Loose Axe Head Woes

[OldJimbo]

Better too much good advice and options than too little!

The L shaped piece of metal was to prevent handle damage, not hold the head on. Lots of people miss their mark and end up chewing up or cracking the handle just behind the head. The metal strip really helps preserve the handle in that case. These days, we'd tend to wrap a strip of fiberglass around as a quicker but uglier method.

It was good to hear about drilling a hole in the back of the handle and filling with linseed/turps, then plugging. I thought that that was a trick lost in time. The old timers would use regular linseed oil, not the boiled kind that dries. Some liked to use kerosene (parrafin over in UK) and I wondered about that until I found that people who shoot muzzle loading rifles soak their wooden ramrods in kerosene to make them incredibly flexible. On big axes or mauls, having a flexible handle cuts down on the shock coming back to the wrists.

 

[demographic]

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

You might be surprised at just how effective a splitting maul is, I used axes for years for splitting wood then a bloke I was working with sold me a maul for a fiver.

For splitting big chunks of wood it blows the felling axe away (unsurprisingly enough considering their names) and it's not really the edge that does it as much as the wedge shape, also they don't get stuck either.

One of the best tools I have bought and well worth the fiver I paid

 

[lardbloke]

You might be surprised at just how effective a splitting maul is, I used axes for years for splitting wood then a bloke I was working with sold me a maul for a fiver.

For splitting big chunks of wood it blows the felling axe away (unsurprisingly enough considering their names) and it's not really the edge that does it as much as the wedge shape, also they don't get stuck either.

One of the best tools I have bought and well worth the fiver I paid

I am glad someone has said this (even though I know this was said in fun). Splitting mauls are excellent tools. When I first purchased the maul, I though what the **** is this. But you soon find out. A chainsaw is all well and good and has its place. But it will not saw through soft or damp wood at this time of year (well unless you have a sharp blade and know what you are doing). Basically a splitting maul is a sledge hammer with a fine edge and it works (well surely all axes are variants of this). I have large logs and lovely large tree slices on which I and others have tried numerous types of axe and each have their place, but the maul breaks them down nicely. If you have large logs then a maul is for you.

 

[pierre girard]

I am glad someone has said this (even though I know this was said in fun). Splitting mauls are excellent tools. When I first purchased the maul, I though what the **** is this. But you soon find out. A chainsaw is all well and good and has its place. But it will not saw through soft or damp wood at this time of year (well unless you have a sharp blade and know what you are doing). Basically a splitting maul is a sledge hammer with a fine edge and it works (well surely all axes are variants of this). I have large logs and lovely large tree slices on which I and others have tried numerous types of axe and each have their place, but the maul breaks them down nicely. If you have large logs then a maul is for you.

We split a lot of wood at home, and I wouldn't think of doing it with anything but a splitting maul. If you do get stuck splitting wood with a felling axe, the best method (for a sizeable chunk) is to split around the outside (making your round chunk of wood into an octogon, or hexegon, or something like that). The first splits should be about two or three inches thick. Once you have all the sides off, the center will be much more amenable to splitting.

PG