A source for decent wood wedges...?

300Six said:
Fitting and hanging a 'green' handle conceivably could be accomplished but would require seating the head gradually plus using cross wedging that is able to be replaced or driven in further over the course of at least a few years. Rule of thumb for 'air drying' is one year per inch thickness. 10-15% shrinkage is hugely significant if you're trying to keep something tight!
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Who the hell is talking about hanging a "green handle"? Not Peter Follansbee:

"So I weighed this piece of wood one more time, and got the same weight as recorded here in April & early June – 14 oz.

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here’s where it will go, a replacement handle for my old Viking-style hatchet.

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Here is recto:

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and verso:

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a favorite quote from Bill Coperthwaite, found in his book A Handmade Life."


Bob
 
rjdankert said:
Who the hell is talking about hanging a "green handle"? Not Peter Follansbee:

"So I weighed this piece of wood one more time, and got the same weight as recorded here in April & early June – 14 oz.

and verso:

axe-verso.jpg


a favorite quote from Bill Coperthwaite, found in his book A Handmade Life."


Bob
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That really is a cutie!
Aside from that; placing your air cured haft in the oven at 150-200 F for awhile (few hours to half a day +) will save you from devoting fruitless hours to fussing around with moisture meters, calipers and reading weights in preparation for performing a longevity 'hang'. Object of the exercise is to start off with a piece of wood that is shrunk smaller than is what is considered "ambient", and an ordinary kitchen oven will efficiently do that for you.
Just don't turn the heat up over 212 F or 100 C.
 
rjdankert said:
Undoubtedly with kiln dried sawn stock,
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Yup, unless I want to waste time using riven Ponderosa for a handle :rolleyes:


rjdankert said:
power tools, and lots of sandpaper. :D
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Yup, bandsaw for the blank and kerf, belt sander for roughing out, drum/flap machine for final shaping. Did use a nice rasp for fitting though.

When I was young I whittled away at stuff with a drawknife, spokeshave, and sometimes a rasp. Age and experience has shown me that it doesn't much matter how you go about it as long as you do a good job.



Always wanted to try an Osage handle, so I figured now was the time, my other Hudson Bay was about to lose it's head.

I would love to have a few riven billets of hickory, but it's just not available here.
 
rjdankert said:
"For the past eleven years, I have worked at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as the joiner and turner. In this position, I meet thousands of visitors each year, who come into the shop and see me at work on all stages of making the reproduction furniture used in our re-created seventeenth-century houses. Because of the popularity of woodworking in general, there are visitors every day who have some knowledge of the craft, but have not usually seen someone working with hand tools, nor with green wood. A certain number of visitors, both woodworkers and non-woodworkers, are astounded at the level of complexity possible with only hand tools. When I describe that the stock is riven, or split, from the log, and worked from green wood, they are further surprised."

Peter Follansbee

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Bob
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I live about 25 minutes from there. I wasn't into this stuff the last time we went, but next time I am going to go watch this guy. They have a functioning blacksmith set up in the same manner. Fully functioning shop, he does period correct work and people just watch. Hmm, it is that time of year, must get the kids down there.

The man hours in that piece! That is why such things can cost thousands of dollars.
 
Curt Hal said:
Has anyone tried using birch for wedges. I have lots of that.
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Perfectly suited for use as wedges. I'm presuming (since you're in central Alberta?) this is White or Paper Birch we're talking about; Yellow Birch in the east is of similar hardness to hickory, oak and maple.
 
I would definitely recommend Thrane, all of their items are top notch. You can get a sampler of different types of wood wedges or just one kind, the black walnut look amazing with hickory handles. The 15 for shipping is a flat rate so just order a bunch or a few handle blanks with them if you need them and then the shipping is actually cheap. I just order a bunch at a time and bundle it in with my handle blanks so it's actually very reasonable. If you don't need handle blanks thy also offer other items like leather strops etc. But Thrane is definitely the one I'd recommend, I ordered some from Beaver Tooth prior to find out about Thrane and they were pretty poor quality and I still have most of them left as I only use Thranes now.
 
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