Wood-Handled Hammers and Some of Their Problems
How is this possible? Well to give you an example, just the other day I was hammering away with my hammer, which had a wooden handle, and suddenly the hammerhead part flew off and I was left holding the wooden bit. A buddy of mine was standing nearby and luckily neither one of us felt the impact of the flying hammerhead.
This isn’t to say that hammers with metal handles can’t break apart to I’m sure in some circumstances they can but there is a lot going on with wood handles that can cause a potential accident. First there is storage of hammers.
Storage can cause problems with both metal and wooden handles. If you are storing a metal handled hammer where water leaks in the handle can rust. Rust can eat through the metal and make it frail; a risk that may make it break when used.
Wood handled hammers can have problems with water that leaks on it to. The wood can become moldy. Mold like rust can eat through the handle. The wood can also rot not only from water but also over time through natural causes. The wood rot can make the handle frail; a risk that may cause it to break when used.
Nature can work up an appetite when it comes to wood. Even the best of storage may find hungry wood ants or termites snacking on the wooden handle to the point that it’s unusable or its completely eaten up leaving behind only the remnants of a once proud strong hammer.
Second when it comes to strength the metal handled hammers may be able to take better poundings. The applied pressure of hitting a nail, tapping metal, pounding cement whatever task the hammer is set on helping you achieve may eventually cause a crack that can split the wood apart with continued use.
To prolong the life of a cracked wood handle you might want to use some duct tape but somewhere if not in the immediate future the hammerhead might wound up smacking you on the foot or slamming into your head.
One last thing that a wood handle can do that a metal handle won’t is to give you a splinter.
