Last month, I mentioned how I had cracked the handle of my sledgehammer by over-reaching with a heavy blow. I finally got round to repairing it this week. Yesterday, I used a brush to wet the inside of the crack and I then squirted in (water-cured) Gorilla Glue before squeezing tight with multiple clamps. This morning, I sanded down the excess glue and finished off by adding a tight wrap of thin nylon rope round the top, reinforcing the repair and adding a little extra protection next time I miss with a blow.

It is a long time since I last did something like this and I couldn’t find any instructions that were quite what I was looking for. However, a few of the ones on paracord handle wrapping were close and brought a technique back to mind.

I cut a fairly long piece of rope and formed a bight (a long, narrow curve) at one end, which I laid along the handle, reaching 6-7 cm down from the head of the hammer. For ease, I taped this in place and then proceeded to start tightly wrapping the line around the handle, over the bight but leaving a short length sticking out towards the head. As I worked down, I removed the tape – by this point, the rope was holding the bight in place. Finally, as I got near the end, I put the free end through the exposed loop and used a pair of pliers to pull on the bit sticking out at the other end. This drags the free end under the binding and the whole thing holds itself in place (you need a bit of rope strong enough to hold up to pulling under a good deal of tension).

I’ve got some more wood to split so I might give it a go this afternoon and see if this repair is truly a wrap as well as involving a wrapping.