The handle came coated with a lacquer or poly coating and had Genuine Hickory stamped into one of the flats. The coating actually looked good but the Genuine Hickory nameplate had to go so I sanded it flat with 80 and then 180. The handle came from Dagger tools, priced at about 6.50 is 13 inches in length and has IMO the preferred Octagonal sided shape verses the traditional oval shape.
For the handles I decided to try out a product for gun stock refinishing. I have a M1 Garand that I’m restoring and this product was highly recommended. It’s from Birchwood Casey and called Tru Oil and depending on the number of coats you can go from an eggshell sheen to a deep luster gloss.
These pictures really don’t show, but the replacement handles from Martin Tools part number HH42B which is patterned for the older Fairmount hammers came with a really crappy finish. It was rough uneven and just plain awful to look it, it sucked. The two outside handles are as they came from Martin, the two inner handles were sanded with 180 then had one coat of Tru Oil applied. One coat gave them a nice even eggshell sheen, you can also apply multiply coats then buff with 0000 steel wool to achieve a even nicer/smoother satin sheen.
