Axe handle

the5farrs

the5farrs

Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Messages
223
I am redoing an old axe and I have a nice piece of Purple Heartwood which I was thinking of using for the handle. What do you guys think. I will post a photo of the axe head and the wood in a bit. It's a beautiful piece of wood, I read it is very strong. Thanks.

Matt
 
Another fellow here did a purple heart handle last year. It came out good. Go for it!
 
Looking forward to seeing pics of that old axe and piece of purple heart. What size haft are you planning on making?

I like how my 18" haft turned out for my Norlund and think you should go for it. Purple heart is not the easiest wood to work with. It burns easily with power tools and is just plain tough to work with hand tools. The finished product is worth it though. It makes a strong/tough handle but I wonder how much vibration you would get with a longer haft for a full size axe. I would not want to chop harder woods with this 18" purple heart haft for any length of time due to the vibration. I certainly wouldn't make a hammer handle out of it. Pay close attention to grain run out too while you are laying out your haft outline. Try to get any curves in the grain to follow the curves of your haft.

Have fun with it and keep us updated on your progress with pics.
 
It is a Kelly axe head that says bell systems on one side of it. I cleaned up the head and did a forced Patina to it. Looks like I can not post pictures from my IPad, I will have to use my PC.
 
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Thanks, I am not sure, I have to weigh the head. If I had to guess I would say 2lbs at the most. My grandfather gave it to me.
 
It is about 24 inches. I started taking off the excess wood, however, the is really hard to work with and it started to split along the length of the wood as I started taking off the extra. I'm thinking of using a a different type, especially since I don't have all the appropriate working working tools.
 
the5farrs said:
If I had to guess I would say 2lbs at the most. My grandfather gave it to me.
Click to expand...

I guessed it might be a boys axe. That's why I asked. Do you think it might be more like hatchet size/weight?

It looks very fresh - little wear. And the cheeks have great geometry. You just need to file the edge to slim it down a little. That will be a super useful axe.

If you have an Ace hardware nearby you can often find some very nice O.P. Link boy's axe handles there. Their full size handles always seem to be lacking but many of us have noted excellent cruiser handles and boy's axe handles at Ace.
 
What tools are at your disposal?

I use a little surform shaver a lot while shaping hafts. The kind that is yellow with a handle and a short little curved cutting surface. They can be picked up at your local hardware store for about 5 bucks and can be quite handy when trying take off material from the inside of curved surfaces. Although, since it looks like you will be making a straight haft you could take off more material, faster if you go with a larger flat surform or even a block plane. If you get a block plane you will need to make sure it is really sharp, like razor blade sharp or you will tear up your purple heart. Go slow until you get a feel for it. If you find the wood tearing while working it in one direction come at it from the other direction and you should be good.

Go with the grain :)
 
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