Estwing Leather Grip Claw Hammer - Restoration

I wanted to try my hand at restoring old tools and thought what better place to start than my Grandfather's old hammer? He purchased the hammer in the USA many years ago (I live in Australia) and I thought it was a shame to see it so rusty and neglected.

The stacked leather handle was in poor shape (uneven, spaces in between the leather) and there was a layer of rust covering all of the metal surfaces. Fortunately there was no heavy pitting to the metal so after cleaning it up and restoring the handle it's still fit for purpose! I wanted to try and preserve the soul of the hammer, so I tried to reuse as much of the original leather as possible. I like the pattern of old and new leather on the handle, and how it mimics the colour variations seen in modern Estwing claw hammers.

Overall I am quite pleased with the result for my first restoration project. I didn't want to put too much work into sanding the metal completely smooth because I'm going to use this as a working hammer and I don't want to be constantly worrying about every scratch I put into it.