Birch tar treatment for handle

[aikonen]

I want to share some pictures and thoughts about my birch tar treatment for my new Hultafors carpenters axe.

This is the unfinished handle, only sanded it with a 120 grit paper.

After the first coat of birch tar or birch oil, whatever you wanna call it.

This is the result! A really nice color and smell. Looks like I forced 6 months of use into the handle!

I guess it will work itself out in time, but as for now, the handle is really sticky and nice - which makes for a good grip, but it also makes your hands sticky. I believe this method of treating the handle would work better for a forest axe rather than a carpenters axe where the finish is key.

The tar will eventually stain the piece of wood you are working with, it doesn't bother me really because the projects I'm using this axe for is pretty rough stuff.

So how does it work? Well, I wanna believe that after a few coats of birch tar, the handle will be resilient and protected from the elements such as sun and moisture. Felling a birch for firewood and different carvings is a good use of the tree, but saving all the birch bark and making birch tar for different uses is even better, and it's free!

I guess I have to wait and see how it works out. I gotta tell you that making birch tar was a really fun but messy project.
It's also possible to treat leather, which I will try when I get my new sheath!

 

[joshiecole]

Briliant. I want to try this at home.

 

[aikonen]

Try it! Really funny project. There are a couple of good videos on youtube on how to do it!

 

[Webscrounger]

Watched some videos awhile back and thought "That's' a lot of work for a little stain!". However, the results are really nice. A solution that's organic and provides first class protection and looks. The wood looks great. Don't know how to resolve the tackiness issue though.

 

[aikonen]

Watched some videos awhile back and thought "That's' a lot of work for a little stain!". However, the results are really nice. A solution that's organic and provides first class protection and looks. The wood looks great. Don't know how to resolve the tackiness issue though.

I don't know how much bark I used when I made my second batch, the final product wasn't even 50ml, so it sure is a lot of work for a little stain. However, I think it's worth it! The tar feels very natural and smells very pleasant, and as you said - it looks great!

I use pine tar to treat my wooden skiis, after a couple of runs the tackiness dissapeared, hopefully it will do the same on the axe!

 

[rjdankert]

Watched some videos awhile back and thought "That's' a lot of work for a little stain!". However, the results are really nice. A solution that's organic and provides first class protection and looks. The wood looks great. Don't know how to resolve the tackiness issue though.

When this subject came up, I also looked up some videos and other information. I think one source I found said is takes a week to dry. Hopefully aikonen can let us know when/if his handle is dry.

Bob

 

[aikonen]

When this subject came up, I also looked up some videos and other information. I think one source I found said is takes a week to dry. Hopefully aikonen can let us know when/if his handle is dry.

Bob

Thank you for the information Bob, I will report back to you guys when it's dry!

 

[aikonen]

I might have used too much tar the first time, maybe I should've done it a few times more often but in smaller portions. However, the handle has soaked pretty much all of the tar as of now.
I carefully wiped it with a cloth and left it out in the sun for a couple of hours and it's completely dry now, as far as I can tell.

 

[Square_peg]

Looks great and I bet it repels water well.

 

[cityofthesouth]

Great experiment and I agree wholeheartedly, it looks awesome.

 

[Agent_H]

Great post. Initiative. Looks great!

 

[joshiecole]

Aikonen has very kindly shared his process for making birch tar here. There are a lot of great pictures too!

 

[aikonen]

Thank you for sharing!

 

[aikonen]

I promised I would let you guys know when the handle had dried. I checked the handle today and it was drier than the picture above. It's as smooth as silk now!

Beautiful axe, beautiful wallpaper! Don't worry, it's the inside of a closet!

The results was so good I figured it'll be good to do a couple of other axes as well.
You see some pictures on joshiecoles blog coleandreeves.wordpress.com

Here's how they look now!

 

[garry3]

Came out very nice. Something to be said for being self sufficient also.:thumbup:

 

[druid189]

I've done knife scales that way. Your going to love how it sheds water. Those are some great pics you took, thanks for showing them.

 

[rbr0203]

absolutely beautiful.