For All You Axe Fans!

[joshiecole]

I know there are quite a few axe fans on this forum so I thought I'd show my favourite axe. It's a Katco (King Axe and Tool Company) boy's axe made in Oakland Maine. They were still making axes in Oakland the same way until 1965 as this great video shows.

Maine axes often had oak helves traditionally so I carved it one from oak to be in keeping.

Hopefully this may be interesting.

 

[Harvestman]

That's a beautiful axe.

 

[Draven]

Beautiful! Have you used an oak haft before? I hung a pocket axe in oak and always figured it wouldn't be strong enough for a larger axe, though I knew others had done it. Curious to hear if it holds up!

Looks great, thanks for sharing!

 

[Sparky415]

Looks like a good job (nice looking SAK as well)

 

[Macaroon]

I handled a medium weight axe and a small hatchet with Oak many moons ago; Oak will certainly stand up to the rigours of the task but I found it very hard on the joints, as there's little to no spring in it and the shock of the tool strikes are transferred up through the handle and into the wrist and arm. Ash and Hickory, on the other hand, have a good bit of spring to them which alleviates this and is also more efficient at delivering the energy of your blow to where it's required the most. When you think of how many axe blows you'll make over the years, (hopefully!), that's a lot of potential energy delivered and joint damage avoided

 

[Harvestman]

I handled a medium weight axe and a small hatchet with Oak many moons ago; Oak will certainly stand up to the rigours of the task but I found it very hard on the joints, as there's little to no spring in it and the shock of the tool strikes are transferred up through the handle and into the wrist and arm. Ash and Hickory, on the other hand, have a good bit of spring to them which alleviates this and is also more efficient at delivering the energy of your blow to where it's required the most. When you think of how many axe blows you'll make over the years, (hopefully!), that's a lot of potential energy delivered and joint damage avoided

All true enough if you are considering UK oaks, but I suspect that is white oak or some species that doesn't occur in the UK, and it might have more spring in it than our species. If oak was the traditional haft material in Maine then there was probably a good reason for it.

 

[Harvestman]

All true enough if you are considering UK oaks, but I suspect that is white oak or some species that doesn't occur in the UK, and it might have more spring in it than our species. If oak was the traditional haft material in Maine then there was probably a good reason for it.

Well, that was all very clever of me, but then I spotted that the OP is in London, so he will have used UK oak, so Mac's points all stand.

 

[joshiecole]

Thanks for the responses chaps. There's actually a lot of American white oak available in the UK and that's what I was sold. This is also a relatively light-weight head on a relatively short helve, so it doesn't require the same amount of torsional strength as say a 4lb felling axe on a 32'' handle.

I chose oak in this case because I know it was common to use white oak as a handle material in Maine where this axe was made.

If I have any problems I'll be sure update you all for the sake of science.

 

[Harvestman]

Thanks for the responses chaps. There's actually a lot of American white oak available in the UK and that's what I was sold. This is also a relatively light-weight head on a relatively short helve, so it doesn't require the same amount of torsional strength as say a 4lb felling axe on a 32'' handle.

I chose oak in this case because I know it was common to use white oak as a handle material in Maine where this axe was made.

If I have any problems I'll be sure update you all for the sake of science.

Phew! I see no reason why white oak wouldn't be fine for the job. The old timers were no fools and used an axe far more than most of us ever will. If the wood wasn't suitable, they would have soon stopped using it.

 

[Macaroon]

Whatever works for you is good, it's nice that you've taken the time to research it and as Harvestman says, there must have been a very good reason for them to have done it that way in the past

 

[Harvestman]

Question: Is that helve oiled or not? English oak comes up beautifully with a coat of oil, and I'm wondering how the white oak looks in comparison. I might have to get some for myself.

 

[joshiecole]

The helve in the picture isn't oiled. But it is now. It was a very pale biscuity colour without oil, but it's really picked up a lot of colour. I'm not sure that if I bought another bit of white oak I could replicate this colour --there's supposed to be quite a lot of variation from piece to piece.

 

[Harvestman]

Looks really nice now.