A New Handle for the English Warhammer
Dec 10, 2015 18:50:09 GMT
Post by seth on Dec 10, 2015 18:50:09 GMT
When I was in junior high, my uncle, who collected knives, gave me a Smokey Mountain Knife Works catalog. I was very impressed with all they had to offer as I have always had a big interest in weapons. Although I really wanted a sword, my budget allowed me to order the WWI trench knife. Luckily, I was able to convince my mom to let me use her credit card. She was very worried about giving the number to stranger in TN though her 12 year son buying a brass knuckle hilted knife did not seem to bother her. Anyway, that one order put me on many mailing lists, including Museum Replicas Limited. When I received my first MRL catalog I was floored. I had long pined after "real" medieval weapons and here in my hands was a place one could actually buy them. I saved that catalog for years, and when I started making some more money I bought my first MRL weapon: the English Warhammer.
I have owned this for many years and always liked it. I never did any test hitting with it, which was a good thing come to find out. However, as I became more educated on weaponry and wood working in general, I came to realize the great weakness of this hammer was its handle. Although it is claimed to have a hardwood shaft, it didn't seem very sturdy to me. In fact, I have never been impressed with "hardwoods" that come from anywhere in Asia whether it be on axe handles or furniture (with the notable exception of Japan: they make some serious gardening implements and the current handle of my rifleman's hawk was purchased in a hardware store there and has held up to years of throwing).
The thing that worried me most about the handle were the large knots visible in it. This summer, I decided to test my hammer. I took it off the wall and went out to my splitting stump. With safety glasses in place, I gave it a whack at quarter strength and this happened:
The knots are visible on both sides of the handle and that is right where it broke. So I decided a new handle was in order. I generally prefer hickory handles on axes and such, but I had the perfect piece of oak. I had trimmed down an oak board earlier which left me with a 28" x 1.5" x .75" piece of oak with nice grain and no knots. The hammer required a rectangular cross-section handle so this was perfect.
I removed the head, langets, and butt cap from the old handle. I first shaped the butt of the new handle. The butt cap was hollow in a rounded fashion. Rather than match the new handle exactly to the hollow space, I fit it snug to the sides, and filled the rest with epoxy. I drilled a hole through the handle and used a 1/4" piece of brass rod to secure the butt cap further.
I then began to shape the top of the handle to accommodate the head and langets. I used chisels and sandpaper to do a little at a time until the head fit extremely snug. Still, I managed to take a little too much off one side. However, it took a lot of effort to get it on. The old head was a bit wobbly, but this one seemed solid. The angle that the head meets the handle was also not 90 degrees--I got it as close as I could, and I drilled through the handle again and secured the head with 1/4" brass rod.
I also tossed the screws that were used to secure the langets and decided to use brass rod. I then found the langets were not exactly symmetrical so drilling through the handle was slightly at an angle. However, I got the brass rod through ok in the end. This was my first attempt at peening anything, and I did it cold. It was tricky peening this because the rod potruded on both sides and when I hit one side, the rod would tend to jump out the other side rather than mushroom. So the peening job on the brass is a little ugly but seems serviceable.
I didn't try to salvage the leather grip. It had been glued on and didn't do much for the grip anyway. The rectangular profile of the original handle was still too angular with the leather and dug into the hand. For the new handle, I used a draw knife to cut down the corners and make the area of the handle where I grip it an oval cross section. This was a huge improvement on grip comfort and my hand can still feel the alignment of the hammer head. I added a leather wrist lanyard as well. Here is the end result:
I also tested it on ol' stumpy. A dozen full power whacks with the hammer and dozen more with the spike and nothing came loose. The spike actually bent a bit, but the oak and brass held firm. I would have preferred that the langets be symmetrical which would have alleviated the necessity of drilling at an angle. With a do over, I would try to fit the head more exactly, but it is far better than the original. I am tempted to purchase some other MRL warhammers and see what kind of handles I can put on them.
I have owned this for many years and always liked it. I never did any test hitting with it, which was a good thing come to find out. However, as I became more educated on weaponry and wood working in general, I came to realize the great weakness of this hammer was its handle. Although it is claimed to have a hardwood shaft, it didn't seem very sturdy to me. In fact, I have never been impressed with "hardwoods" that come from anywhere in Asia whether it be on axe handles or furniture (with the notable exception of Japan: they make some serious gardening implements and the current handle of my rifleman's hawk was purchased in a hardware store there and has held up to years of throwing).
The thing that worried me most about the handle were the large knots visible in it. This summer, I decided to test my hammer. I took it off the wall and went out to my splitting stump. With safety glasses in place, I gave it a whack at quarter strength and this happened:
The knots are visible on both sides of the handle and that is right where it broke. So I decided a new handle was in order. I generally prefer hickory handles on axes and such, but I had the perfect piece of oak. I had trimmed down an oak board earlier which left me with a 28" x 1.5" x .75" piece of oak with nice grain and no knots. The hammer required a rectangular cross-section handle so this was perfect.
I removed the head, langets, and butt cap from the old handle. I first shaped the butt of the new handle. The butt cap was hollow in a rounded fashion. Rather than match the new handle exactly to the hollow space, I fit it snug to the sides, and filled the rest with epoxy. I drilled a hole through the handle and used a 1/4" piece of brass rod to secure the butt cap further.
I then began to shape the top of the handle to accommodate the head and langets. I used chisels and sandpaper to do a little at a time until the head fit extremely snug. Still, I managed to take a little too much off one side. However, it took a lot of effort to get it on. The old head was a bit wobbly, but this one seemed solid. The angle that the head meets the handle was also not 90 degrees--I got it as close as I could, and I drilled through the handle again and secured the head with 1/4" brass rod.
I also tossed the screws that were used to secure the langets and decided to use brass rod. I then found the langets were not exactly symmetrical so drilling through the handle was slightly at an angle. However, I got the brass rod through ok in the end. This was my first attempt at peening anything, and I did it cold. It was tricky peening this because the rod potruded on both sides and when I hit one side, the rod would tend to jump out the other side rather than mushroom. So the peening job on the brass is a little ugly but seems serviceable.
I didn't try to salvage the leather grip. It had been glued on and didn't do much for the grip anyway. The rectangular profile of the original handle was still too angular with the leather and dug into the hand. For the new handle, I used a draw knife to cut down the corners and make the area of the handle where I grip it an oval cross section. This was a huge improvement on grip comfort and my hand can still feel the alignment of the hammer head. I added a leather wrist lanyard as well. Here is the end result:
I also tested it on ol' stumpy. A dozen full power whacks with the hammer and dozen more with the spike and nothing came loose. The spike actually bent a bit, but the oak and brass held firm. I would have preferred that the langets be symmetrical which would have alleviated the necessity of drilling at an angle. With a do over, I would try to fit the head more exactly, but it is far better than the original. I am tempted to purchase some other MRL warhammers and see what kind of handles I can put on them.