Advice/suggestions on recent axe projects please

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Aug 4, 2009
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So as most of you have read I have a beautiful 1kg wetterlings on a 26 inch race handle that I picked up at a garage sale, a 26 inch .85kg wetterlings that I broke the factory handle on and a beautiful Swedish made Sandvik .6kg hatchet with a broken handle. I also have a 19 inch Swedish surplus axe (thanks much for the recent review!) coming for Christmas (And thank you Mommy, looks like a Scandinavian/Northwoods lumberjack Christmas!). Now here's the current situation...

I have a 31 inch Wetterlings factory replacement handle,
A .85kg head with no handle,

A 1kg head on a 26 inch haft that has one of those funky eliptical wooden plugs instead of a traditional wedge, that was covered in about a half inch of epoxy inside the eye of the axe head but I painstakingly carved out with the help of some stripper.

The plan was to follow the recent thread on removing a handle intact to pull the race axe handle out and put it on the smaller .85kg head, and use the replacement 31 inch handle for the 1kg head-but now that I see this weird plug type I have no idea how to go about removing the axe head intact, and I don't know if I can just fill epoxy back in and call the heavy head on the thin haft safe to use. I'm hoping this beautiful handle isn't junk but in facing the facts I have come to you for advice.

Do I leave the heavy head on the weird handle and fill the eye back in with epoxy,
Do I wreck the race axe handle and buy a good replacement? And if so, will a 26 inch Gransfors handle fit the eye of a .85kg Wetterlings head? If not, can you suggest a good quality aftermarket handle that will do a 70 dollar axe justice?
And who makes a nice thin curved profile 14-16 inch hatchet haft for this beautiful .6 kg Sandvik head?

Ideally this would leave me with Swede-made axes in 31 inches, 26 inches, 20 inches and 14-16 inches. I also have a double bit Arvika head coming so I'll need a good suggestion for a double bit handle too. These Swede axes are a sickness, much like black rifles, SIG handguns, scandi knives and good packs. And here I was worrying about pneumonia and flu this season all pumped full of steroids...

Thanks much for the advice!
 
...a 26 inch haft that has one of those funky eliptical wooden plugs instead of a traditional wedge, that was covered in about a half inch of epoxy inside the eye of the axe head but I painstakingly carved out with the help of some stripper. ...I don't know if I can just fill epoxy back in and call the heavy head on the thin haft safe to use...Do I leave the heavy head on the weird handle and fill the eye back in with epoxy...

A photo would be helpful. Here's a crazy shot in the dark: If I were going to put a half-inch of epoxy back in there, I'd first clean and "scarify" the top of the haft and inside of the eye. Then I'd drill pilot holes for a couple screws (thin, yet big-headed), and sink the screws so the heads will be just below the surface of the epoxy. Then I would take some pieces of strong fibers (nylon?), a couple inches long, and tie some to each screw. Then I'd fill it with the toughest epoxy I could find, trying to get the fibers distributed throughout the epoxy. The idea would be to maximize the structural integrity of the epoxy, and maximize the bond between epoxy/haft and epoxy/head. Before tentatively using the axe, I'd wait at least double the listed cure time for the epoxy. At any sign of the head slipping or the epoxy breaking, I'd go to Plan B.
 
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