I tried tightening up the peined "rivets" at the butt end but they were too hard
to be moved by my ball pein hammer. Instead I shifted the leather discs around
to even up the spacing of them on the handle and am figuring to soak them in
something to get them to swell back up to size. They seem to still be pretty
pliable. I worked the surface of the leather handle a bit with some coarse
sandpaper to open it up. I'm wondering what would be an appropriate material to
soak them in. I can see not wanting something that hardens and makes the leather
brittle, but not something that makes the leather soft and fragile either. A mix
of mineral oil and linseed? Maybe top that with shellac or something.

I have a can of "neatsfoot compound" but as far as I can tell it's just mineral
oil of some kind. It leaves leather smelling permanently like used motor oil.

On 20/05/15 14:28, bridger wrote:
> I have a can of "neatsfoot compound" but as far as I can tell it's just
mineral oil of some kind. It leaves leather smelling permanently like used motor
oil.

Yes and no... the neatsfoot is an animal oil, but according to wikipedia 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
ki/Neatsfoot_oil) the "compound" refers to
neatsfoot with additives, which may include mineral oils. So there you 
go, I didn't know that!

Cheers,
Philip.

On 2015-05-19 10:28 PM, bridger wrote:
> I worked the surface of the leather handle a bit with some coarse sandpaper to
open it up. I'm wondering what would be an appropriate material to soak them in.
I can see not wanting something that hardens and makes the leather brittle, but
not something that makes the leather soft and fragile either. A mix of mineral
oil and linseed? Maybe top that with shellac or something.

I'd try lanolin. It's good for sheep!

Don

bridger wrote:
"... Instead I shifted the leather discs around to even up the spacing of them
on the handle and am figuring to soak them in something to get them to swell
back up to size. They seem to still be pretty pliable. I worked the surface of
the leather handle a bit with some coarse sandpaper to open it up. I'm wondering
what would be an appropriate material to soak them in. I can see not wanting
something that hardens and makes the leather brittle, but not something that
makes the leather soft and fragile either. A mix of mineral oil and linseed?
Maybe top that with shellac or something..."

To the best of my knowledge and belief there is nothing you can do to reinflate
the shrunken leather of a leather washer handle. Nothing. No way. Don't even
bother to hope. Don't try to get anything into the leather, it will be worse
than useless. I've soaked old leather, of various kinds for for various reasons,
in neat's-foot oil. Soaked it in linseed oil. I've used neats-foot-oil/lanolin
leather dressings. If you are lucky soaking the washers will do nothing much. If
not lucky, you will get a disgusting, gummy, fragile mess. What you **won't** do
is improve the handle in any way whatever.

Most likely your best bet is to push all the washers up really tight next to
each other. Then fill the gap between the last washer and the end, or maybe
leave the gap between the two last washers and fill that, by wrapping tightly
with thick thread or very thin cord. I might perhaps work glue down between the
washers before snugging them up, then lay in the filling cord in glue. When dry
put on a coat or two of shellac. The first coat of shellac will soak in a bit
but seal the surface, so you might need two or more. Or maybe glue ooze-out will
ahve sealed the surface. Smoothing or shaping the surface, or sanding to clean
it, probably won't do much good before the shellac is on, but will expose raw
leather and require a bit more shellac. Sanding leather, especially old leather,
usually doesn't work very well; trimming with a sharp edge tool is much more
successful. I would try a float, haven't yet but mean to.

I could well be wrong in my opinion; I haven't attempted to restore a leather-
washer handle (though I have dealt with old washers on chisel handles, where
soaking in BLO with the rest of the handle sometimes is beneficial). If someone
has successfully tightened up an old leather-washer handle (without repeaning or
adding new solid material like the cord I suggest) I'll be happy to add it to my
list of possibilities. But at this point I've got about thirty years'
professional experience with old leather (mostly in the form of bookbindings)
and I wouldn't waste the energy hoping that its condition will be improved by
soaking it in something.
Tom Conroy

search
   How Its Made
  for the Estwing leather handle story.

Estwing leather handle tools are a problem.
    I have cut 3/4 disks (open one end) out of various substances and 
pounded/glued them in. I tried brass once. Green face shield material is 
very tough and looks black when light can't go though it easy.
   Its not the greatest though. You are relying on glue alone to hold 
the disks you make.

   The thing about Estwing is that they start with extra long tangs.
They stack up the leather, then press on the bottom piece with hydraulic 
force.
  The long tangs means they have some distance to compress the leather.
  Then they cut off the tangs, and pein them.
   There isn't enough tang left to pein very much trying to re-tighten.

   One of these days I am going to take nice ax with a loose handle.
   Cut off the peined tangs. Take off the bottom plate. Weld on new 
longer tangs.
Add more leather and spacer disks.
  Fabricate a press of some kind to press them hard with the bottom 
plate on.
  Cut off and pein the new tangs.

  Its the only way.
    I have given this some thought.
     yours Scott

-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.n
et/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcr
est.net/kitty/hpages/index.html



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> 
> Apparently they have not made a warrington model?

More than a few moons ago I would send them back and get them 
re-handled. Don't know if they still provide this service.

It used to be the norm in many product lines.

  You could not wear out a Zippo. My Dad sent his WWII era lighter back 
several times. It always came back the original case filled with new guts.

Mike Graf

On 5/22/2015 3:12 AM, Thomas Conroy via OldTools wrote:
>   bridger wrote:
> "... Instead I shifted the leather discs around to even up the spacing of them
on the handle and am figuring to soak them in something to get them to swell
back up to size. They seem to still be pretty pliable. I worked the surface of
the leather handle a bit with some coarse sandpaper to open it up. I'm wondering
what would be an appropriate material to soak them in. I can see not wanting
something that hardens and makes the leather brittle, but not something that
makes the leather soft and fragile either. A mix of mineral oil and linseed?
Maybe top that with shellac or something..."
>
> To the best of my knowledge and belief there is nothing you can do to
reinflate the shrunken leather of a leather washer handle. Nothing. No way.
Don't even bother to hope. Don't try to get anything into the leather, it will
be worse than useless. I've soaked old leather, of various kinds for for various
reasons, in neat's-foot oil. Soaked it in linseed oil. I've used neats-foot-
oil/lanolin leather dressings. If you are lucky soaking the washers will do
nothing much. If not lucky, you will get a disgusting, gummy, fragile mess. What
you **won't** do is improve the handle in any way whatever.
>
> Most likely your best bet is to push all the washers up really tight next to
each other. Then fill the gap between the last washer and the end, or maybe
leave the gap between the two last washers and fill that, by wrapping tightly
with thick thread or very thin cord. I might perhaps work glue down between the
washers before snugging them up, then lay in the filling cord in glue. When dry
put on a coat or two of shellac. The first coat of shellac will soak in a bit
but seal the surface, so you might need two or more. Or maybe glue ooze-out will
ahve sealed the surface. Smoothing or shaping the surface, or sanding to clean
it, probably won't do much good before the shellac is on, but will expose raw
leather and require a bit more shellac. Sanding leather, especially old leather,
usually doesn't work very well; trimming with a sharp edge tool is much more
successful. I would try a float, haven't yet but mean to.
>
> I could well be wrong in my opinion; I haven't attempted to restore a leather-
washer handle (though I have dealt with old washers on chisel handles, where
soaking in BLO with the rest of the handle sometimes is beneficial). If someone
has successfully tightened up an old leather-washer handle (without repeaning or
adding new solid material like the cord I suggest) I'll be happy to add it to my
list of possibilities. But at this point I've got about thirty years'
professional experience with old leather (mostly in the form of bookbindings)
and I wouldn't waste the energy hoping that its condition will be improved by
soaking it in something.
> Tom Conroy
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OldTools is a mailing list catering to the interests of hand tool
> aficionados, both collectors and users, to discuss the history, usage,
> value, location, availability, collectibility, and restoration of
> traditional handtools, especially woodworking tools.
>
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> http://old
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>

On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 4:38 PM, CGRAF  wrote:

> More than a few moons ago I would send them back and get them re-handled.
> Don't know if they still provide this service.


According to another forum, no

Used to be you could "send it in".  That morphed into "they would sell you
a kit".  Now the kit is gone too.  But belligerent people are not.  They
are just not here on the porch.

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-
bin/viewit.cgi?bd=toolt&th=237716">http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-
bin/viewit.cgi?bd=toolt&th=237716

All hearsay, I don't personally know.  But I have a pair in usable
condition, so not too worried.


-- 
Kirk Eppler in HMB, CA, where our normal spring weather of mist has
returned for a few days.

The hammer in the OP is different from other estwings I have seen in that it
lacks the non-leather colored stripes just below the head end and just above the
butt end. Which could account for the leather washers being a little loose. I
had assumed that the lack of those accent stripes was an age thing- that estwing
introduced them some time after this hammer was made but this could also be
interpreted as evidence that the handle had been repaired, but not all of the
parts had been installed.

-------- Original message --------
From: Kirk Eppler
 
Date:05/27/2015  4:58
PM  (GMT-07:00) 
To: CGRAF  
Cc: Thomas
Conroy ,bridger@b...,oldtools@s... 
Subject: Re:
[OldTools] estwing 


On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 4:38 PM, CGRAF  wrote:
More than a few moons ago I would send them back and get them re-handled. Don't
know if they still provide this service.

According to another forum, no

Used to be you could "send it in".  That morphed into "they would sell you a
kit".  Now the kit is gone too.  But belligerent people are not.  They are just
not here on the porch.

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-
bin/viewit.cgi?bd=toolt&th=237716">http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-
bin/viewit.cgi?bd=toolt&th=237716

All hearsay, I don't personally know.  But I have a pair in usable condition, so
not too worried.


-- 
Kirk Eppler in HMB, CA, where our normal spring weather of mist has returned for
a few days.

Renovating Estwing? ... How about improving their product range?
They never made the framing hammer with the best handle, or at least 
never sold it here in Aust.
Friend of mine, Matty, wanted the blue plastic gone from his framing hammer.
I found one donor that was run over by the lawn mower. Found that lost 
hammer from a few years ago the hard way. hehehe
He had another basket case, and between them he had enough of the 
plastic coloured disks, and just enough of the leather.
Pics here, taken on the phone camera last night.

www.petermcbride.com/temp/i
mages/estw0.jpg
www.petermcbride.com/temp/i
mages/estw1.jpg

Cheers,
Peter
In Main Ridge, VIC
Australia




On 29/05/2015 4:46 AM, bridger wrote:
> The hammer in the OP is different from other estwings I have seen in that it
lacks the non-leather colored stripes just below the head end and just above the
butt end. Which could account for the leather washers being a little loose. I
had assumed that the lack of those accent stripes was an age thing- that estwing
introduced them some time after this hammer was made but this could also be
interpreted as evidence that the handle had been repaired, but not all of the
parts had been installed.
>
> 
-------- Original message --------
From: Kirk Eppler
 
Date:05/27/2015  4:58
PM  (GMT-07:00) 
To: CGRAF  
Cc: Thomas
Conroy ,bridger@b...,oldtools@s... 
Subject: Re:
[OldTools] estwing 

> 
> On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 4:38 PM, CGRAF  wrote:
> More than a few moons ago I would send them back and get them re-handled.
Don't know if they still provide this service.
>
> According to another forum, no
>
> Used to be you could "send it in".  That morphed into "they would sell you a
kit".  Now the kit is gone too.  But belligerent people are not.  They are just
not here on the porch.
>
> http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-
bin/viewit.cgi?bd=toolt&th=237716">http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-
bin/viewit.cgi?bd=toolt&th=237716
>
> All hearsay, I don't personally know.  But I have a pair in usable condition,
so not too worried.
>
>

This url has an interesting rebuild of an estwing handle.

http://www.damnyak.ca/2012/02/estwing-hammer-
rebuild.html">http://www.damnyak.ca/2012/02/estwing-hammer-rebuild.html

Mike Graf

Nice link, makes it look easy, though I suspect he left out the hard parts
of compression, etc.

On Sat, May 30, 2015 at 3:33 PM, CGRAF  wrote:

> This url has an interesting rebuild of an estwing handle.
>
> http://www.damnyak.ca/2012/02/estwing-hammer-
rebuild.html">http://www.damnyak.ca/2012/02/estwing-hammer-rebuild.html
>
>
-- 
Kirk Eppler, catching up on a few days without email.