I have a +40-year old Estwing hatchet with a stacked leather handle. After seeing the price for a new one, I decided to fix her up. The finish on the handle is in sad shape being chipped off in places & cracked. The leather appears to be in excellent shape. Does anyone know what type of finished is used? It looks almost like polyurethane, but I never heard of using polyurethane on leather. And what is the best finish to use on the leather once I get the old finish off?

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Inconsistently consistent

I redid the handle on my father in laws Estwing hammer with polyurethane, multiple coats light sanding between the last coat or two. In my case the white had cracked and came out. I was able to slip it back in and after the poly it looks as good as original. It's going to one of my grandsons.

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Back to back World War Champs.

I recently found two Estwing hammers in the tool junk bin at a local pawn shop for $5 each. I can always use an extra hammer or two. I bought my SIL an Estwing camp axe for Christmas and liked it enough to buy myself one also. Good stuff. The above tools are solid steel with rubber handles.

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like a fun weekend project.

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Inconsistently consistent

I have a Estwing trim hammer with the leather handle I use almost daily. The poly finish wore off many, many years ago. I use the same leather conditioner on it as I use on my leathers and saddlebags.

Estwing products are made right here in my home town. They are truly an industrial gem. Many years ago, the company I worked for carried sheet metal workers hand tools. (The company at the time made a line of hand operated sheet metal tools.) In addition to the tinners hammer, or whatever the heck they were called, our purchasing agent had bought pretty much some of everything in their catalog. For some reason, Estwing decided they didn't want us to carry their products anymore, so we had an employee only blowout sale. I bought one of everything they had in stock, and two or three of the ones I liked. One dollar apiece, no sales tax, and could pay by payroll deduction over about a month. I still have every one I bought, except a few that I gave as gifts. A buck a piece was a heck of a deal, even in 1967!

You could just write to Estwing and ask. But I suspect that even good saddle soap and shoe polish would work.

I use Kiwi brown polish on the handle of my Fallkniven NL-2 knife. It seems to work. Note: I use the cream polish, not the shiny shoe stuff. It isn't as glossy, but I think it nurtures the leather better.

I would get the old finish off and clean and lightly sand the leather rings and put several coats of Birch-Wood Casey tru oil on the handle. They are fine hatchets, good luck. Jeff

I've got an old Estwing trim hammer I use in the shop. The handle was in pretty ugly condition when I got it. They dip them in some sort of varnish at the factory and it was flaking pretty badly. Most all old Estwing stacked handles I've seen are cracked like that.

I sanded it down and put a few coats of Ren wax on it and it is holding up fine and looks good. A hatchet will get used outdoors but I think the wax would be the best thing and could be renewed easily and quickly when needed.

Any plastic finish like varnish or urethane is eventually going to crack on leather which is going to expand and contract a good bit. The wax (most any decent quality wax) is the best thing for something like this in my opinion. They use the varnish at the factory because they can dip a lot at a time in a tank and it looks good in the store--until the tool gets some hard use and moisture and it starts to crack.

The varnish is long gone off one of my old Estwing leather handled hammers. Every so often, I treat it with Lexol, same as I do with just about any leather product.

Asking the manufacturer is always best, but here is one approach that I know has been used successfully to refurbish the leather ax handle. It works on any similar hadle made of leather rings.

Start by removing any traces of the old vanish top coat with fine sandpaper. Clean with saddle soap or Lexol leather cleaner and a little water to remove surface soiling, then wipe clean with a damp cloth, and allow to fully dry. Next, wipe down with a small amount of a highly refined neatsfoot oil such as Fiebing's. Resist the temptation to use too much of the oil, as it can promote breakdown of the leather fibers. Allow that to soak in for a day or so in a warm place.

Next, work in a liberal amount of Lexol Leather conditioner. Allow this to penetrate overnight (again in a warm place), wipe away any excess the next morning, and set aside for a week. These steps will ensure the leather does not rot, but obviously cannot repair any damage present if the handle has been neglected.

At this point, you can either (1) give it a topcoat of a beeswax product such as SnoSeal (which can be periodically renewed), or (2) finish with two coats of a quality polyurethane (sand lightly between coats). If you apply the wax, warm the handle gently with a hair drier, and soften the wax by placing the can in warm water.

This is a good time to clean and polish the metal, and true and sharpen the edge with a file, followed by finishing with a whetstone disk and honing oil. Check for instructions on Youtube if you are unsure about how to do this.

Yes, this is a bit of trouble (and then some). But your axe will be handsome again, and fully ready for another 10 or 20 years of use with just a little touch up now and then. Just use common sense in storing it! I keep a very light coat of RIG rust preventative grease on the metal, the same as I do with many other tools. A thin film is all you need.

My grandfather, who lived to be 97, spent his early years as a lumberjack (pre-WWI), and later worked as a foreman/master carpenter and mechanic, and drummed into my head how to properly care for tools. As a result, many of them are still perfectly serviceable today.