John Neeman axe handle

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LowHangingFruit

Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Messages
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For xmas, my wife bought me a Neeman Northlander Forest Axe “Stalwart” and this axe is a real work of art. My concern is the finish on the handle. I'm not sure if they put a stain or varnish over the red elm, but the finish is dark and the smell is pretty strong (even months after getting it). Is this finish okay to keep or should I sand it off and put boiled linseed oil on it?
 
It's tung oil. The smell on mine eventually went away. There isn't any need to sand and apply blo. If the smell is really bothering you that's another story. I don't know if putting another product on it would alleviate the smell
 
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LowHangingFruit said:
For xmas, my wife bought me a Neeman Northlander Forest Axe “Stalwart” and this axe is a real work of art. My concern is the finish on the handle. I'm not sure if they put a stain or varnish over the red elm, but the finish is dark and the smell is pretty strong (even months after getting it). Is this finish okay to keep or should I sand it off and put boiled linseed oil on it?
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Get out there and use it! The excess oil smell will rub off via your sweaty hands.
 
On a new axe handle I think tung oil is better. Tung creates more of a protective coating where BLO soaks in better and helps nourish the wood - especially old dried out handles. But I think best is several coats of BLO followed by several coats of tung.
 
Dang your wife knows how to shop!!!! I like tung oil because it hardens and it gives the wood a deeper hue though I still use BLO because tung oil is much more expensive. If its a JN though the price of oil shouldnt be a problem ;)
 
I get jumped on for posting this illustrative picture of extreme runout but here it is again: a 'real purdy-lookin' new haft. A coat of stain and some varnish and this piece of wood could be made to look like a million bucks for a wall hanger, museum piece or theatre prop!

AxehandlesII011Medium_zps1e90f9d9.jpg
 
That axe is beautiful. I haven't seen an elm haft before, but I love it... might have to try it myself. I wonder if red elm is similar to chinese elm, as I have a log sitting around. Is the grain running completely diagonal at any point along the length, or is it mostly straight? Small deviations won't affect it much if the grain averages straight through the core.
 
LowHangingFruit said:
Not a pretty as the last one but they'll have to do.

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That's some pretty serious run out. Normally I would reject a haft like that. But your one saving grace is that this is elm - know for it's coarse intertwined grain that resists splitting. Still, under heavy use it's likely to fail. Keep that in mind.
 
Square_peg said:
That's some pretty serious run out. Normally I would reject a haft like that. But your one saving grace is that this is elm - know for it's coarse intertwined grain that resists splitting. Still, under heavy use it's likely to fail. Keep that in mind.
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I don’t have any experience with elm as a handle wood and its behavior under stress when exhibiting grain runout, but I think Square_peg is right.
Is there a difference between a twisted grain’s resistance to splitting in a specific direction when subjected to cleaving with a wedge [SPLITTING1] and the resistance to grain separation of a small diameter handle with runout during impact shock when using the hand tool with such handle grain [SPLITTING2]? I would tend to think, there is a difference, and I think these are two different (albeit related) properties, both called SPLITTING. With the wedge, the twisted grain causes a significant amount of the force to be directed across the grain. IMHO in the runout handle most of the force seems to be directed along the grain, especially that the narrow diameter does not seem to allow for much twist of the grain.

Additionally, elm has roughly half the strength properties of hickory, so even with the alleged compensatory effect of the twisted grain, its overall strength is still below that of the hickory, and hickory handles with runout grain do fail:

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/english-elm/

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/shagbark-hickory/
 
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