wrote in message
ups.com...
can you please advise on the correct way to fit a new hickory shaft to
a sledge hammer

The new shaft needs to be as accurate a fit as possible to the bore of the
head and as tight a fit as possible consistent with the possibility to
actually enter it into the head.

There needs to be 2 slots cut into the end of the shaft to be fitted into
the head at 90 degrees to one another, cutting along the major axis of the
shaft to a little less than the depth of the head. One of these slots will
accommodate a wooden wedge and the other a steel wedge. One slot is to be
cut along the major dimension of the end of the shaft and the other along
the minor dimension.

Purchase/ produce 2 wedges one of steel and the other of hardwood. The
wooden one to fit the major dimension of the approximately elliptical shape
of the end of the shaft to be fitted into the head of the hammer, the steel
one to fit into the shaft along the minor dimension of the end of the shaft.

Place the hammer head on a solid surface and drive the shaft into it, using
a piece of wood to prevent damage to the end of the shaft. Invert the
assembly and drive the wooden wedge as far as possible into the slot along
the major dimension of the shaft which has been previously cut. Drive the
steel wedge into the slot previously cut along the minor dimension of the
shaft, thus tightening the head onto the shaft. It should be possible to
drive this steel wedge into the wood of the shaft until it is flush with the
face of the hammerhead.

Clean off the spalled over wood left from the wooden wedge and the head
should now be satisfactorily secured to the shaft.

Test the normal function of the hammer in an area where no damage will
result in the case of losing the head from the shaft, if the head has been
improperly secured.

Always exercise caution and be aware of a hammerhead working itself loose in
the course of it's normal use. Remedy any looseness immediately.

I have known pesons who keep hammers with the head immersed in a bucket of
water but feel this is somewhat of a mixed blessing as it tends to soften
the wood, as well as swell it and also lubricates the frictional grip of the
head to the shaft.

Hope you are successful. the main key is the initial fit of the shaft to the
head.