Does anyone here do this? Why or why not?
I recently bought a titanium Dalluge, would like the handle to last as long as I can make it.
With improved energy codes and more clean electricity coming online, the Phius program is leaning into comfort, durability, resilience, and flexibility for designers and builders.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
No. I don't do anything Larry Haun says. I am boycotting all his advice until he really retires. The guy is about 80 years old and is still framing, writing articles, wandering around giving advice - and he does them all well. He is a constant reproach to me. I want him to go away so I don't feel inadequate.
No I bought a Douglas and it doesn't need tape wrapped around the handle.
I don't tape the handle.
I do scrape off the lacquer that the factory sprays on to protect the handle during shipping and display. I find leaving the lacquer on makes the handle slippery when I sweat.
I then, on occasion, will rub in some oil finish. That happens whenever I remember to, like once every couple of years.
Shep,I don't tape the handle either. I use an Estwing for bull work. My favorite trim hammer is an 18 oz Blugrass with an octagonal second growth ash handle, 16" in length. Find the center of one stud, find them all. My others are Plumb, leather grip.I do not use a wood handle hammer to pull nails other than lightly embedded tack nails. Maybe the tape is supposed to extend the life of the handle for those who pull nails.BTW. I use air mostly.Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
I use air mostly
U must be getting old too<G> Have used air more in the last 10 years thatn in the previous 50, sure is easier on the arm.
Have never taped anything under 3 pound head. Sledge hammers get aninch of rubber tape or old heater hose behind the head with electrical tape over that to protect against missed strokes.
But on a regular 20 to 32 oz hammer, why???
BTW, nearly all my wood handle hammers are center growth hickory cut from Sangamon River in IL and imported to PNW, hand shaped and linseed oil soaked for a year.
Hickory is an excellent handle. Yes I am getting older. I still use an Emglo twin vertical tank I got in the early 80s.Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
Chuck, you cant be too old if youre still lugging that Emglo around.I have the same one, twin tank early 80's. It just wont die. Two Impulses and a small Dewalt comp. for finishing have me hoping I never have to carry that Emglo up/down another stairway. lol
Awhile back, there was a guy here who mentioned using sex wax for a good grip. Sex wax, apparently, is used on surf boards.
The wax gets real tacky if you are sweating on it. XC ski wax does the same thing , works great on a hot day.
You have to be more careful how you format things for us speed readers....I had to look closer to see that you didn't say that you only sweat every couple of years.;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I'm not changing just for you LOL
I do the same thing. I'll read something, and think "that doesn't make sense"
then I'll go back, slow down, and read all the words, in the right order. <G>
I always taped 4lb. and up, you wouldn't believe how many people you lend you hammer to think the wooden part is what you hit with!!
Your post reminds me of the time I was on a job and an employer asked the employee to put in a couple of nails. The employee stood there waiting for the nail gun. When the employer ask him about what he was waiting for. the employee replied that he was waiting for the nail gun. The the employer asked him if he had some bails in his bag. The employee said that he did. So the employer asked him to use his hammer and put them in.
So what is the use in taping a hammer if it never used by hitting a nail on the head?
Mine doesn't talk that I know of so I ain't wastin' my time waiting around with a recorder. What a dumb idea : )~
http://www.cliffordrenovations.com
http://www.ramdass.org
I put nail polish on mine.
Is that so it smells like the nails of a woman?
it is a fibre glass handle and those fibre glass splinters really hurt. Put that on the handle 25 years ago and haven't had a splinter since.
That makes sense. I had to laugh a little when you mentioned finger nail polish.
I always have with wooden handles, or maybe I started after chunking a few out.
Actually, I invented the idea.
"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking." — Sherlock Holmes, 1896
I do just so that if there is a miss, and ya ding the handle up there, ya don't splinter yer swinging hand re holstering the hammer in the hoop.Z
Like some others have said I sometimes tape the 4# ers and up but after wrapping the spot with some smallish wire. Helps some with overstrikes, not that I ever do that. I never tape a claw hammer handle unless it is cracked and never put any finish on one. Some claim that linseed weakens the wood, I suspect that's true. Anyway when the handle gets slippery from being polished with use I scrape it lightly all over with a sharp knife held perpendicular with the wood.
Forget the electrical tape. What I have done for years is; take an old bicycle tire, cut it into one or two inch pieces, slip as many as I think necessary on the handle up to the hammer head. I put them on my hammers, Russian finishing hammers and sledge hammers. It protects the handle if you hit too close to something like a stud or concrete. I also cut the bicycle tire lengthways into +12" strips to tie extension and power cord cords. Poke a hole near one end and slip it all the way to the male end. Hope I don't get banished for that!
The head on my Dalluge Ti protects the handle so no tape:
http://www.medfordtools.com/hammers/dalluge/titanium.jpg
Tape right below the head of a hammer is often the mark of a carp who can't use a hammer properly; however tape on the hand-grip area is a good idea.
But not electrical tape. Use hockey tape or (if you can get it these days) old-fashioned friction tape.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
Agreed! My framing hammer has several wraps of Camel friction tape so it fits my hand. Electrical tape is sliker than snot! Never did understand why one needs tape at the overstrike area on a handle.
That Camel friction tape is good for lots of stuff...even have the top of my steering wheel wrapped with it.LOL
Mitchhttp://www.freewebs.com/glenndalepedalplane/
"Never did understand why one needs tape at the overstrike area on a handle."
You obviously don't lend your hammer out. I just about wept the first time I gave my Nephew my fiberglass handled framer to pound a few nails. It aged years in seconds.
dpbellus
I used to use an Estwing hammer. Building up the butt end of the handle with hockey tape helped reduce amount of force I used to hang on to it and so reduced the amount of pain I had.
Then I retired that hammer to its best use and eliminated the pain in my elbow altogether. The best use for an Estwing? I keep it in the back of the truck all year round so I'll have something to knock apart frozen lumber piles in winter.
Ron