How necessary are metal wedges when installing axe handle?

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Brazos_Jack

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Oct 26, 2015
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How necessary is it to install metal cross wedges over the wood wedge when installing an axe handle?

I'm in the process of putting new handles in two axe heads. I put carpenter's glue on the wedge surfaces before driving them in. I'm letting the glue dry over night before trimming the handle off flush with the top of the head. Should I use the metal cross wedges that came with the handles or do they sometimes do more harm than good?
 
I dont use metal wedge anymore, but like you i use woodglue to secure the wood wedge in and after trimming i saturate the top with swell lock or wonderlockem super glue to seal the endgrain and secure the wedge. IF after that the axe come lose, then ill use a metal wedge, but only if im in a hurry.

I only use metal wedge on hammers, mauls and such.
 
Metal wedges (straight tapered or circle conical) are increasingly installed by insurance liability-conscious manufacturers (who intensely fear heads flying off under warranty), and have also been used for eons by general public that is too hurried or too lazy (which includes the most of us) to properly re-hang an axe. Wood wedges require a split or sawn kerf so if a head becomes loose the only immediate option of lazy or field tightening is via pounding in a metal wedge, old key blank, mower tip or numerous screws and nails. The fashionable small steel wedge (diagonal across the main wood wedge) that signals a quality 'boutique axe hang' these days is only there to make it seem as if the main wood wedge has been locked in place.
If you carefully fit a handle to an axe eye and use a full wood wedge to anchor the 'fit' in place then there is no real reason to start pounding in random or specific metal wedges, at all.
 
Brazos_Jack said:
How necessary is it to install metal cross wedges over the wood wedge when installing an axe handle?
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I found it necessary to dedicate 4 small hardware drawers to them. That is after I pull them out.:)

Three for the standard sizes and one for round/interesting ones.
 
There is no need at all to insert a secondary wedge of any kind if you take the time to get your wedge right the first time. Often the difference is only a couple of minutes. Take time to prepare the kerf (I always taper it), then insert the handle so that 1/4 of an inch protrudes through the eye and then bang your wedge home. The wedge will part the the timber outside the eye and lock the handle in place so it won't budge. Happy wedging, ICS
 
ICS said:
There is no need at all to insert a secondary wedge of any kind if you take the time to get your wedge right the first time. Often the difference is only a couple of minutes. Take time to prepare the kerf (I always taper it), then insert the handle so that 1/4 of an inch protrudes through the eye and then bang your wedge home. The wedge will part the the timber outside the eye and lock the handle in place so it won't budge. Happy wedging, ICS
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How do you taper the kerf? I've been trying to find a technique, but nothing has worked so far.
 
Twindog said:
How do you taper the kerf? I've been trying to find a technique, but nothing has worked so far.
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I am trying to hang a hammer which I personally think has quite a bit of taper in the eye (bigger hole at top than at bottom). My approach was to try and match the haft exactly to the eye of the hammer head --which would make it impossible to slide the haft into the eye since the top of the haft would be larger than the bottom of the eye. My first approach to try and resolve this was to use Square_Peg's suggestion of using two hacksaw blades on the same saw to make a wider kerf (I actually doubled up a coping saw blade by sliding the pin through two blades but same thing). The thought behind this was that I could then "pinch" together the top of the haft, making it small enough to fit into the base of the eye. That did not work as the top of the haft was still too wide. Big problem because I didn't want to make the kerf any wider at the base --so I thought that tapering would be perfect.

To do this I used two tools and a lot of patience: a very small/thin 2nd cut file and a tungsten carbide hacksaw blade. Not the round blades that look like tungsten carbide fused to a piece of wire, one like the photo & link below, a regular metal blade with a tungsten carbide cutting edge. (no affiliation to the links/photos below, took them from Google images) Sorry about the giant image.

I cut the kerf wider using two standard, fine-tooth, metal coping saw blades and then I put a tungsten carbide blade in the hacksaw UP SIDE DOWN (so the cutting edge faces inside the hacksaw) I then inserted the blade into the kerf such that the flat side was sliding against the bottom of the kerf and the cutting bit was higher up, aimed at the top of the haft... then it just takes patience, patience, and a lot more patience... apply slight pressure to the side of the kerf that you want to taper with the hacksaw blade and have at it.

After that I used a very small 2nd cut file, about the thickness of a hacksaw blade to taper the bottom 1/2" properly and smooth things out. I don't know anything about the file as it was my grandfather's and the only markings on it are from his employer (ATT/Bell). He was an electrical engineer and he used these files to clean the contact/breaker points on relays and switches. They are thin enough that I use them to clean the distributor/ignition points on my cars and depending on the gap, it will occasionally fit into a spark plug. They sell hand files for model making and other similar things, just don't know much about where to get a good quality one, etc. Google is your friend.

I'm a little OCD when it comes to these things so I've been using a spark plug gap tool (stack a couple up and slide into the kerf) and measuring calipers to measure the taper & width of the kerf for consistency, even taper, etc. so that I can properly match and size the kerf wedges.

There may be better ways but this is what has worked for me.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...wvgwI35S6EOEIVnMGxsMxJ4w&ust=1447174430616590
910292_inset1_xl.jpg
 
Twin dog, tapering the kerf is easy and makes a huge difference in setting wedges. Once you have cut the kerf into the handle, say 2/3 to 3/4 the depth of the eye, squeeze the cut closed (not tight) in your vice and re -cut the kerf down half the distance, squeeze it up again and re-cut it a third time down about half that distance again. If you do it correctly with "soft hands" you won't get any steps in the cut and you will have a perfectly tapered kerf for your wedge. I would not do it any other way anymore and don't forget to leave about 1/4 inch outside the eye so the wedge locks the handle in. Happy wedging. Regards, ICS
 
Thanks, 1215, for that amazingly complex and clever procedure. You gave me some ideas, but I don't think I have enough brain cells or talent to pull it off.


ICS said:
Twin dog, tapering the kerf is easy and makes a huge difference in setting wedges. Once you have cut the kerf into the handle, say 2/3 to 3/4 the depth of the eye, squeeze the cut closed (not tight) in your vice and re -cut the kerf down half the distance, squeeze it up again and re-cut it a third time down about half that distance again. If you do it correctly with "soft hands" you won't get any steps in the cut and you will have a perfectly tapered kerf for your wedge. I would not do it any other way anymore and don't forget to leave about 1/4 inch outside the eye so the wedge locks the handle in. Happy wedging. Regards, ICS
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Thanks, ICS. I think I can pull your suggestion off. I have a jig built for my chop saw to widen the kerf on a haft. The clamping of the tongues is what I was missing. I'll give it a try. Much appreciated.

I thought I'd take a damaged axe head to a local machinist to have him cut a window into the head so I can see the wedge as it as driven in. Should be fun and illuminating. My machinist always welcomes crazy, unique projects. I'll post photos if I can pull it off.
 
I use metal wedges, both straight 2/3 points and the round ones. Just because an axe is an old and traditional tool doesn't mean we can't use more advanced techniques.

Neeman/Autine, Gransfors/Wetterlings, Hults/Hultafors/Husqvarna, Council/Best Made all use metal wedges (Council does so on Velvicut, FSS, and regular lines). So do Iltis and Helko. The only Japanese axes I've seen have had metal cross wedges or round pins. Garant and True Temper/Ames currently do, so does Collins and Vaughan. So does Condor and Bahco. Estiwing and Fiskars don't use wedges at all.

Every boutique and mass production axe company I can think of believes that metal wedges are worth it. So do I. I've never seen an old-old axe that didn't have metal wedge(s) and I've yet to have anyone show evidence that real axemen in days of yore didn't use them.

I also use electricity to power my lights. Unnecessary, sure, since gaslights or candles are provide enough light is done correctly. Alternatively, when I'm building something out of wood I tend to 'glue and screw'. The end product really would only need one or the other and would be pretty strong. Better with both.
 
EdmontonAxe said:
Just because an axe is an old and traditional tool doesn't mean we can't use more advanced techniques.

Neeman/Autine, Gransfors/Wetterlings, Hults/Hultafors/Husqvarna, Council/Best Made all use metal wedges (Council does so on Velvicut, FSS, and regular lines). So do Iltis and Helko. The only Japanese axes I've seen have had metal cross wedges or round pins. Garant and True Temper/Ames currently do, so does Collins and Vaughan. So does Condor and Bahco. Estiwing and Fiskars don't use wedges at all.

Every boutique and mass production axe company I can think of believes that metal wedges are worth it. So do I. I've never seen an old-old axe that didn't have metal wedge(s) and I've yet to have anyone show evidence that real axemen in days of yore didn't use them.
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I'm guilty as charged: I too have used steel wedges many times over the years. Wood wedges (or even plastic versions) require that a deliberate pre-cut has been made specifically to accommodate them. Metal wedges don't require this foresight and are therefore very useful for field repairs and/or to address laziness. But more and more so these days these are used to comfort litigation-conscious manufacturers that emulate 'monkey see monkey do' when they visually evaluate competitor's goods. Just because a $200 Swede boutique jobbie has one seems to justify that every lesser-priced axe must therefore now also have one (or two).

By the way the Oxhead Iltis Canadian I have (from 1992) does not have a steel wedge and the dozen new Garants I was spying at the local hardware store last week don't have any either. That Helko currently uses two hollow conical steel wedges, amongst other things, is quite understandable if the close-up photo of the wood to eye fit of one of their's (on a recent thread) is any indicator of how much extra help they need just to keep a head from flying off during the warranty period.
 
I have only used a wedge once in that last 30 or so axes. I used them on a Hults Bruk head that had had the poll pounded to the point where the eye was misshapen (wider on one side that the other). I couldn't get the kerf wide enough to enter the bottom of the eye and then spread wide enough at the top. (see the photo) I also use a wood swelling compound as a lubricant when I bang the wedge home. The final step is to invert the head in a container of BLO to swell the kerf inside the eye.

I also do what ICS suggests, which is to put the kerf in a vice and resaw it once or twice. Then (and this is a neat trick I learned from someone here), before I knock the wedge in, I take a triangular file and I file the slot at the top of the kerf on both sides so that the wedge doesn't curl up as it is being pounded in. Its a great trick. Don't overdo the filing.
 
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