Loose Axe Head Woes

[lardbloke]

We had a huge tree felled in our garden a good month or so back and it was decided to keep the wood. I have been busy chopping my way through large lumps of tree slice. The axe I have been using, a lovely old seven pound splitting maul had started to waver. The head has started to come loose. I banged the head back into position and it keeps slipping loose
Has the old axe had its day?? So I presume a new handle is required or is it an effect of the cold??
The axe only cost me eight pounds a while back, so is it worth getting a new handle (my woodworking skills are pretty duff to say the least) or simply get a nice new splitting maul for about twenty quid.
Any advice would be most helpfull....

 

[pierre girard]

Tighten up the haft as best you can. Soak the head, haft included, in linseed oil for a week. I doubt you'll have further problems.

PG

 

[Buckshot]

Agreed,
The quick fix is to soak it in water for an hour or two, linseed oil is much better but takes longer for the wood to absorb and swell I think.

Should be fine then - as long as the wood isn't too damaged round the head that is.

Mark

 

[torjusg]

Drive one or a few metal or wood wedges into the wood from the top.

Works very well for me. As Mark and Pierre says, the quick fix is to soak the head, but you shouldn't soak it in water for a very long time. Else the head may rust and the shaft rot.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Ogri the trog]

Lardbloke,
Yes to what they say!
First off make sure the central wooden wedge is tight in the head by tapping with a mallet and a slim punch. Then check that any metal wedges are tight the same way. A good soak in linseed oil will do it no harm but if the shaft is on its way out, you'll waste the oil. You don't need to be an ace carpenter to fit a new handle, just be able to saw one slot in the head-end of the new shaft to allow for the replacement wedges. As I said, one central wooden (hard wood) wedge and then one or two metal ones at 45 degrees to the eye hole.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[lardbloke]

Many thanks for the advice guys, it is much appreciated.....

I will see what I can do or I will get my Father to fit a new handle.I really do not trust my poor skills on such a tool. I have visions of the axe head flying off into next door's conservatory!!!

 

[oetzi]

Without having seen the axe, this is more of a cold reading.
Hold the axe by the handle, head down without resting anywhere and pound the butt with a mallet. Very often till the head doesnt creep anymore upward on the handle.
Saw off the potruding part on front of the head down to 3-5mm.
Get two steel wedges, if possible tubular ones like these:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/Supercorsa/Steelwedge.jpg
These will expand the wood much more than the rectangular ones.
Rest the butt on a hard surface (get someone to hold it) and gently at first tap in one wedge, always taking care to keep it straight. Go on till it is flush with the wood. Now the second one, which will take much longer and harder tapping to get it in.
Then get boiled linseedoil and fill a poly bag with it. Mask the edge of the head and immerse it for a week. It doesnt matter that the oil wont harden (only by adding a siccative you will achieve this in an acceptable time), most important is the swelling of the wood caused by the oil.
You cant do much wrong. In the worst case you spend a couple of hours and quid. But you learned a lot by doing it.

 

[lardbloke]

Here are a few pictures of the said axe:

I have banged the shaft back into its original position and holds well for now.

This is the old axe from the top. You can't see much really.

From below

Here are various views of the top of the axe. If you look closely their is a gap around the shaft and the head.

I think I will go with the linseed oil to start with and then if things are still astray, then its off to the workshop....

By the way oetzi's, how big are those tubular wedges and where would I get them from (i.e do they have a special name??)

 

[scanker]

That's not an axe.
It's a hammer with a sharp end!

 

[addyb]

I do understand that if one is in the field with an axe with a loose head, soaking it in water will do the trick, provided one is not out in the dead of winter.

I was just going through my bookshelf, and I found "CFP 222: Land and Sea Emergencies." which is a detailed booklet that the CF gives out to it's aircrew incase of a crash in Canada. Of course, the bushcraft bits it gives are designed to be used in our country, but I imagine that a great deal of it could be used in other places. That bit about the axe I just quoted from it.

It's hilarious how old this book is, one of the rules it gives for a survival situation is "Don't waste matches - use sticks from fire for lighting smokes." (Page 23)

Yep, that's a survival tactic from 1968!

Cheers and good luck with your axe.

Adam

 

[jason01]

That's not an axe.
It's a hammer with a sharp end!

Might be right there! It doesnt look much like an axe to me, more like a masons straight pein hammer.

Ooops just read the whole thread and noticed its 7lb and a splitting maul, I thought it was smaller than that from the pictures lol

 

[OldJimbo]

That one's looking too far gone for a quick soaking fix - eventually the head will slip forward enough to allow a break, or soaking in water will make the wood brittle and the same thing will happen. Getting hurt by a flying head isn't much fun.
You have enough of the handle sticking out in front of the eye to get at the wedges and pull them. Pull the steel wedges first.
I often have to drill holes into wedges to insert a screw or even a piece of drill-stock, Then a few taps down toward head will lever out wedges.
Once wedges are out the head will tap off. Use a file so that handle will fit further forward into eye, and make everything tighter. Then rewedge with a new and thicker wedge.

 

[lardbloke]

Again, thanks for the advice. The picture is a great help too....

 

[Longstrider]

Where asthetics and traditionalism are of no importance, but strength and practicality are, you can do a lot worse than fix the thing with epoxy resin. I once had a hatchet (it grew legs and "walked") on which the head had been fitted with the normal wedges, but the whole handle was finished about 5mm INSIDE the top of the head. This recess had then been filled with epoxy to secure everything in place. That hatchet saw far more use and abuse than it ever should have done, but the head never moved.
When I had to re-helve my topping axe I did it in a similar way. I covered the wedge with resin before setting it, then filled the last few mm's of axe head with resin. I added a little touch of my own by bending some wire into the shape of my name and set that into thre clear resin before letting it set. Not only has that axe head never moved again despite years of service, I'm hopful that with my name set into it, it might not "walk" the way that little hatchet did.

 

[OldJimbo]

I have some resin set axes and hatchets and it does work well. The main thing with loose heads, though is to make sure that the wood in the eye hasn't been rotted through soaking in water to the tighten head ( parts will be soft and easily be detected through scraping - even with a fingernail). Then using resin or just wedges, the axe is good for a long time.

 

[OldJimbo]

This one looked salvageable, but when I removed the head, I felt soft wood and was able to break off the wood on one side of wedge slot with my fingers.

 

[lardbloke]

This all great stuff, keep them coming....

 

[swyn]

Hello Lardbloke. Looking at the picture you have a good head and a good haft. Why not pull/drill the wedges out (usually these are fine to re use) knock the head off the haft, now re-shape this end with a spoke shave, or your bushcraft knife so it fits better and re-assemble. What you should end up with is the haft poking through approximatly the thickness of the maul (2 1/2") this should be cut off and re wedged. The whole thing will be slightly shorter but this can be done a couple of times without affecting the balance or swing. (you may find you get on better) with a shorter handle
Last tip, when fitting head to haft, fit the head, now turn the other way up and hold the haft like you would a chisel with the head approx 6" off the ground, hit the haft like you would a chisel or tent peg,using a club hammer, you will find that after six blows the haft fits really snug this way. You must use a club hammer as this stops the haft from splitting as the diameter of the hammer is greater than that of the haft. WEAR A GLOVE on the hand holding the haft!!!! :yikes: coz if you miss much pain and probable damage occurs.
I hope that this is clear as I feel that I would NOT be employable writing instruction manuals Swyn
PS, My old boss, when I was an apprentice, used to advise us to drill a 1/4 hole 2" deep in the handles of our axes and other tools that we used, and fill this every evening with linseed and turps mix, this enabled the wood to remain flexible so when it was run over by the tractor it would bend,not break and consequently enable us to carry on with work instead of repairs! You would be surprised how many things were run over. Piece bags,flasks,saws,axes even dogs! S

 

[Seagull]

Anyone ever heard of this "anti-flying-off-head" device?:

Years ago, I had a Dutch made , Carpenters hatchet, fitted with with an L-shaped lug of thin steel.
The lug slotted down the inside rear face of the eye, with the "L" resting over the top edge of the poll.

Lug movement ,was prevented by means of a small woodscrew right into the handle.

IIRC, I,m pretty sure that this lug was slightly tapered, to act as a wedge, too.

Dunno what became of it.

Ceeg

 

[lardbloke]

Crikey, I have so many options I am unsure of what to do now. I think I will have a go of removing both sets of wedges. Get some new ones, saw of the top bit, re-insert the new wedges, whack the handle back into place and leave in some goop for a week.
Hopefully job's a good-un.