COTS Project Thread

All told that chunk of ash from several pages back yielded 3 hammer handles and 3 hatchet handles. Today I finished up the little Wards Master Quality. It weighs 1-1/4lbs on my postal scale but the bit seemed a little thick. Not sure if it's lost some weight over time or not.

Had to snake this handle out from between a couple knots so like the Craftsman, the grain has a little wiggle to it, but I like the way the grain on the one side flows with the shape of the handle. Anyway, after this project I think I like Ash. The heart wood is attractive (you can see on this one I tried to go full heart wood) and takes a nice smooth finish. There will for sure be more of them in my future but not sure how long I can go with the knots that keep showing up. I guess I'll just save nice straight pieces for long handles whenever I come across them. It's so much nicer to have plenty of wood to work with - everything just comes out the way I want it to rather than being stuck with whatever comes in the mail.

wards_hatchet_before by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
In progress. Two big knots whittled out by this point.

wards_hatchet_right by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
I dig the way the grain waves with the handle here. Little hunk of sap wood on the swell and the shoulder.

wards_hatchet_left by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
Little knot on this side but in this case, not a problem and gives it some character.

wards_hatchet_alignment by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

wards_hatchet_swell by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
Ooooh. That is really nice COTS!

Crip and clean edges - handle and head both.

And taken down from a raw piece of wood even.

That has to take some time to do right.
 
Square_peg said:
In a word, 'perfection'.

Your hangs are always so inspiring.
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Agent_H said:
Ooooh. That is really nice COTS!

Crip and clean edges - handle and head both.

And taken down from a raw piece of wood even.

That has to take some time to do right.
Click to expand...

Thank you guys. Yeah, I had already roughed out the handle with the hatchet by Saturday when I started finishing/hanging it. The bit took extra work so gotta figure that in, but I spent 3 hours Saturday morning - cup brushing, grinding and repairing the bit, sharpening and hanging. And then I still had to come back to finish the fawns foot, which is the last thing I do.
 
That is a monstrous mushroom for sure.

That hatchet is an heirloom piece. It looks great from all angles.
 
wow okay, i have to admit that this handle is top notch! and that shroom is epic! is it edible? ;)
 
Biggest mushroom I've ever seen growing wild here. Whether or not it is edible will for now remain a mystery ... because I'm a chicken. But I thought it was too cool not to get some pics.
 
COTS, I know nothing about making handles from raw wood other than the great stuff here but is there a piece in all of that you could get a "straight" single bit handle with a natural "gentle" upswing?

Or "bendy" enough following the grain (either direction) for a broad axe handle? Large or small?
 
So depending on which side of the tree the piece came from, I think there is enough bend to cause the thing I call run-out to occur - this would be where the broad axe handle would come in and I dunno, might work.

Not a big deal. I got the wood, split it up ... I'll find more if this won't work and I'll use this for something I'm sure. I don't have anything to hang anyway - 1 Connie that deserves a good handle. It looks like it is really attractive wood though - kinda has a reddish honey color. Like you said and Pegs suggested, got bendy wood, make something bendy. You guys know I can handle that part.
 
cityofthesouth said:
Thanks again guys. Peg, my DPG arrived and it soaked right into the end grain no problem, even with BLO already applied. For this Hoffman I applied it to the wedge of course first, before driving it. So here's hoping that it is a good addition to my process - the oil costs very little and should last a very long time in any case.

So the Hoffman was a little weird - the eye didn't really appear to have much taper, kind of an odd shape, took me a little longer to get it hung. The walls around the eye are really thick and I think I would have opted for a larger eye and thinner walls instead. However, it's now on a really nice piece of wood - check out how flat the individual growth rings are to the handle on that one side! Nothing else to report here. Sure is a good looking animal if nothing else.

BTW, you guys have seen this axe in Operator's review threads and it's pretty obvious that he put this bad boy to work for his testing.

redwarrior_hoffman_axes2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

hoffman_axe2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

hoffman_axe1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
On this side you can see just a little chunk of heartwood at the shoulder - kind of a nice effect IMO.

hoffman_axe_wedge by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
Here you can kind of see how the eye is a little wavy and a bit misshapen - but the wood conformed of course.

hoffman_axe_fit by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
Click to expand...

What beautiful work on a beautiful axe!!!! You inspire me when I carve my handles, to try new things and new shapes! Thanks for posting!
 
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