Grow the handle through the axe eye...

[St33L]

Can you grow a tree through the eye of an axe?

If an ash tree takes roughly 18 months to fully mature, and an axe handle would not need to be the full diameter of a full grown Ash tree...

Then what if you grew the trunk right through the eye of an axe? Wouldn't this mean that the axe head won't come off?

And, there will only be two parts: an axe head and the handle. So, no wedge or any sort of binding or adhesives.

It'll be a very simple design, yet very robust I'd presume. It would take more time, of course, but it could be a niche thing.

Maybe when scaled, you can "farm" axes en masse.

You can say you're a farmer who grows axes.

 

[cityofthesouth]

I, for one, will be expecting progress pics.

 

[Half Cut Skele]

I have no idea, but I really want to try it

 

[Spyder59]

Cool idea.

 

[jblyttle]

Except for the pith being centered and the whole drying out thing. Oh yeah, and my lack of patience.

 

[St33L]

Except for the pith being centered and the whole drying out thing. Oh yeah, and my lack of patience.

I bet there's a way somehow to center the pith - maybe everything gets centered while the trunk gets squeeze-molded as it grows within the axe's eye (?). The young tree may push against the inner walls of the eye on all sides and the center gets more-or-less balanced.

And young wood will probably dry out faster since they're much smaller in volume for the air to dry it out (on an exponential scale and not a linear progression, since volume and the amount of tree/wood needed to dry out increases with each outer ring). Perhaps couple that with a faster drying methodology and it'll be dried in days/weeks instead of months. All speculation though as it's not yet been done...

As an aside, maybe you can also get a farmer's tax deduction, 'cause you know, you grow trees and farm axes lol

 

[300Six]

The concept is wonderful but the actual thing ain't gonna work.
One: the bark will remain inside the eye and will dislodge from Two: the once-living wood as it shrinks 10-15% (or more) upon being severed.

If you can get your hands on a round eye trade axe (or even a tomahawk) that'd be a slightly more feasible endeavor. Their hafts are round and the eyes are large (for one thing) and lend themselves nicely to tapered trunk saplings or branches because they're designed to be slip fit. Ash trees (if you can find one that will live long enough not to succumb to emerald ash borer) grow in diameter about 1/2 to 3/4 inch per year up this way. The vintage Walters made in Canada trade axe I have has an eye diameter of 1 5/8 inch. Presumably if the head were fitted front down on a near-fit sapling it would fill the eye easily within one growing season. For at least a few days after it was harvested it would likely stay together too! However in the long run you will still have the problem of having to remove the haft in order to get rid of the bark and to seat it further down on the sapling trunk as the wood ultimately shrinks and cures.

 

[St33L]

The concept is lovely but the physical thing ain't gonna work.
One: the bark will remain inside the eye and will dislodge from Two: the once-living wood as it shrinks 10-15% (or more) upon being severed.

What if you "over-grew" the tree inside the axe's eye by 15%+ of the fitted diameter while the axe head is still on the tree?

Then, after felling the small tree, would the wood inside the eye be more dense to compensate for the shrinkage?

And, as it dries out, wouldn't it still maintain its shape?

I'm no tree growing expert so answers to these would be interesting to know!

 

[300Six]

What if you "over-grew" the tree inside the axe's eye by 15%+ of the fitted diameter while the axe head is still on the tree?

Then, after felling the small tree, would the wood inside the eye be more dense to compensate for the shrinkage?

And, as it dries out, wouldn't it still maintain its shape?

I'm no tree growing expert so answers to these would be interesting to know!

Strangler Fig is a southern vine that spirals itself around a living tree. The vine slowly chokes the tree to death by restricting growth (and expansion) of the cambial layer. Allowing a sapling to overgrow on either side of an axe head would only enable it to live in the short term. You'll find old fence wire and fence top rails inside trees because the tree grew over them but a complete circle in effect girdles the tree and kills it. Living wood that wants to grow outward but can't does not compress or become more dense!

Could be if you wanted a perfect cylindrical or slightly conical shape that was really straight for two or three feet you could get a sapling to grow through a piece of pipe (such as PVC or ABS) and then split off the form as soon as it was obviously 'full to overflowing'.

 

[St33L]

Strangler Fig is a southern vine that spirals itself around a living tree. The vine slowly chokes the tree to death by restricting growth (and expansion) of the cambial layer. Allowing a sapling to overgrow on either side of an axe head would only enable it to live in the short term. You'll find old fence wire and fence top rails inside trees because the tree grew over them but a complete circle in effect girdles the tree and kills it. Living wood that wants to grow outward but can't does not compress or become more dense!

Could be if you wanted a perfect cylindrical or slightly conical shape that was really straight for two or three feet you could get a sapling to grow through a piece of pipe (such as PVC or ABS) and then split off the form as soon as it was obviously 'full to overflowing'.

When the tree dies, would it indicate it's "time" to fell it?

And, to avoid shrinkage, what if the water loss is replaced in tandem with stabilizing material during the drying process?

 

[Oxbow]

What if you "over-grew" the tree inside the axe's eye by 15%+ of the fitted diameter while the axe head is still on the tree?

Then, after felling the small tree, would the wood inside the eye be more dense to compensate for the shrinkage?

And, as it dries out, wouldn't it still maintain its shape?

I'm no tree growing expert so answers to these would be interesting to know!

This might be possible for an axe with an eye that was close to round in cross section, but for a standard american oval eye the tree is almost certain to be killed by girdling or secondary infections before it fully filled the eye. And a small diameter stem like that will likely sprout shoots off below the head in response to the injury it would be suffering by being constricted inside the eye.

Ash is a marginal wood for an axe handle. At least North American white ash. It varies greatly in density, the closer the rings the lower the density. Even stuff that I thought was top notch has had a very short lifespan sometimes. I've moved away from using it much even though I have a lot of ash in my woodlot. It is a PITA to spend time making a nice handle and then having it break off the first time you use it.

 

[BG_Farmer]

This concept was, iirc, employed with stone axes, but instead of an eye, there was a groove up either side (much like a fiskars). The tree was split an appropriate height above ground, the stone inserted, and the tree allowed to grow around it until it was tight. A friend and I have it on our list of things to try, but I'm still waiting him to groove the stones ...

 

[St33L]

This might be possible for an axe with an eye that was close to round in cross section, but for a standard american oval eye the tree is almost certain to be killed by girdling or secondary infections before it fully filled the eye. And a small diameter stem like that will likely sprout shoots off below the head in response to the injury it would be suffering by being constricted inside the eye.

Ash is a marginal wood for an axe handle. At least North American white ash. It varies greatly in density, the closer the rings the lower the density. Even stuff that I thought was top notch has had a very short lifespan sometimes. I've moved away from using it much even though I have a lot of ash in my woodlot. It is a PITA to spend time making a nice handle and then having it break off the first time you use it.

What if you prune the tree as it grows to prevent death, such as with a bonsai tree (but not as small/extreme as one)?

So, the tree "learns" to mature/grow with the axe's eye to a smaller stable shape and size, and control the constriction.

I know trees are different from humans, but it reminds me of Padaung women and their neck rings, or corsets.

Though, perhaps tree constriction would be more analogous to constricting the main body including the arms.

Or, growing cuboid or pyramid-shaped watermelons by constriction:

(though, I get that evenly shaped constriction makes more sense than more obtuse ones like an oval)

 

[Oxbow]

The only way to control the constriction is to change the shape of the eye. A round eye will essentially constrict all at once. An oval eye will constrict on the cheeks very severely to the point of killing the cambium, long before the bit and poll ends are grown into. There is no possible way to prune a tree to prevent this.

The big difference between a human and a tree is that the only living tissue in the stem of a tree is the cambium. What you are proposing is squashing the cambium between the wood of the stem and the interior of the eye.

 

[St33L]

The only way to control the constriction is to change the shape of the eye. A round eye will essentially constrict all at once. An oval eye will constrict on the cheeks very severely to the point of killing the cambium, long before the bit and poll ends are grown into. There is no possible way to prune a tree to prevent this.

What if you force a burl to grow by insect infestation or other methods to fill the oval?

 

[Oxbow]

Knock yourself out.

 

[300Six]

Knock yourself out.

Polite way to end this debate! Cavemen would have caught on to this eons ago if it were feasible; they had to spend hundreds of hours shaping anything with their rudimentary bone and stone edged tools. Now there were some cagey (and patient) toolmakers (and numerous boat builders) over the past 1000 years that selected or groomed roots, branch and trunk growth to their advantage, though.

 

[St33L]

Cavemen would have caught on to this eons ago if it were feasible; they had to spend hundreds of hours shaping anything with their rudimentary bone and stone edged tools. Now there were some cagey (and patient) toolmakers (and numerous boat builders) over the past 1000 years that selected or groomed roots, branch and trunk growth to their advantage, though.

True, perhaps something like this would have been done ages ago.

Maybe artificially creating and controlling burl to grow the way one wants it to is something that hasn't been fully realized yet as a technique (?).

I was thinking, what if you take an existing mature tree, and force a burl to grow as a "stem"? The burl would be set inside a tubing or shaft, and would subsequently grow into the eye of the axe at the end of the tubing. I'm sure burl has some unpredictable growth patterns to control for any optimal centering, and the grain pattern would be unpredictable.

If I were to actually try it out, would this be a more practical approach than the previous methods that came up? It would be a neat makeshift "experiment" but I'd want to know what "sounds" like it may have a better shot. Even if it fails, it's things like these side projects I enjoy learning and doing.

 

[Joe L. Bachs]

Doesn't seem like something that would be practical/ safe to use, but it would make a heck of a cool display axe though.

 

[Square_peg]

For a moment I thought this was a serious post. Only for a moment.