Welding steel handles onto Sledge Hammer and Splitting Maul heads (TIG steel)

My friend wanted me to weld some steel tubing as handles onto his forged steel 10 lb Sledge Hammer and Splitting maul heads. The previous fiberglass type handles basically got worn out; one came off and the other was coming loose. He wanted to try steel handles. The steel tubing he brought was hot-dipped galvanized.

I had him pinch the ends of the tubing handles where they would fit to the heads to make it easy to set up and weld. I used a carbide burr the prep the inside chamfer of the forged steel heads, and a flap wheel to prep the surfaces. Also used a flap wheel to remove the galvanize about 1/2" in the area to be welded.
Attachment 6730

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I tack welded to get the handle into good alignment.
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Then I did a full fillet weld all the way around.
Attachment 6725

At first I thought I'd need a lot of power to melt the thick forged steel heads, and dialed in some Helium mix. But then realized I didn't need that much power. maybe because the fillet I was welding was at an edge where there is a hole. I focused the heat on the thick part anyway.

I used 309 filler rod kind of for fun, and I know it usually ends up looking really good too. I got some pics of the maul also:

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I decided I better hit it with some cold galvanize anyway to help keep it from rusting.

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Recognizing that handles like this are usually wood or fiberglass to absorb vibrations, I am not sure how well this is actually going to work. But it will be interesting to hear.

Nice welds,,,LOL.... had a fellow on my crew that would break handles almost every day,,,had one of those with a pipe handle made up for him,,,lasted almost a full season,,,before he destroyed it...He could swing the hammer with lots of power ,,just couldn't hit anything with it..

I have a sledge for demolition work that looks just like that. With thick gloves the steel handle isn't too bad, and it has lasted many years of hard use/abuse, that would make short work of a wood or fiberglass handle. I've thought about wrapping the lower part of the handle with some kind of padded grip tape, but have never got around to it.

Very informative thread. Well photographed, and described. Nice welds too. Thank you.

Off the top of my head, isn't 309 a stainless filler? Any reason to choose that filler, and would another work well on these materials/project?

ken

Forgot to ask...where do you find the cold galvanize coating?

ken

did you do anything to prevent that head from slipping off in the event your weld fails. which it very well could. even if you ran some weld around the top, or hammered it over to form a lip it could prevent an injury if that ten pounder goes flying.

i looked at your skeg repair when you posted it the first time; those welds are way to cold. just because you filled a gap, ground it down, got it painted and it looks nice, does not mean it's strong. the skeg repair would only play to a friendly audience, like the one on this board.

that said, your presentation of procedures used during the process of the repair is impressive.

I weld skeg's at my shop since were i live next to the river it drops and people are always breaking scags and chewing up props . I made a water coolant system to pump water through lower unit so i don't cook the seals when welding on a new skeg . http://skegdepot.com/

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Originally Posted by jakeru

Recognizing that handles like this are usually wood or fiberglass to absorb vibrations, I am not sure how well this is actually going to work. But it will be interesting to hear.

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That is the first thing that popped into my head when I started reading. I wonder if a layer or 2 of heater/radiator hose would make it more bearable.

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Originally Posted by KSmith

Very informative thread. Well photographed, and described. Nice welds too. Thank you.

Off the top of my head, isn't 309 a stainless filler? Any reason to choose that filler, and would another work well on these materials/project?

ken

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Here's what Jody says about it @ welding tips and tricks. Skip to 5.30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McjBJyQ85fg There's a little more info on the page.
Cold galvanizing can be purchased at most places selling spraypaint. I buy the tall cans of rustolium brand at Lowes.

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Originally Posted by jakeru

Recognizing that handles like this are usually wood or fiberglass to absorb vibrations, I am not sure how well this is actually going to work. But it will be interesting to hear.

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I am interested to hear also... I have several axes, sledge, mauls. They all have wood or fiberglass handles. Except for the Big splitting maul. If you hit things wrong with it, it will sure ring your hands. It will sting you good!!! I have put a couple tweaks in the pipe handle over time but it has held up well... I use them a lot then I still have a good deal of the original handles on most of them.

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Originally Posted by KSmith

Forgot to ask...where do you find the cold galvanize coating?

ken

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I did a quick search and I found rust oleum... Home depot sells it...
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/paint/s...sol-98175.html

Ah just seen it posted above me....

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Originally Posted by zoama585

Here's what Jody says about it @ welding tips and tricks. Skip to 5.30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McjBJyQ85fg There's a little more info on the page.
Cold galvanizing can be purchased at most places selling spraypaint. I buy the tall cans of rustolium brand at Lowes.

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Thank you for the link to Jody's video. I missed that one. Good information. I have a home depot and will look for the cold galvanizing there.

ken

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Originally Posted by Brian Ski

I am interested to hear also... I have several axes, sledge, mauls. They all have wood or fiberglass handles. Except for the Big splitting maul. If you hit things wrong with it, it will sure ring your hands. It will sting you good!!! I have put a couple tweaks in the pipe handle over time but it has held up well... I use them a lot then I still have a good deal of the original handles on most of them.

I did a quick search and I found rust oleum... Home depot sells it...
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/paint/s...sol-98175.html

Ah just seen it posted above me....

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Thank you Brian. I don't have a Lowes, but will look at the Home Depot.

ken

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Originally Posted by redbeard

That is the first thing that popped into my head when I started reading.

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Same here. haha

I bet his hands are going to be sore after using those tools, but they will sure get the job done!

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Originally Posted by hokiefd

Same here. haha

I bet his hands are going to be sore after using those tools, but they will sure get the job done!

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I put a steel pipe handle on my splitting maul, and it would make my hands ache for a week after using it. Then I got a pair of gel padded, anti-vibration gloves from Graingers. Problem solved!

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Originally Posted by hokiefd

Same here. haha

I bet his hands are going to be sore after using those tools, but they will sure get the job done!

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Supposedly my friend was going to use one the evening after I welded them up. I haven't heard an update from him yet, but will let you guys know the feedback on it. I was thinking if the ringing in the handles is too bad, maybe he could add something to dampen the vibrations.

He's pretty resourceful so it wouldn't surprised me if he figures out something like that by himself.

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Originally Posted by Brian Ski

I did a quick search and I found rust oleum... Home depot sells it...
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/paint/s...sol-98175.html

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That is exactly the stuff I used, I am pretty sure. I think I remember finding it cheaper at one of the big box stores than anywhere else. You can buy this type of product (basically a spray can with about ~97% zinc content) from a lot of different places though.

I find it initially dries not very durable, so should be handled with care for the first few days. But leave it for a couple weeks, especially baked in the hot sun, and it will harden at least hard enough to withstand fingernail scratching. It is perfect to use for say a lap joint, where you want the inside to be rust resistant. It is safe to "weld over" (to some degree, just don't inhale the fumes.) It won't "burn" like paint does, at least. Still, the zinc will vaporize at welding temps, so not the greatest to have directly in your weld puddle.

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Originally Posted by zoama585

Here's what Jody says about it @ welding tips and tricks. Skip to 5.30

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Thanks for adding the link on 309 filler for mild steel, zoama. I used it primarily for aesthetic reasons, and also for corrosion resistance (albeit only right at the weld bead.) At the beginning, I wasn't planning on spraying it with cold galvanized. The main drawbacks to using 309 instead of say 70S6 is that it's much more expensive (per pound). It does seem to be about on par (give or take) to 70k psi steel filler rod in terms of strength. But anyway, as Jody demonstrated in the linked video, it tends to absorb impurities unlike any mild steel filler rod, and leave a very clean, nicely appearing deposit. (That doesn't matter too much when you spray cold galvanized over it though :P )

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Originally Posted by fdcmiami

did you do anything to prevent that head from slipping off in the event your weld fails. which it very well could. even if you ran some weld around the top, or hammered it over to form a lip it could prevent an injury if that ten pounder goes flying.

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That is the reason that I welded it, instead of brazing it (which I almost did, for fun.) The thing that makes me be OK with this is, all the materials used are fairly ductile, so a "sudden" failure is not likely in any case. An expected outcome resulting from abuse would be something getting bent and giving a "gradual failure." In which case, the damage should become apparent and give an indication to stop using the damaged tool, to prevent a complete failure.

I also have pretty good confidence, based on the weld joint I made, and knowing how much penetration and bead build-up that I got, that this weld joint is not going to fail in any event. Any failure that would occur would be in the tubing, right next to the weld joint. Thickening the tubing (such as by using thicker tubing rather than what my friend brought me to use) is really to only way to make it more resistant to this kind of failure.

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Originally Posted by fdcmiami

i looked at your skeg repair when you posted it the first time; those welds are way to cold. just because you filled a gap, ground it down, got it painted and it looks nice, does not mean it's strong. the skeg repair would only play to a friendly audience, like the one on this board.

that said, your presentation of procedures used during the process of the repair is impressive.

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Thanks for your feedback. I'll reply to it in the skeg repair thread, to keep things organized

I was wondering if putting a piece of solid stock inside the pipe from the head side, and welding it to the head there...then make some rosette welds from drilled holes in the handle to fasten the rod into the handle side. Would give additional strength, absorb some of the vibration instead of it all going down the handle, and add to the sledge weight. Would not have to be very long, maybe two head thicknesses in length.

ken

I just got an update from my friend with the steel-handled maul and sledge. He said that he already used the maul to chop some wood rounds, and that it worked "great", with no ringing problems. He uses leather gloves.

Now I'd like to try it for myself next time I'm over there. :cool:

I have a small sledgehammer at my shop i replace the wood handle with 3/4 .120 wall roll bar tubing . took a round metal plug and pounded in hammer head end to wedge pipe and welded , then fill pipe with sand and weld plug on open end to seal works great and used a piece of 3/4 heater hose as the handle grip . I kept breaking the wood handle when i missed what i was aiming for .

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Originally Posted by Rodsmachineshop

I have a small sledgehammer at my shop i replace the wood handle with 3/4 .120 wall roll bar tubing . took a round metal plug and pounded in hammer head end to wedge pipe and welded , then fill pipe with sand and weld plug on open end to seal works great and used a piece of 3/4 heater hose as the handle grip . I kept breaking the wood handle when i missed what i was aiming for .

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sounds good to me. i guess you would treat a sledgehammer repair a little differently if you actually had spent time swinging one.