mitch
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2007
- Messages
- 2,636
4-5 years ago I made a new handle for my chasing hammer out of beech and over the next few months learned that it's really not an ideal choice of wood for this application. turns out it's just too compressible, by which i mean i needed to keep wedging it tighter & tighter as the wood fibers kept compressing. this condition was further aggravated by fluctuations in humidity. it would dry out, get loose, i'd put it a plastic bag with a damp rag, swell it tight again, rinse & repeat...
the other day i was going thru my woodworking stuff and came across a bottle of Chair Doctor glue. (http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=30261&cat=1,110) the principle is that the glue is extremely thin/watery and will penetrate & swell the wood fibers, then cure solidly in place. i've used it on a couple chairs and it works pretty well.
so i put my hammer in the toaster oven at about 200 degrees for a couple hours to really bake it dry -the head was about to fall off, then wrapped the head portion in a baggie and poured enough glue in to submerge it and put a rubber band on to prevent any curing or evaporation. i left it standing head down in a drinking glass in the bag for about 8 hrs (probably much longer than necessary, but overnight wouldn't hurt anything). i pulled it out, wiped off the excess glue with a damp paper towel, made sure the head was still pushed on tight (it was) and stood it head up for a day or two.
that was all a few weeks ago and it's still as solid today as the day i did it. yay, no more having to remember putting it back in the damp rag bag after every time i use it...
:hammer: :banana:
the other day i was going thru my woodworking stuff and came across a bottle of Chair Doctor glue. (http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=30261&cat=1,110) the principle is that the glue is extremely thin/watery and will penetrate & swell the wood fibers, then cure solidly in place. i've used it on a couple chairs and it works pretty well.
so i put my hammer in the toaster oven at about 200 degrees for a couple hours to really bake it dry -the head was about to fall off, then wrapped the head portion in a baggie and poured enough glue in to submerge it and put a rubber band on to prevent any curing or evaporation. i left it standing head down in a drinking glass in the bag for about 8 hrs (probably much longer than necessary, but overnight wouldn't hurt anything). i pulled it out, wiped off the excess glue with a damp paper towel, made sure the head was still pushed on tight (it was) and stood it head up for a day or two.
that was all a few weeks ago and it's still as solid today as the day i did it. yay, no more having to remember putting it back in the damp rag bag after every time i use it...
:hammer: :banana: