- Joined
- Mar 8, 2017
- Messages
- 6
Hey all this is my first post but I have been lurking for awhile learning lots of great things about knife making. A little while ago I made a "Viking" hand axe out of an old garage sale axe head I had lying around. I set about it in a "stock removal" manner with a angle grinder, a belt sander in a vice and files (I was pretty careful to not let it get too hot to loose temper). I left some of the pitting and patina on the sides of the head to add some character. The handle is a full sized hardware store hickory axe handle that I cut and sized to hang it on. The handle was finished by giving it a light torch and then multiple coats of walnut colored danish oil (after sanding off the factory varnish). I think it turned out pretty nicely.
Before I hung the axe I looked at many tutorials. The tapered end took quite a bit of removal to get it to fit, which I did extremely carefully using my belt sander in a vice, and then just files. It was quite a firm fit when I seated it pretty hard onto the shoulders and then drove in a wooden wedge (from hardware store) coated with some gorilla glue. This wedge definitely didn't bottom out, I drove it in as far as it would go and would have liked to get it in a little farther but couldn't. I then cut the top off and this is where I think I made a mistake. I ended up cutting it off almost flush, which was not my intention. Then I drove a metal wedge in at a 90 to the wooden wedge, but I didn't drive it terribly far in because a crack began to form at the top.
I intend for this axe to be a tool I actually use, mostly for backpacking camping trips. Lately I have given it some pretty heavy use (chopping full sized logs for my fire pit) and have noticed that the head moves some on the haft (from the marks on the haft above the shoulder and the difference in how much comes out the top of the eye it looks like maybe a little more than 1/16 of an inch). It doesn't feel "loose" and it can't be moved by hand, only by banging it on a log. Is this somewhat normal? If not does anyone have any suggestions to fix it? I could put another wedge in (would probably go at a 45 instead of a 90), I could soak the head and top of haft in linseed oil (not sure if any will soak in any with the danish oil on there). I have also read some stuff on using chair loc, so any advice on that would be welcome as well. I realize that if this is considered to be too much play I should just re-handle it, however I have put a pile of work into this already and would prefer to avoid that. Thanks in advance.
Jeff
Before I hung the axe I looked at many tutorials. The tapered end took quite a bit of removal to get it to fit, which I did extremely carefully using my belt sander in a vice, and then just files. It was quite a firm fit when I seated it pretty hard onto the shoulders and then drove in a wooden wedge (from hardware store) coated with some gorilla glue. This wedge definitely didn't bottom out, I drove it in as far as it would go and would have liked to get it in a little farther but couldn't. I then cut the top off and this is where I think I made a mistake. I ended up cutting it off almost flush, which was not my intention. Then I drove a metal wedge in at a 90 to the wooden wedge, but I didn't drive it terribly far in because a crack began to form at the top.
I intend for this axe to be a tool I actually use, mostly for backpacking camping trips. Lately I have given it some pretty heavy use (chopping full sized logs for my fire pit) and have noticed that the head moves some on the haft (from the marks on the haft above the shoulder and the difference in how much comes out the top of the eye it looks like maybe a little more than 1/16 of an inch). It doesn't feel "loose" and it can't be moved by hand, only by banging it on a log. Is this somewhat normal? If not does anyone have any suggestions to fix it? I could put another wedge in (would probably go at a 45 instead of a 90), I could soak the head and top of haft in linseed oil (not sure if any will soak in any with the danish oil on there). I have also read some stuff on using chair loc, so any advice on that would be welcome as well. I realize that if this is considered to be too much play I should just re-handle it, however I have put a pile of work into this already and would prefer to avoid that. Thanks in advance.
Jeff