Axe handle making, modifications, repair and more

[Miller '72]

Ok...this is just a mod.
Shape, thin and octagonalize a 28" True Value Link of a club to hang my Mann True American with beautiful bevel, high centerline.

Got the hang of it real nice and fairly easy going with a couple rasps, coarse and fine.

Now the real work

My inspiration

Started filing today

When its all done i will finish posting in the rehang thread, maybe something in the sharpening thread also.
Thanks all

 

[Yankee Josh]

Other than blo I've got it finished.

Here's 3 or 4 pics of its process from a log.

It was at this stage yesterday when I picked it back up;

And a couple before I hung it for the last time.

Here you can see the wedge I made specifically for this axe and how short the top of the tongue had to be to clear the bulge in the front of the eye.

I think it'll look nice once oiled. But in the meantime here's the finished product!

In my opinion there's little else quite as enjoyable and satisfying as this hobby. Especially when the grain works out as good as this one! Perfectly parallel in the tongue and perpendicular for the wedge. Good stuff!
Have a great evening guys!

 

[Maine20]

Other than blo I've got it finished.

Here's 3 or 4 pics of its process from a log.

It was at this stage yesterday when I picked it back up;

And a couple before I hung it for the last time.

Here you can see the wedge I made specifically for this axe and how short the top of the tongue had to be to clear the bulge in the front of the eye.

I think it'll look nice once oiled. But in the meantime here's the finished product!

In my opinion there's little else quite as enjoyable and satisfying as this hobby. Especially when the grain works out as good as this one! Perfectly parallel in the tongue and perpendicular for the wedge. Good stuff!
Have a great evening guys!

Nice work!! I agree about this being a great hobby. Unfortunately I’ve been too busy recently to do any handle making. Oh well, when I have time I will get back at it.

 

[Student762]

That's a lovely hang and handle there Yankee Josh.
Forgive the noob question but what would one call that axe pattern? Is it a broad axe?

 

[Agent_H]

Other than blo I've got it finished.

Here's 3 or 4 pics of its process from a log.

It was at this stage yesterday when I picked it back up;

And a couple before I hung it for the last time.

Here you can see the wedge I made specifically for this axe and how short the top of the tongue had to be to clear the bulge in the front of the eye.

I think it'll look nice once oiled. But in the meantime here's the finished product!

In my opinion there's little else quite as enjoyable and satisfying as this hobby. Especially when the grain works out as good as this one! Perfectly parallel in the tongue and perpendicular for the wedge. Good stuff!
Have a great evening guys!

Yankee Josh , that is awesome! Terrific work from log to finish.

 

[Yankee Josh]

That's a lovely hang and handle there Yankee Josh.
Forgive the noob question but what would one call that axe pattern? Is it a broad axe?

Thank you! It's a mast axe. Yes it's an early broad axe. It's ground on both sides(plus has an inlaid bit) so has a straight haft.
They made similar ones that were ground on one side only, chisel ground, and curved that were the next iteration of the broad axe. And they are hung on a bent, or offset, haft.
At least that's my understanding of how the broad axe progressed. Do you now have 761 questions left? Lol.

Nice work!! I agree about this being a great hobby. Unfortunately I’ve been too busy recently to do any handle making. Oh well, when I have time I will get back at it.

Yankee Josh , that is awesome! Terrific work from log to finish.

And thank you both as well! I appreciate the kind words!

 

[Student762]

I appreciate the response mate. It's a very cool looking unit. I'm fascinated by axes that are made for carpentry and wood working purposes. It seems a lost art in this day and age, to make and build with axes. They seem largely relegated to the more mundane tasks of splitting firewood. I've a little 3/4 hytest axe head that needs hanging atm, so this thread as a whole has been similarly intriguing and informative. I'm intending to make a handle for it from spotted gum.
Regrettably I asked for the time earlier today so I think I'm down to 760 now

 

[Ernest DuBois]

I appreciate the response mate. It's a very cool looking unit. I'm fascinated by axes that are made for carpentry and wood working purposes. It seems a lost art in this day and age, to make and build with axes. They seem largely relegated to the more mundane tasks of splitting firewood. I've a little 3/4 hytest axe head that needs hanging atm, so this thread as a whole has been similarly intriguing and informative. I'm intending to make a handle for it from spotted gum.
Regrettably I asked for the time earlier today so I think I'm down to 760 now

Yeah, my own efforts don't seem to have much effect till now but then maybe I am a bit misplaced with in the general currents of the forum. You might have to give it your own shot Stud.
For example here is a simple cut-out in relation to some carpentry work's got me busy at the moment out in the workshop.
The edge and face layout showing the simple cut out corner.

The notch.

And trim.

All with the carpenters side-axe.

 

[Student762]

That looks awesome Ernest.
How long does it take to cut a notch like that with an axe? Would it be quicker than a saw/chisel cut?
Also that is a very nice looking edge

 

[Student762]

More on topic, (and apologies for the double post), but does anyone in here have any experience making handles with Australian timbers? If so, which ones would you dub suitable for the task. I've only really heard spotted gum being brought up. Which isn't a problem per se, but I would have to buy some for the task. Whereas I have a large stock pile of Jarrah, Karri, and Wandu, which would naturally be more convenient for me.
Cheers.

 

[phantomknives]

More on topic, (and apologies for the double post), but does anyone in here have any experience making handles with Australian timbers? If so, which ones would you dub suitable for the task. I've only really heard spotted gum being brought up. Which isn't a problem per se, but I would have to buy some for the task. Whereas I have a large stock pile of Jarrah, Karri, and Wandu, which would naturally be more convenient for me.
Cheers.

we used to havwe 2 australian members, they havent been online in a few months. I'll look into it for you though

Edit : just got done looking into it, couldnt find anything on wandu but i did find that jarrah is very similar to hickory with it's Janka hardness (300 pounds softer) and it's modulus of rupture and elasticity.
Karri was a bit too stiff and would transfer more vibration

Jarrah seems like a fine choice

 

[Hairy Clipper]

Other than blo I've got it finished.

Here's 3 or 4 pics of its process from a log.

It was at this stage yesterday when I picked it back up;

And a couple before I hung it for the last time.

Here you can see the wedge I made specifically for this axe and how short the top of the tongue had to be to clear the bulge in the front of the eye.

I think it'll look nice once oiled. But in the meantime here's the finished product!

In my opinion there's little else quite as enjoyable and satisfying as this hobby. Especially when the grain works out as good as this one! Perfectly parallel in the tongue and perpendicular for the wedge. Good stuff!
Have a great evening guys!

Josh, To say I am in awe of your haft making and fitting skills is a bit of an understatement. This mast axe project of yours has caused me to wonder about the manufacturing process of the eye of this style of axe head. I have a hewing axe of similar size and broad axe style head and there seems to be several variations in geometry and usage of this broad axe. Because of the sharpening of the hewing axes with left or right single edge sharpening it has caused me to wonder about that eye. With a slight taper and thus a correct top and bottom when fitting a haft I can't help but wonder it your mast axe eye is tapered or are they parallel? Did the manufacturers make multiple sets of tooling for the eye depending on which model of broad axe they were making or did they save the cost of tooling by making the eye without a taper and thus no need for right and left blade curves and sharpening for the hewing axes? By making that eye without a taper the hewing axe head could be made the same for left or right and fitting the handle would be the only change needed to make a left or a right hewing axe. Perhaps this is meaningless question ... but, curious minds want to know.

 

[Student762]

Thanks Phantom Knives. I'll give her a go and report back.

 

[Square_peg]

similar to hickory with it's Janka hardness (300 pounds softer) and it's modulus of rupture and elasticity.

I think the moduli of elasticity and rupture are the most important.

 

[Yankee Josh]

With a slight taper and thus a correct top and bottom when fitting a haft I can't help but wonder it your mast axe eye is tapered or are they parallel?

It's interesting you should ask that because being a double bevel it would only need a normal taper to be hung one way. As this would work either right or left hand. This one has, instead of the usual taper, a flair starting in the middle and going out to the tips of both lugs, top and bottom. In addition to that it has a bulge in front inside the eye. Right in the middle. I think that was done intentionally. It certainly looked purposeful. I expected to find a regularly tapered eye but that wasn't the case.
I oiled the oak last evening and thought I'd share a couple pictures of it totally finished. First one of it with no oil;

Then a couple after it soaked up several coats!

 

[Hairy Clipper]

It's interesting you should ask that because being a double bevel it would only need a normal taper to be hung one way. As this would work either right or left hand. This one has, instead of the usual taper, a flair starting in the middle and going out to the tips of both lugs, top and bottom. In addition to that it has a bulge in front inside the eye. Right in the middle. I think that was done intentionally. It certainly looked purposeful. I expected to find a regularly tapered eye but that wasn't the case.
I oiled the oak last evening and thought I'd share a couple pictures of it totally finished. First one of it with no oil;

Then a couple after it soaked up several coats!

Thank you for the reply Josh. Prior to being a barber I worked in the manufacturing engineering department of a radio manufacturing company here in town. I was a mechanical guy that had a ham radio license that gave me some insight to manufacturing radio equipment that non ham radio licensees did not have. It seems just about anytime I see something I am automatically analyzing a product for better or cheaper ways to make something and trying to figure out how things were made. In the case of these broad axe hatchets what you have described would make sense if dual handle orientation of the same forgings were to be used in multiple applications such as a left and right hewing axe or mast axe, et. al. I am very glad you noticed the shape of the eye in such detail as you have answered a question that has haunted a far corner in my mind for quite some time and why it gets brought forward to trigger my curiosity again remains unknown at this point. Many Thanks! Bill

p.s. The axe is looking good. I purchased a bottle of Tung oil last week anticipating working on the carpenter's hatchet that I have that needs the handle replaced. If I can find some hickory I may give making the haft a try given the motivation you have given me.

 

[Yankee Josh]

Thank you for the reply Josh. Prior to being a barber I worked in the manufacturing engineering department of a radio manufacturing company here in town. I was a mechanical guy that had a ham radio license that gave me some insight to manufacturing radio equipment that non ham radio licensees did not have. It seems just about anytime I see something I am automatically analyzing a product for better or cheaper ways to make something and trying to figure out how things were made. In the case of these broad axe hatchets what you have described would make sense if dual handle orientation of the same forgings were to be used in multiple applications such as a left and right hewing axe or mast axe, et. al. I am very glad you noticed the shape of the eye in such detail as you have answered a question that has haunted a far corner in my mind for quite some time and why it gets brought forward to trigger my curiosity again remains unknown at this point. Many Thanks! Bill

p.s. The axe is looking good. I purchased a bottle of Tung oil last week anticipating working on the carpenter's hatchet that I have that needs the handle replaced. If I can find some hickory I may give making the haft a try given the motivation you have given me.

Thought I've never explored it much short wave radio has always fascinated me. Did you find a lot of vets were into it? I've heard that is a popular pastime.
Mostly the eyes I've encountered in hewing axes have been parallel. No taper though the lugs themselves are often flared out. I don't know if this was due to the forces acting upon them after being hung or if they came that way. I would imagine that's a feature. It would be easy to achieve, as you mentioned, with minimal tooling.
And while I really do appreciate your edification you should see some of the other guys work on here! Some folks on here are real craftsmen. I'm aspiring to it. They say 30 years to become a master and I've only been hanging axes for 3 years now. So I've still got a ways to go. I do take a lot of pride in doing things well so I give it my best shot each time.
Looking forward to seeing your haft project! If you can't find hickory white ash and red or white oak make great helves. And seem to be more available. Did you buy pure tung oil or blo? Because, and you probably know this already, pure tung takes a really long time to set.

 

[Hairy Clipper]

Thought I've never explored it much short wave radio has always fascinated me. Did you find a lot of vets were into it? I've heard that is a popular pastime.
Mostly the eyes I've encountered in hewing axes have been parallel. No taper though the lugs themselves are often flared out. I don't know if this was due to the forces acting upon them after being hung or if they came that way. I would imagine that's a feature. It would be easy to achieve, as you mentioned, with minimal tooling.
And while I really do appreciate your edification you should see some of the other guys work on here! Some folks on here are real craftsmen. I'm aspiring to it. They say 30 years to become a master and I've only been hanging axes for 3 years now. So I've still got a ways to go. I do take a lot of pride in doing things well so I give it my best shot each time.
Looking forward to seeing your haft project! If you can't find hickory white ash and red or white oak make great helves. And seem to be more available. Did you buy pure tung oil or blo? Because, and you probably know this already, pure tung takes a really long time to set.

I have been a licensed ham operator since 1973 and a short wave listener since 1967 when my parents gave me a three band radio ...AM/FM/Shortwave. Back in those years shortwave was extremely interesting with the cold war going on. The Communist countries propaganda broadcasts were really a hoot at that time. Radio Moscow, Radio Havana, Voice of Viet Nam just to name a few. The Europeans all had transmitters, too, as well as many South American countries. Radio Ecuador always signed on as HCJB-Heralding Christ Jesus Blessings from Quito and had many people from Minnesota working there over the years. With the advent of the Internet the vast majority of government sponsored shortwave broadcasters are now gone and have been replaced with WWW addresses and streaming services and podcasts. Additionally, the digital technology has changed how radios work so much that the likes of Armstrong, Tesla and their contemporaries might not recognize it anymore. Although they were always on the cutting edge and if they were still with us they may have designed these new devices or taken it off in a different direction that no one has thought of yet. Ham radio has always had a large number former military in it's ranks and still do. One of my customers at the barber shop moved around Europe during WWII and set up radio communications for some very important in the field generals and after the war designed the transmitting antennas for Voice of America.

I have been reading many older threads here that talk discuss haft making in hopes of gleaning some wisdom from those with experience in the art, unfortunately so many of the photographs no longer exist. I suspect, since some of these threads go back a long way that some of the authors have moved their logging camps to that celestial old growth forest that we all aspire to see some day.

Back in the early 1970s when I bought my first boat my father took me out to see an old boat maker that still did a few projects. Jack lived to be 106 years old and he was in his mid 90s when he made a pair of oars for me. They were made from red elm and oak and I made the mistake of selling them as part of the deal when I sold the boat. There are darn few elm trees around here after the ravages of Dutch Elm Disease, but, I have wondered how the red elm would hold up to the forces applied to an axe handle?

I did buy pure tung oil and I vividly remember my first experience with the stuff in the mid 1970s. I didn't think I would live long enough to see the stuff cure. Thankfully, the old shop teacher I have talked about before, gave his woodworking classes many warnings about the oils and solvents used in wood working and the dangers of self combustion. I am not sure what I will mix it with at this point, but, the citrus products I have read about have me curious.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

I didn't think I would live long enough to see the stuff cure.

I don't doubt your experience but in fact actual tung oil is fast curing and is ready to take additional coatings after a day. It's also not cheap. When your so-called tung oil takes longer to cure it's an indication of a big scam with the tung part having got mixed together with a cheap substitute like canola for example or teak oil oils which do not oxidize.

Of course elm means many different things and we cannot generalize but I will. After many years resisting because I'd heard it being suggested as axe handle material I once gave in and tried it out and from the time I started making that handle to this day I regretted it even though as a measure of control I did a second one and the second a bigger failure than the first. This is a crappy axe handle wood in my opinion and experience.

 

[Hairy Clipper]

I must confess that my knowledge of wood finishes is very weak and the things I have been learning here in the axe forum has me soaking in every morsel of knowledge I get on the subject. I will have to read the label and find out what other elements of a witch's brew are in the tung oil container. A few years back the Mrs. & I entered a motorcycle touring contest that required a photograph of you and your motorcycle parked in front of every Court House in Minnesota ... all 87 of them. During our tour of northwestern Minnesota where the terrain is extremely flat we would see flowering fields of canola being grown. The flowers are yellow and in one place it was a yellow sea as far as the eye could see in every direction except for the roadway itself. I wish I had taken a photograph of it.

Earnest, I appreciate your candor on the elm as an axe handle material. With my family's health history concerning the men in it and age that I am at, good information from someone's personal experience carries a lot of weight with me and is something I have always placed great value on.