Are there any plans/instructions in a forum or individual makers of axe handles? I'm new here and this is my first post.
Does anyone know how to make an axe handle?
- Thread starter Texan by birth
- Start date
I make my axe/Hatchet handles from Ash as it is a common tree in the UK. So common in fact that the seeds get blown into my Garden and I have to weed them out. It is second best I think to Hickory but readily available. I take an Ash log and split it in half down the length and then split the halves again. Ash splits quite easily and if there are no knots, it will split fairly straight. Also for a hardwood it generally dries without much cracking (checking). I now have 4 lengths of a quarter of a pie section. I start to square these up by splitting away a triangle, the point of which was the centre of the log. I then roughly plane the flat surface just flat enough that I can mark out the outline of the handle I want. I just draw around an Axe handle with a marker pen, It does not even matter if the axe handle is of a different length to the one you are making. I just allow a wide section at the top to allow plenty of material for fitment of the axe head and then position the bottom of the handle (palm swell end) near the end of the wood and draw that in. I then just freehand in lines to complete the outline. I try to go for a fairly straight handle as a personal preference but you can shape it how you like. I do recommend making keeping the top wide in section for at least 1 1/2 times the length needed to go into the axe eye, once you have reached the point of having shaped this so the axe head fits on you can always shape the wide part down if needed. Also there is danger of the palm swell end splitting when you strike it with a mallet to drift the axe head on. Therefore I do not final shape the palm swell until the axe head is fitted on, I just leave it extra large initially and give it a good sized chamfer to help prevent splitting. It is refined when I do the final finishing. To remove the bulk of the waste wood I use a hatchet to chop away most of this ( a band saw is an alternative way). This can be done quite quickly but you must take care not to cause the wood to split down the length. Make some stop cuts to help prevent this and always work downhill relative to the grain. What I mean by this is best explained by this example. Imagine a plank with the grain running parallel to the length and you cut one end so it is at a 45 degree angle. If you were to strike an axe on the 45 degree cut edge then the plank would split open because you are forcing the grain layers apart. however if you were to chop the other direction on the straight edge towards the point created by the 45 degree cut then you could remove wood easily without any splitting because you are riding over the grain and not into it. I suggest practicing on a piece of scrap wood first. I know people think of an axe as a brute force and ignorance tool but this is totally untrue or at least it should be if the user takes a moment to think first. You can take thin cuts that produce shaving like that from a plane if you take care. I often grip the handle of the axe right near the axe head and use a slicing action rather than a chop, with a thin bladed sharp axe this works fine. Next I smooth the axe cut edges down with spoke shaves, the rule of working downhill with the grain also applies here. It helps to hold the spokeshave at an angle relative to the centre line of the wood as this gives a partial slicing action which eases the cut. You now have the handle outline done but it is square in section and probably to thick. I then plane the flat sides down to get a reasonable thickness and then "carve" the rounded shape with the spokeshaves. By spokeshaves I mean one with a flat base and one with a curved base for trimming concave sections. I do recommend visiting Flea markets (car boot sales in the UK!) to find these tools. I have bought planes and spoke shaves for as low as £1 (though £5 to £8 is more typical), I imagine you could just substitute the pound for a US Dollar there. This can get addictive, I now have more of these than I can shake a stick at because who can resist a bargain. An Alternative is a draw knife but this takes some practice to use effectively it seems. I would be wary of having the handle too thick in section. I work to the rule that when I hold the handle then the two finger nearest my thumb just touch the palm of my hand i.e. my fingers and hand go all the way round the handle. Also I like to keep the handle in proportion to the axe head as a smallish head looks really odd on a thick handle. Course cut files and rasps also help with shaping. I would highly recommend having a go at making a handle, it is a learning process but the skills apply to other woodworking projects as well. If you get a Flea market axe to restore, always have a try at salvaging the handle for a smaller axe head, often something that looks like its only good for firewood can make an excellent handle when trimmed down and refinished. I must admit to a sense of pride when I have a finished axe that looks like practically new. If I could just have my 10 pence worth on oiling the handle, I do not use Boiled Linseed oil. It has toxic chemicals in it to make it dry quicker. I use raw linseed oil which has no health and safety implications other than that it is inflammable. In fact Linseed oil come from the Hemp plant and is really the same as Hemp oil which you can buy at a supermarket for cooking use. The Hemp oil will work just the same as Linseed but it is more expensive because it is food grade. Please let the forum know how you get on and do forum members have any tips or tricks to add to this.
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Texan by birth,
Welcome to the forum. I have moved your post to a thread of its own. In cases like this, when you have your own unique question, it can be better to start a new thread rather than add to an existing one. That way people can see your title and are more likely to reply.
Wilfy, some good info in there. It would be much easier for folk to read and appreciate if you added a few double carriage returns (paragraphs with a space between them).
Quite a few of us are at least somewhat dyslexic and big blocks of text can be difficult to read.
Off hand I cannot think of any pictorial axe handle making threads here. I know there have been some discussions of them, maybe with pictures, but that could have been so long ago that the photos are no longer there. You could try a search of the forum, looking in the thread titles for the phrase "axe handle".
Then it will be a matter of sifting through.
bushcraftuk.com
An alternative is Youtube. Its good for more than cat videos!
or
These two are particularly good.
And these are classics.
Best of luck.
Chris
Welcome to the forum. I have moved your post to a thread of its own. In cases like this, when you have your own unique question, it can be better to start a new thread rather than add to an existing one. That way people can see your title and are more likely to reply.
Wilfy, some good info in there. It would be much easier for folk to read and appreciate if you added a few double carriage returns (paragraphs with a space between them).
Quite a few of us are at least somewhat dyslexic and big blocks of text can be difficult to read.Off hand I cannot think of any pictorial axe handle making threads here. I know there have been some discussions of them, maybe with pictures, but that could have been so long ago that the photos are no longer there. You could try a search of the forum, looking in the thread titles for the phrase "axe handle".
Then it will be a matter of sifting through.
Search results for query: axe handle
bushcraftuk.com
An alternative is Youtube. Its good for more than cat videos!
or
These two are particularly good.
And these are classics.
Best of luck.
Chris
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Thanks billy-o. Aside from wood carving gouges and knives,
it's a pleasure to watch somebody working with a draw knife and spoke shaves.
I like to find the least of excuses to use mine.
The red-handled draw knife might be a Stubai, scarce as hen's teeth unless you buy new. $60CDN.
The red & black adjustable spoke shave could be Samona (South Korea), they "sing" in the wood. $18CDN.
it's a pleasure to watch somebody working with a draw knife and spoke shaves.
I like to find the least of excuses to use mine.
The red-handled draw knife might be a Stubai, scarce as hen's teeth unless you buy new. $60CDN.
The red & black adjustable spoke shave could be Samona (South Korea), they "sing" in the wood. $18CDN.
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