Axe handle replacement?

Have you done it? In the field? How difficult?

Also I am looking for opinion in this regard about Gerber plastic handles. I have not looked at them closely enough to be able to tell if one can fabricate a replacement wooden handle for those Gerber axes. Any opinion?

Here are my concerns:
Gerber plastic handle: light, can store things, gives a better leverage but can I replace?
Wooden handles: can be fixed in field but might break
Estwing integral design: no problem with breaking the handle but heavier, more difficult to choke on and might make it hand-heavier.

Whadaya fink?

HM
 
A

Alberta Ed

Joined
Jun 29, 1999
Messages
9,747
Replacing an ax handle in the field is possible but a real b***h of a job, and how likely are you to have another handle anyway? You can burn out the stb of the old handle by burying the blade in the ground to prevent heat from ruining the temper and kindling a fire around the butt, at least according to the old Boy Scout manual, in theory, but I wouldn't care to try it. Take along some duct tape and/or brass wire or a tube of epoxy, and do a field repair. Make sure the grain on the handle is good (in the same plane as the blade) and that it follows the curve of the handle, and you shouldn't have a problem. Stay away from painted handles that disguise the grain.
 
Hello All,
If I cross pin an axe head to the handle by drilling a hole through the axe head, should I use a wooden dowel or metal pin to hold the axe head in place.
I am thinking that a wooden dowel will be a bit easier to remove than a tight fitting metal pin should the handle need replacing in future.
Thanks.
 
I think the main cause of a head loosening up on an axe (assuming it was properly installed in the first place) is that the wood dries out and shrinks.

So first, be sure to use wood that is dry. Also, my old boy scout master would take an axe handle and put it in a pan of linseed oil and put it in his attic during the summer, where it was nice and warm. He'd leave it there for months to let the handle soak up the linseed oil. According to him, this waterproofs the handle and prevents it from gaining moisture in the summer and then drying out in the winter, a cycle that evidently can lead to shrinkage. Don't know if it worked but knowing my scoutmaster, I bet it did.

The old plumb axes came with the top of the handle sealed with plastic to prevent moisture exchange. My plum is 25 years old with no sign of the head loosening. You might try sealing the end of the axe with epoxy.

So, this might not help you replace an axe head in the field but it might reduce the chance that you will have to.
smile.gif


BTW, the hard part is getting the head out, as Alberta Ed noted. After that, it's fairly easy, assuming you have the right tools. If you have to do it from scratch, you should note that the replacement handles you buy are split on the end. A small sawblade can be used to notch a homemade handle in the field. This is so that once you pound the handle in, you can drive a wedge down through the top to tighten it up. In fact, you can buy metal wedges and it might be a good idea to keep one or two handy. If you are out camping and you notice the head is beginning to loosen up, you can drive a wedge into the handle to tighten it up. If you don't, the head could fly off and hit someone.

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
I have at present three different Fiskars (Gerber) axes and I am quite happy with them. So far I have not been able to break one. I have heard of a few cases and then it has been done as follows: hit the axe into a big tree stump (which you want to break for firewood) it gets stuck. You kick, lean or hit the saft with something else SIDEWAYS in order to break it free or split the stump. You sometimes can break the saft.

Shaft is injection molded onto the head - kind of space age plit shaft stone axe. If the shaft breaks totally free I imagine you can try using a split wooden shaft and tie it in place. Better than nothing and might keep you warm. I have not tested this, if I can find a loose head I try.

TLM

[This message has been edited by TLM (edited 11-13-2000).]
 
Ed, Hoodoo-Have you guys dealt with any broken handle which seems to me the more difficult to fix? Improvising a new handle should be quite some work.

TLM-Thanks for the info about the injection molded Fiskars. Interesting technological solution. Please let us know how the split wooden shaft worked in your hand when you have chance to try one.

HM
 
Well, I don't recall ever breaking one myself but my wife did a couple of times (respect is an integral part of a successful marriage, particuarly if she is holding something sharp). I clamped the head in a vice on my workbench (with thick leather glued to the jaws to prevent scratches), pounded out the 3/16" nail I pinned the handle with, got out a drill and drilled several holes down into the head. Then I used a cold chisel and a cheap screwdriver to gouge out the wedges, drilled again, ruined the drill, and when it got wobbly enough pulled the head off. I fitted a new hickory handle both times, making sure the grain was perpendicular to (in line with) the plane of the blade. Then I sanded the finish off the handle, and cut the sharp heel off the knobby end. I use tung oil to treat my ax handles; it seems to last longer than linseed oil and moisture doesn't affect it as much. This is not a fun job. The Alberta forest fire fighters use some kind of jig to press the broken handles out of broken Pulaskis, or at least they used to. Now they just throw them away and buy new ones as it's cheaper. This is not a fun job.

[This message has been edited by Alberta Ed (edited 11-13-2000).]
 
Thanks Ed, that truly sounds like an adventure
smile.gif

Would it make sense to selectively heat up the whole part of the head (not to change temper of edge!!) before fitting handle in? By this you might get a tighter fit once it cooled down. Just an idea...

HM
 
I think it would be pretty tough to fix a broken handle. And maybe dangerous to use afterwards. But...you could try to epoxy the handle using a compound called Acraglas. This stuff sets up HARD. It was originally designed for glass-bedding gun barrels. You can buy it from Brownells. I've used it to repair cracked gas tanks and it works well. Drain the gas to below the crack, clean, and epoxy.


As for heating the head up, that's an interesting idea. I used to fit dry cylinder sleeves into engines by covering the engine block with a tarp and setting a lightbulb or two under the block to warm it up. Then I would take the cylinder sleeves, wrap them in plastic, and stick them in a snowbank. When I came in the next morning, I would pop them in. Usually worked pretty good, considering that some of these sleeves are a press fit (like the old ford tractors, if anyone remembers them).

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM

[This message has been edited by Hoodoo (edited 11-14-2000).]
 
I have done this twice and it is time consuming. It helps if you have someone who has done it before show and help you with it. It is possible though and hopefully you have a new handle and don't have to improvise one.

Take the old wooden handle and cut is off as close to the head as possible. Build your fire and you don't put the head in the fire but next to it with the blade buried so as not to upset the temper. Have the wood in the head just above ground level. You will then place hot coals around and over this. The object being to burn out the old handle. This is one time consuming portion. If your coals start to die down just add new ones. When the handle is all burnt down enough for you to remove it from the head remove the whole thing from the coals, do so, preferably with a glove or stick. Let it cool down and take the wood out. Then proceed to put your new handle in.

It was over 6 years ago but I think the whole process took two days to do. Very time consuming was whittling and shaving down the new handle to fit in the head correctly. Good luck.



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Yol bolsun,
Jamie
 
I have destroyed one gerber axe and completly removed the handle from the head. I cracked the handle after throwing the axe, missing a the target and smashing the back of the handle into a fat bolder. The handle just hair-line fractured near the lanyard hole and would have worked fine afterwards, but I also screwed up the axe edge on the same rock. So I proceeded to break the axe completely. By throwing the axe into the concrete floor, I hoped to separate the two parts, but that just scratched and dented the handle and head. I threw it full force into the ground about 5ft in front of me about 20 times before tiring. I don't know why the handle didn't crack farther from throwing into the concrete, but after 20 throws the handle was not fractured in any place other than the initial fracture by the lanyard hole. The steel is soft, and it was completely ruined at this point. Next I chopped the axe into a stump of wood as hard as I could to get it stuck, and then I pried the handle sideways back and fourth throwing all my weight into each yank. The handle flexed about 20 degrees at most, but it didn't crack or loosen from the head. I performed two more things to the axe, specifically concentrating on the handle. First I placed the axe down on the same stump and hanmmered the handle about halfway up the shaft. The handle deflected the first two strikes remaining undamaged. But on the third strike the hammer knocked a 2in sliver of plastic out of the handle. I tried chopping with the axe at this point, and it still worked, but was noticably more flexable since only half the handle was still supporting the head. The last thing I did to the poor axe was place the handle under a propane torch. The plastic did not melt like anything I have melted before. It retained it's shape after about half a minute under the torch and just turned a little spoungy and grey. I flexed the shaft by pushing it into the ground and it bent where I had heated it, but then it hardened within seconds and was stiff. The plastic never turned to goo or lost it's oval shape through the heating. At this point the axe had a 45 degree bend in it, and I used the hammer's claw to pound the plastic around the axe head. It took a long time, but I got everything off the metal in the end. I wish I still had the head to scan for you, but I will describe it. It tapers in the middle, so it would probably work well for mounting in a piece of split wood. The head has large shallow rectangular grooves under the surface for the plastic handle to mold into. I hope you are convinced that the axe is sufficently tough for camp work. I have since bought another gerber sport axe and use it every week while hiking. I have used the head to hook limbs while decending steep hills, and once or twice I have hung my full 170lbs on the axe handle while the head remained hooked to a branch. The head has not loosened and the handle has not cracked. I really like this axe because of these strengths and the fact that it is the lightest axe you will find.
 
Pretty impressive!

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 

Hoodoo- I probably would not even try any glue/adhesive to fix a broken handle. If I really wanted to fit the broken part back (and it is not broken right at head) I would probably clean the splinters off, cut a dove-tail or similar fitting so the two pieces would fit together. Then I would support the handle with metal splints (on both sides) screwed to the handle at multiple points along the handle. Alternatively, i could use ring-clamps instead of screws. Still sounds quite mazochistic.......

logansan- Thanks for the 'know-how'.

generallobster- Only one world: WOW!!!! Hmm, I start liking those Gerbers....

Any opinion on the Estwings?

Thanks to All for the information,

HM
 
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