How do you create the look of patina for an old Hammer handle?

[ebinmaine 71,562]

In the process of sorting through some things I've found several Hammer heads of various sizes.

I'm going to buy handles for them and one or two will be used, one or two will be wall hangings. How can I make a new handle appear that it is much much older so as to be consistent with the look of the tools that are already on the wall?

 

[953 nut 58,967]

Quite simple, just use and abuse it for twenty years or so!              

[ebinmaine 71,562]

10 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

Quite simple, just use and abuse it for twenty years or so!              

That's a great idea Richard but I was hoping for a slightly faster method.

[rjg854 11,989]

I wonder if rubbing them down with used engine oil and dirt would give you that used look  

[Sparky-(Admin) 22,646]

I swear I see old hammer and axe handles at flea markets all the time. Maybe pick up a used one??

[ebinmaine 71,562]

1 minute ago, Sparky said:

I swear I see old hammer and axe handles at flea markets all the time. Maybe pick up a used one??

that's a great idea but I'm at flea markets about the same frequency as I watch TV and we've disconnected cable and internet. 

[bottjernat1 2,193]

I would say use some oil and dirt maybe even try a blow torch here and there and beat some dirty chains on the handles. i helped a friend a few years ago we made a sink base for there bathroom. we where both learning it was kinda fun and turned out beautiful! now i realize u aint goin for perdiness but the same concept should apply i would think.

[Pullstart 65,451]

C clamp it to a length of rope, tie it off to Trina’s grader tractor, let Mother Nature help?

[The Tuul Crib 7,338]

 Well here’s what we do in the cabinet and furniture business is build a perfectly good cabinet or piece of furniture and what we call distressing it or another words beat the crap out of me after we stain it and finish it ! Now if you’re doing metal I would distress it by doing the reverse Electrolysis on it. You would hook the  positive to the metal and the negative to the other this with draw the rust to the piece. 

[JoeM 8,100]

scrape the varnish off and throw it up on the barn roof for a month or so??

I notice when I leave tools out in the elements for a time they age pretty fast.

[formariz 11,995]

It all depends on how credible you want it to look. For that its not going to be fast. You will have to decide also if you want patina achieved from years of use, or patina from years of neglect and abandonment.

 

First your new handle is most likely to have a varnish finish on it . You will have to strip that.

With an unfinished handle for a look of years of use, a hickory handle is best ( white oak is actually best but you will not find one out of it). If you have ammonia around, place handle in a closed container exposed to the fumes of the ammonia ( no direct contact). Leave it for about a week. The chemical reaction with the tannin present in the hickory and the ammonia will give the wood a nice aged brown tone. The longer it stays the darker it will get.Unlike stain it will penetrate very deep into wood. Now you can ding it a bit to put some regular use damage into it. Next to to show use, scuff lightly with steel wool(to give it a little tooth) specially on the parts that would NOT have contact with hand in use and then rub entire handle with moist coffee grinds. Let dry thoroughly. Then around area that hand touches during use wipe vigorously by using your hand around that area.It will develop a nice satiny sheen looking a bit lighter than the rest of it. Finally dip handle in linseed oil. Only dab dry parts that will show no use and rub the parts that will show use. Told you, not so quick but it will be credible.

 

For a neglected handle its a lot easier. Maple is better. Again no finish. Dirty handle substantially with moist dirt. Leave in weather for a while and it will get a dark gray abandoned look. Better yet take handle from above process and leave it in weather for a while.

Most well used hammers have inevitable blood stains in them. Pretty distinguishable, nothing else leaves stains like that. You can make it more real by bleeding on it a little.

Edited April 11, 2019 by formariz

[Tractorhead 9,145]

If needed, 

try sandpaper and glue it on a glove.

 

it will wear the handle at you touch stronger than normal.

Beat a few nail in a piece of wood.

clean your engine with a cloth and clean after that the Hammerhandle.

try this few times.

 

shall be workin...

 

but take care, use a Hammer with a Sandpaperglove is not easy and needs a bit force at the grip.

 

thats the way i would try..

[formariz 11,995]

7 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

In the process of sorting through some things I've found several Hammer heads of various sizes.

I'm going to buy handles for them and one or two will be used, one or two will be wall hangings. How can I make a new handle appear that it is much much older so as to be consistent with the look of the tools that are already on the wall?

 

Since you already came up with a brass upholstere's hammer which one does not find in every pile out there, I am curious as to what else you may have there.Some hammer heads are pretty unusual or rare.

[ebinmaine 71,562]

3 minutes ago, formariz said:

Since you already came up with a brass upholstere's hammer which one does not find in every pile out there, I am curious as to what else you may have there.Some hammer heads are pretty unusual or rare.

The others are actually pretty mundane. I found a small ball peen hammer head and about a 6 or 8 lb sledge hammer head. Both of those will get put to use.

The other thing I found is a very very old mattock axe or pickaxe. Head only. Handle is long long gone.

It's the upholsterers hammer and that mattock axe that I would like to weather the handles some on.

 

[formariz 11,995]

Mattock ax handle will be easy to find. That one most likely will not have a finish on.

Upholsterer's  handle you most likely will not find a replacement handle dedicated for it. You will probably have to make that one.Not hard to do.

 

[ebinmaine 71,562]

I have no idea what it was originally meant to fit but I did find a handle at the hardware store the other day that I can modify to work in the upholsterers hammer head without a lot of trouble. It has a slightly longer oval than the hole in the hammerhead.

I can sand down where it's oversized enough to get a decent tight fit.

whereas it's only going to be a wall decoration for me that will be acceptable.

 

The pickaxe head is something that I could occasionally see myself using to break up topsoil for whatever silly project we've got going on that moment.

I'll try to get the correct handle and install it correctly, just in case I want to use it.

[formariz 11,995]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

The pickaxe head is something that I could occasionally see myself using to break up topsoil for whatever silly project we've got going on that moment.

I'll try to get the correct handle and install it correctly, just in case I want to use it.

Should be easy on that one. Eye should be tapered. Handle slips in from opposite end so it tightens itself every time its used. Should protrude about 3/4" if its correct size. Good practice to pour melted wax on end grain at head (candle wax is fine).

[ebinmaine 71,562]

1 minute ago, formariz said:

Should be easy on that one. Eye should be tapered. Handle slips in from opposite end so it tightens itself every time its used. Should protrude about 3/4" if its correct size. Good practice to pour melted wax on end grain at head (candle wax is fine).

Good info there. Thank you. I did not realize the handle would  protrude.

So am I assuming correctly that it is basically just a... Bang handle through until seated?

 

The wax is a protectant for the wood?

[WVHillbilly520H 10,376]

@ebinmaine, Does this count as weathered and worn or too new cause I made it in shop class awhile back?

[ebinmaine 71,562]

2 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

@ebinmaine, Does this count as weathered and worn or too new cause I made it in shop class awhile back?

I don't know Jeff. You ain't as old as dirt like some of us.

Maybe give it another three or five decades?

[formariz 11,995]

You shouldn't have to bang it at all. Should go through loosely. The eye on your mattock should have a heavy taper.Handle is inserted first staring it from opposite end where head goes through mattock's head opposite operating side if I make any sense. As it reaches other end it wedges itself on tapered end of handle. You can just tap protruding end on floor a couple of times to snug it.

Wax seals end grain on handle. If it absorbs a lot of moisture through there it starts turning to mush there and eventually that's the end of it..

Edited April 11, 2019 by formariz

[formariz 11,995]

8 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Does this count as weathered and worn or too new cause I made it in shop class awhile back

That thing has not even oxidized .You keep it in a sealed display case?

[WVHillbilly520H 10,376]

5 minutes ago, formariz said:

That thing has not even oxidized .You keep it in a sealed display case?

No just on top of the gun cabinet...here's the other wacker I made...

[formariz 11,995]

I see you like your steak tender.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,376]

I figured I would lighten things up a bit.