found an old axe head :)

[Peter_t]

i found an axe head, it weighs 2.5 pounds, has a 3 3/4 inch edge and is 6 inches long. so its a tad bigger than a small forest axe (i think). it has no markings so i havnt a clue who made it but i you can see that it has been hand forged (lots of forge marks and not the best) but it doesnt have to look prety to work well althow i mite clean it up with sand paper. what size handle do you think i should fit? 50, 60cm?

i will have to chip out the remanes of the old handle

a shot with a mora for comparison

thanks
pete

 

[Toadflax]

It looks very much like the head on my (fairly cheap) Sandvik axe that I bought from a garden centre about 15-20 years ago. I broke the handle recently and rehandled it with a commercial handle (as I couldn't get a Sandvik handle), but this still doesn't fit that well so I think I'm going to have to carve one myself.

I may have a picture of the Sandvik - I'll post a link in a moment.

Geoff

 

[novembeRain]

aparently, if you bury the head on it's side and build a fire over where the handle goes you can burn the wood out.

Hope that helps.

 

[MartiniDave]

That's quite a bit bigger than the SFA. Should make a good splitter if you put a decent helve in it.
I wouldn't be inclined to burn the old wood out, I'd drill thru it a few times then pry the old stuff out.
Nice project you've got on your hands there!

Dave

 

[Nagual]

I'm certainly no expert on axes etc but I wouldn't risk damaging the axe heads temper by sticking it near any fires. Try to hack out the wood using whatever tools you can get.


Nag.

 

[JohnC]

I've had a go at sorting an old axe before, when I cleaned up the surface, some markings that helped to ID the maker turned up, so you may find more info as you go along.

I'd agree with above, don't use a fire, I've read it in some books, but slow drilling out, works fine.

 

[Peter_t]

ok just spend a painfull 40 minutes drilling then smacking a bolt through they eye with a hammer and iv finaly got the metal wedge and the rest of the wood out. there seems to be quite a large lip in the top of the eye, im gessing im suposed to get rid of that?

it doesnt look as if that metal wedge was suposed to come out lol

theres nothing wrong with burning out the eye out as long as you can harden and temper the blade afterwards. something i havnt got the tools or skill to do.

Toadflax, it does look similar to your sandvik and i would be more than happy it is but it is a typical axe shape so it could be anything. does yours have any markings on it?


thanks
pete

 

[Toadflax]

Toadflax, it does look similar to your sandvik and i would be more than happy it is but it is a typical axe shape so it could be anything. does yours have any markings on it?

I'll have to have a look at home, but it won't be tonight because I'm off to see Ray Mears talk at Oxford Brookes University this evening.


Geoff

 

[Peter_t]

any suggestions on the handle length? 60cm?

thanks alot
pete

 

[leon-1]

To be honest I think that an axe head that size and weight will probably require a handle in the region of 28 - 30 inches to get the best out of it.

Only my opinion of course and may say differently.

 

[Dave Budd]

looking at the head its a fairly bog standard form for hatchets and smallish felling axes for most of the last century. the barelling of theblade is something you see much after about teh 1960's coz it's more expensive to produce in a factory. It doesn't look handmade to me, I suspect that any hammer marks in there are from some tit hitting it during use (if it got stuck they may try to dislodge it in strange ways, I've seen all sorts!). Likewsie the sporeading over of the metal at teh eye is caused by some wally hittingthe end with a hammer or on the ground to try and secure teh wedge in further, or to get it out of a stuck log

I would file or grind the spreading off so that you have a smooth entry ot the hole, grind off any burrs you find (there should be one sharp edge on an axe ) and then fit a handle. The choice is yours! 'getting the best' out of your axe depends on what you want to do with it. A long handle will give you more leverage for chopping but will make carrying it and carving with it more difficult, where a shorter handle would be better suited. I would just nip to the hardware store and get the same size handle that is on a simialr sized head, but then I have plenty of axes to choose from if I want a tool for a particular job

 

[Bodge]

Heres a link to my axe resto project.
I have since fitted a metal wedge across the top to make sure nothing moves.
It goes everywhere I go camping.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27977