Restoring a Mini Ball Peen Hammer

So I got this small Stanley hammer in a large collection of tools and I thought it would be great to restore. A perfect little hammer for knocking in pins into knife scales.
Here’s a list of some stuff you will need.
Wire wheel for drill
Drill
Punch
Hammer
Sandpaper
Wood/metal wedge for hammer
Wd40 (or any protective oil)
Danish oil (or your favorite wood finish)

For this hammer the handle was in pretty good condition (other than being loose) so I thought it would be wasteful to replace it and make a new handle. Even though the handle was in good shape the head needs to be removed so both can be easily worked on. I used a punch with the head clamped in a vice and smacked out the handle.

Because of the handle being in such good shape it needed minimal fixing. I first blended the hard shoulder from the old hammer head with a half round file. Then I made the cut in the handle wider so it can hold the wedge. Because the handle was rather loose I didn’t want to take a lot of material off in the top region. Then I used a razor blade like a scraper to scrape off the old varnish and dirt. A cabinet scraper would be a better option, you could also sand off the old finish if you so desire. After scraping I sanded the handle with 220 and 400 grit sandpaper. (Finial sanding will be done after head is attached)

The main tool I used to clean the old paint and rust off the head was a wire wheel chucked up in a drill. This can be found at any hardware store and worked really well. At first I had it in a drill press and I held the hammer head in my hand, but the hammer head was too small for me to hold and I thought it would be safer to put the head in a vice and use a hand drill. Either way works very well.

After I tapped the head onto the handle, i turned it over and smacked the butt of the handle with a mallet which drove the head tighter to the handle. For most hammers (like this one) I used 2 wedges one wood and one metal. I split the wood wedge to the width of the eye of the hammer. I hammered the wedge into the cut in the handle until it was tight enough to the point where I didn’t think it would go in further. After snapping the wood wedge off and sanding it flush I hammered a small metal wedge perpendicular and at a slight angle to the wood wedge. At this point the handle was tight and had no wobble. If there is even a slight bit of wobble you will have to take out both wedges and try again.

After the head is attached I lightly sand the handle and apply a coat of danish oil to protect the wood. Make sure to get the coating on all exposed areas of wood. I’ll also apply a coat of wd40 to the metal to protect the head from rust.

I had a lot of fun fixing this hammer and it will be a handy tool around the shop. If you have any questions about hammer/ axe restorations let me know in the comments and I’ll answer them. Also make sure to check out my Instagram @bitterbladeco and the video about this hammer on my YouTube Bitter Blade Co. Thanks for following along!