glue for hammers

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Jurgen


    There is a lot of talk about glue that will 'fill the gap"  Is this
    really a good thing?  Should hammers be fitted to shanks in such a way
    that there are gaps that need filling?

I'm not really sure whether its a good thing or not.  Depends I suppose 
on how strong the stuff is.  My own take is that the tighter the dry fit 
the better. It has to have enough play so that the shank doesn't seize 
up immediately, but if you pay attention to just where that border is 
you can get a very solid dry fit.  Most of the glues we use are actually 
meant to join two pieces of wood together under some amount of pressure. 
As you point out the shank swelling up to fit tightly does this. The 
glue itself is supposed to bind the surfaces together via a chemical 
bonding.... not act as a fill.  So at the out set using glues that are 
not made to act as filler glues to fill loose fitting hammers is kind of 
an incorrect use of the stuff.  Its just a matter of taking the time to 
figure out just how tight a dry fit you can get away with.  I find 
hammers comming loose from several manufacturers and a couple other more 
close to home sources all the time. I know for a fact that in a few of 
these cases the hammers are glued on with lots of play and some form 
Tite-Bond like glue. 

I agree, the better they fit in the first place the better the joint 
will be.  I also agree with Jon Pages assessment of the need for a 
collar. Doesn't really do any good in the first place. If the joint 
inside the hammer fails... the collar only makes the job of finding and 
removing the loose hammer just that more difficult. And... to my mind a 
large collar doesnt even look good.


    What ever happened to properly fitting hammers to shanks rolled through
    a good quality knurler?  This compresses the wood and as soon as water
    touches the shank, it expands to a tight fit in the hammer by itself.   
    Of course the glue does the main job of holding the two pieces, but the
    better they fit in the first place, the better the joint will be.

    Jurgen Goering

Cheers
RicB