Warning: I learned the hard way about soaking your hammer handle in water

Last month I was at a demo day over in Greenville and this old timer showed up with a sledge that had a handle so tight you could bounce it off concrete. I asked him his secret and he said he soaks his handles in water overnight before a big job. I figured I'd try it on my cross peen before a weekend project and left it in a bucket too long, like 18 hours. Next morning the wood swelled so bad the head started cracking at the eye. I had to rehang the whole thing and lost a Saturday to it. Now I do a quick dip, maybe 20 minutes tops, and wipe it dry before using. Anyone else mess up a handle trying some trick they heard from an old timer?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert2751d ago

You sure the crack wasn't already there and you just blamed the soak? I've left handles in water for days and never had one split like that.

the_spencer1d ago

Nah I gotta push back on this one, @robert275 has a point. I've soaked handles for days on purpose to get that max swell before a heavy demo and never had a crack. Maybe your wood was already dry rotted or that cross peen just wasn't hung right to begin with.