Looking for good axe handles

[ChrisWebb2020]

I've looked in all the hardware and tool shops near where I live, only one of them stocked fawns foot hatchet handles, (14" only and the grain was awful.)

Does anyone know somewhere online I can get a good handle with reliable grain at a good price, preferably 16" to 18" long? (Without forking out for an GB handle or one of the other top end ones.)

Thanks guys.

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[Wild wandering woodsman]

Get a nice piece of ash and you could make one. They are not that hard to do I make my own when I need to

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[ChrisWebb2020]

Get a nice piece of ash and you could make one. They are not that hard to do I make my own when I need to

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I'm greener than the green stuff Percy made in Blackadder when it comes to carving. Never carved anything in my life. Still learning how to identify trees and what not. Not sure where I would source Ash from, let alone how I would go about carving it.

I've rehandled a couple of sledge hammers and a few pickaxes before, so I'm comfortable with using premade handles.

Where would you recommend I source a suitable peice of Ash from, given that I live 10 minutes from the centre Birmingham?

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[Laurentius]

I'm greener than the green stuff Percy made in Blackadder when it comes to carving. Never carved anything in my life. Still learning how to identify trees and what not. Not sure where I would source Ash from, let alone how I would go about carving it.

I've rehandled a couple of sledge hammers and a few pickaxes before, so I'm comfortable with using premade handles.

Where would you recommend I source a suitable peice of Ash from, given that I live 10 minutes from the centre Birmingham?

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FWIW I have succesfully used willow to rehandle a hatchet and a hammer, not so much because it is a good wood to use but because it was readily available for me. The best way to learn how to carve something is to try it, learn as you go along, by your mistakes as much as anything else, so I would start on any available wood until you have the skill to find that special piece of wood.

It's not just about using a knife, as other tools such as a spokeshave or a plane can be used in shaping a handle.

 

[Robson Valley]

First, look at the end grain orientation in the premade handles. Mechanically, that's important for strength.
Next, call a few timberyards and ask if they have ash or hickory axe handle blanks.
Call a couple of arborists, tree surgeons and ask what they're working on.
Know any reinactors? Local historic sites doing demonstrations?
Failing that, at least you know the thickness needed and the grain orientation when you go looking.

Done quite a lot of wood carving but never a long tool handle.
I'll guess a draw knife and a spoke shave? Some way to clamp it down?
Must be a bunch of YouTube DIY to watch.

 

[sunndog]

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...ww.oldtools.free-online.co.u..._ferrules.html

 

[nic a char]

check out your local skip mate - often handles & discarded tools there - if you ask permission = nae problem 2 polis
I've reshaped broken-off pick, hammer, and axe-handles, for example

 

[wonkothesane]

http://www.robin-wood.co.uk/wood-craft-blog/2010/12/14/how-to-make-a-new-axe-handle/

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[Robson Valley]

That's a really good link to what you need to know. Even the consideration of ring count/inch.
I'll add only that you should make 2 or 3 at a time. Oddly easier and one of them will be ideal.

 

[nic a char]

excellent piece, wonkothesane, fits exactly with my experience. I'm now lucky with a large country garden & lots of trees so pruning provides all my needs.
One advantage of urban life is throwaway society - never had to buy anything - timber, metal, screws, nails plumbing, roofing, manual & electric tools of all sorts, insulation, a boxed battery drill complete with spares, electrical goods new wiring to circuit-boxes, even a skip full of garage tools up to trolley jacks + new oils, grease etc etc.
Mind you, there are a few country skips -)

 

[ChrisWebb2020]

Thanks a lot for all the assistance and advice guys.

I think I will have a go at carving my own handle, though I will be prepared to accept that I will probably botch the first couple of attempts. Just need to ring round and find a local timber yard that has a nice bit of ash.

Lastly, a question about handle length. I've got a 1.3lb axe head, I feel like I want a much longer handle for this hatchet than normal, because arms are fairly long. Is this advisable or not, as I don't have much experience with axes yet. (And I intend this axe to be a combination of general purpose and a primary carving tool.)

 

[dasy2k1]

Have a look at the small forest axe, that has a similar sized head and a handle that can best be described as hand and a half

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[beezer]

hay dude i just finished an axe that is similar to what you are working on. myn has roughly a 12inch handle you could proble go a little longer but it will start to look a little odd. i would recommend doing most of the handle shaping with a spokeshave if you have one but a knife will do just fine. i also cut my own wedges at 10 degrees i wouldn't worry to much about metal wedges. feel free to message me if you need any advice.

when your using your new axe just keep in mind where its going when you swing and what it could hit if you miss. oh and alway keep that other hand well out the way.

 

[beezer]

if your interested these are my last two projects the top one has a 10 inch handle the other is 8 inch. both the heads are around 1 lb.

 

[ChrisWebb2020]

Have a look at the small forest axe, that has a similar sized head and a handle that can best be described as hand and a half

Yeah, I've looked long and lovingly at the GB SFA. I intend to get one at some point, though theres other things higher on my list right now, like a good sleeping bag.

hay dude i just finished an axe that is similar to what you are working on. myn has roughly a 12inch handle you could proble go a little longer but it will start to look a little odd. i would recommend doing most of the handle shaping with a spokeshave if you have one but a knife will do just fine. i also cut my own wedges at 10 degrees i wouldn't worry to much about metal wedges. feel free to message me if you need any advice.

when your using your new axe just keep in mind where its going when you swing and what it could hit if you miss. oh and alway keep that other hand well out the way.

Lovely work on those axes. I've got a 13" hatchet I bought years ago for £4, one of those cheap ones with the hollow metal handle. Aside from the terrible materials, the size and head weight are about the same as the Brades No.1 head i've gotten myself. It always feels too small, though I do like the curve in the handle.


UPDATE:

So, I checked with the authority that operates all the Birmingham tips and recycling centres: NOTHING is allowed to be taken from any of their sites, at all.
- Strike one

I've contacted 5 timber yards - only one of them stocked any hardwood at all and it was only big oak boards 18mm thick max.
- Strike two

I did find a wood recycling centre run by the Jericho Foundation - The Wood Shack. They have loads of timber, no idea what they do and don't have really, they collect all sorts every day - always good for a rumage apparently. On top of that, they opperate a 'ReUsers' facility in Sutton Coldfield where they collect 'junk' and either sell it, recycle it or repurpose it. Apparently they have buckets full of hand tools going for between 50p and £4.
I intend to go there tomorrow and see what I can find. Who knows, I could bag all the tools I need to make a new handle, maybe even another head or two...

 

[beezer]

good luck im often in my local antique/junk shop after tools. they have a stanley bailey no6 plane at the mo but my good lady would not be amused if i got it.

 

[ChrisWebb2020]

So, another update:

Went to "The ReUsers", didn't have time to hit the timber recycling yard, and came back with:

3 x Files, a Rasp, a very nice hand drill and what I finally worked out was half a draw knife! (No idea how you cleanly snap one in half, but hey.)
Total cost: £5.40 (and that drill is easily worth triple that!)

Alas, no tool handles, but they did have loads of camping gear and loads more tools.

good luck im often in my local antique/junk shop after tools. they have a stanley bailey no6 plane at the mo but my good lady would not be amused if i got it.

Luck was indeed on my side, because I actually forogt my wallet and had to go home to get it. When I came back I noticed a chap was sorting out loads of items next to the tool shed, (which is a 20ft container,) among whihc were knives. I had a chat with him and he explained that they couldn't sell knives due to legal issues. I pointed out that this was quite a shame, as I am a chef and just getting into Bushcraft, so knives are pretty high on my list of priorities, along with axes...

"Oh, we've just had a big axe dropped off, it's in the office, I'll talk to the manager..."

Suffice to say, "Jackpot!!!"

Snapped her up for £10, just cleaning her up and asked Axe Junkies on FB about the identity of the makers; She's a 1953 Felling Axe made by Pardoe & Co Ltd, another long gone tool makers from the Black Country! Minimal pitting, no mushrooming or any other deformation at all. My only concern is this:

Should I be worried about how secure this head is? Do I now need to get looking for two handles instead of one?