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- Jan 29, 2014
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Never tried much bidding for anything on ebay, thought I'd give it a try, but I didn't save any money vs my local antique mall - although ebay has much better selection. Anyway, beside the point. I decided to go for it and I landed this Black King - if anyone has any details I'm all ears. I thought I read somewhere there is a Sweden connection with this axe, but I dunno.
This is a House Handle that I ordered. I told them I wanted proper grain alignment and that I would like a large swell if possible (I had another one of their handles with a huge swell) but I didn't mention anything else. I like the large swell because it lets me shape it the way I like it. They came through with awesome grain and a huge swell - in fact the whole handle was kind of puffy, which is apparently not uncommon. It's fine to me because I can make it the way I want it. However, I guess omitting any mention of heartwood gave them the green light to send me a handle made entirely of heartwood. As luck would have it, I was cruising the net last night and read a report from the National Forrest Service which basically stated that heart wood in Hickory is just as useful as a handle as sap wood. At first the handle seemed light in color, but you guys probably know, you can tell that it's kind of gray or almost pink and it is noticeably heavier than sap wood. Well after the BLO went on it's very obvious. But it sure is pretty.
blackking_handle by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
There's my handle with the tubby swell.
blackking_head by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
After a night in vinegar you can clearly see the hardened bit - I was hoping for more, but I'm not surprised by this. It's kind of amazing how differently all these brands steel reacts in the vinegar. This thing turned black as I was working with it, where as the Snow & Nealley you'll see in other pics stayed pretty shiny.
blackking_swell by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
Goof ball swell - the whole handle was fat on one side.
blackking_handleshoulder by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
The shoulder is kind of my picky area. They are always lop sided and this one was way chunky. I took a ton of material out of this area.
blackking_headdetail by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
The ebay listing was "Jenvinson" or something but it is Jennison Hardware.
blackking_finished by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
The finished product and several of my other projects. You can see the new shape of the swell - pics probably don't show what I did around the shoulders though - I'll post some more pics tomorrow. Note the Snow & Nealley with the light handle - you can kind of see in this pic the massive amount of hardened bit.
blackking_eye by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
I am proud of this fitting, but there is bad news.
blackking_handlecrack by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
I don't know what to think about this hairline crack. I got it all done and I was looking it over and I saw this and I'll be honest, my heart kinda sank. I am blaming myself, or maybe the Forrest Service was wrong, or maybe the handle came this way, I dunno. It's really disheartening after I really worked this one over compared to my others. I don't have much wood around to split for testing like I would if it was winter, but I split maybe 5 or 6 pieces without drama. I also attempted to split a piece that I knew wouldn't really split well - a piece of gnarly Hack Berry - which didn't/wouldn't split. Thumped on the axe a few times and it stayed together.
As for the head, I do know the cheeks run chubby all the way to the bit, making for a thick cutting edge. That part I don't like, otherwise I am happy with it. It was a good ebay experience. I'll get some pics tomorrow.
This is a House Handle that I ordered. I told them I wanted proper grain alignment and that I would like a large swell if possible (I had another one of their handles with a huge swell) but I didn't mention anything else. I like the large swell because it lets me shape it the way I like it. They came through with awesome grain and a huge swell - in fact the whole handle was kind of puffy, which is apparently not uncommon. It's fine to me because I can make it the way I want it. However, I guess omitting any mention of heartwood gave them the green light to send me a handle made entirely of heartwood. As luck would have it, I was cruising the net last night and read a report from the National Forrest Service which basically stated that heart wood in Hickory is just as useful as a handle as sap wood. At first the handle seemed light in color, but you guys probably know, you can tell that it's kind of gray or almost pink and it is noticeably heavier than sap wood. Well after the BLO went on it's very obvious. But it sure is pretty.
blackking_handle by city_ofthe_south, on FlickrThere's my handle with the tubby swell.
blackking_head by city_ofthe_south, on FlickrAfter a night in vinegar you can clearly see the hardened bit - I was hoping for more, but I'm not surprised by this. It's kind of amazing how differently all these brands steel reacts in the vinegar. This thing turned black as I was working with it, where as the Snow & Nealley you'll see in other pics stayed pretty shiny.
blackking_swell by city_ofthe_south, on FlickrGoof ball swell - the whole handle was fat on one side.
blackking_handleshoulder by city_ofthe_south, on FlickrThe shoulder is kind of my picky area. They are always lop sided and this one was way chunky. I took a ton of material out of this area.
blackking_headdetail by city_ofthe_south, on FlickrThe ebay listing was "Jenvinson" or something but it is Jennison Hardware.
blackking_finished by city_ofthe_south, on FlickrThe finished product and several of my other projects. You can see the new shape of the swell - pics probably don't show what I did around the shoulders though - I'll post some more pics tomorrow. Note the Snow & Nealley with the light handle - you can kind of see in this pic the massive amount of hardened bit.
blackking_eye by city_ofthe_south, on FlickrI am proud of this fitting, but there is bad news.
blackking_handlecrack by city_ofthe_south, on FlickrI don't know what to think about this hairline crack. I got it all done and I was looking it over and I saw this and I'll be honest, my heart kinda sank. I am blaming myself, or maybe the Forrest Service was wrong, or maybe the handle came this way, I dunno. It's really disheartening after I really worked this one over compared to my others. I don't have much wood around to split for testing like I would if it was winter, but I split maybe 5 or 6 pieces without drama. I also attempted to split a piece that I knew wouldn't really split well - a piece of gnarly Hack Berry - which didn't/wouldn't split. Thumped on the axe a few times and it stayed together.
As for the head, I do know the cheeks run chubby all the way to the bit, making for a thick cutting edge. That part I don't like, otherwise I am happy with it. It was a good ebay experience. I'll get some pics tomorrow.
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