Picked up an old military surplus Hults Bruks that looks unused. The handle has perfect vertical grain. BUT it's taken a remarkable warp over the years. I was thinking about sticking it in a big pot of boiling water, then arranging it between boards in a vise and leaving it for a while. I suppose I have nothing to lose by trying, but figured I'd see if anyone here had any better ideas first. Hate to go to the trouble and expense of rehafting it if it can be salvaged.
Is it feasible to straighten a warped axe handle?
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I do a lot of wood bending and use either steam or dry heat. Depends how bad the bend is and over what kind of area as to what type of heat I would use. Wood will bend of its own accord whilst drying or under pressure over enough time. If it has stabilized and is dry the only reason it should move after that is pressure or maybe moisture levels.
Pictures would help, is the bend in a short or long area?
Wood can be very plastic with little effort if done right.
Pictures would help, is the bend in a short or long area?
Wood can be very plastic with little effort if done right.
Nah mate, that's a specialised tool, is that. Used for cutting down trees that haven't grown straight, and splitting curved logs. You should be able to get a left-handed version too.
Should take an hour and ten bucks to fix it with a new helve - I'm not sure I would bother trying to straighten that to be honest 
Its a static re-curve in a bow but its all the same stuff.
If you could stick the whole thing in boiling water or seam it in a tube of some description you could make it any shape you wanted.
Problem is due to thickness you would want to steam it for atleast 45 minutes, better an hour.
You then need to clamp it PAST where you want it to stay. If i want to move a limb an inch one way I will steam and clamp it two inches in that direction because i know it will initially bound back half inch and creep the other as it gains MC.
or make another
If you could stick the whole thing in boiling water or seam it in a tube of some description you could make it any shape you wanted.
Problem is due to thickness you would want to steam it for atleast 45 minutes, better an hour.
You then need to clamp it PAST where you want it to stay. If i want to move a limb an inch one way I will steam and clamp it two inches in that direction because i know it will initially bound back half inch and creep the other as it gains MC.
or make another
Should take an hour and ten bucks to fix it with a new helve - I'm not sure I would bother trying to straighten that to be honest
It takes me off-and-on a couple days, I'm slow. I enjoy doing it, but I've already got two heads waiting for helves.
Dwardo, do you think standing it in a pot of boiling water on the woodstove would help? Part of the haft would be in the water, and the rest would be in steam. Then I could clamp it in a vise, perhaps pour more boiling water on it, and try bending it. Or would that be more trouble than it's worth? One part of me says, if I'm going to destroy the haft anyway I may as well destroy it by trying to salvage it.
You could try but the steam would have to be trapped in somehow. You would need a pretty tall container to get most of the handle in there.
Then you would need to clamp it an inch past where you want it to be to allow for some bounce back. Once removed from the steam you have about 20 seconds at most to get it clamped up. You could try dry heat using a heat gun and slowly heat the area you want to bend whilst applying a weight to the clamped handle.
Then you would need to clamp it an inch past where you want it to be to allow for some bounce back. Once removed from the steam you have about 20 seconds at most to get it clamped up. You could try dry heat using a heat gun and slowly heat the area you want to bend whilst applying a weight to the clamped handle.
Well, I supported it between two saw horses and suspended a 75 pound weight from it. I'll leave it for a few months and see what happens. I'm not getting my hopes up. Surprised by how strong that hickory is - 75 pounds doesn't flex it much.
If you have that weight setup and a heat gun your nearly there. Keep the heatgun moving over the area you want to bend and get it as hot as you can without scortching the wood. This will help it budge over. By heat gun i just mean your average DIY paint stripper type thing. I never spend more than £15 on one at a time as i tend to blow them up. Good warranty always helps too, although there is only so many times you can exchange it before the shop ask you not to come back. I know.