Buying used a e head ?

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Flyrod444

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Jan 7, 2018
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Been hooked on putting life back into some old axe heads over the last couple of years and just wanted to touch on something I've seen in a few heads I've looked at in person and on line. It seems that some one made the horrible decision to put them in a fire to remove the wood out of the eye. I know some may have been in a house fire or something but there just seem to many that have a look of being in a fire for that. It is ashame that someone would do it on purpose. The bad part is when they are very rusty this is almost impossible to tell by looking at them. Do you all come across heads that you feel have been messed up in this way?
 
I have seen a few I am positive about it. A couple needing redone are currently in my possession, but I didn't pay anything for 'em.

I've heat treated a few axes, and will these sooner or later.

It's something to watch for, but I wouldnt say it happens a lot.
 
There is an old myth around here that broken ax handles are "supposed" to be burned out. I heard it repeated less than 2 years ago by a friend of mine. I occasionally see ax heads that I am positive have been in a fire. The way the head rusts and the actually color of the oxidation is different. I pass on them due to not having the skills to re heat treat them. My Dad is 75 and has worked with hand tools his whole life. He says that most people didn't have a drill or drill bits to remove the broken handle. In fact if they needed to drill a hole in a board back then, they burned the hole through with a red hot poker. I have heard it explained somewhere (maybe here) that the bit of the ax was supposed to be buried in the ground and a small fire started with just a portion of the eye exposed. Just enough fire to loosen the stuck handle. Naturally, none of this is recommended or necessary today. Just my thoughts.
 
If you were in a pinch, say 2 days up the trail, and needed to replace a broken handle then burning might be your best option. If you had to do this then burying the bit(s) in moist soil and burning the eye could be your best option. The eye of an axe typically isn't hardened so you're not likely to do much damage if you keep the fire to the minimum necessary to loosen the broken haft remains. I have never used this method.

Other options for this scenario are carrying an axe with a slip fit eye (many southern European models) or hafting your axe with a removable wedging system.

Flyrod444 said:
I know some may have been in a house fire or something but there just seem to many that have a look of being in a fire for that. It is ashame that someone would do it on purpose. The bad part is when they are very rusty this is almost impossible to tell by looking at them. Do you all come across heads that you feel have been messed up in this way?
Click to expand...

I wonder that you're seeing and if it isn't just plain old rust. The burned tools I've seen have a 'redder' rust then normal. It would be nice to see pics of a few you suspect to be burned.

And M muleman77 , it would nice great to see a pic of one that you're sure was in a fire.
 
I'll get a couple pics later today. I will agree that the rust is different, especially if its recent.

I've also seen on some that there's a scale layer which flakes off, leaving irregular pitting that looks more like missing puzzle pieces or something. Same as forge scale in blacksmithing. That only happens if they get red hot, though. Temper could be lost well below what's needed to form it.
 
Few months ago I ran into a guy who was cleaning his son's property. The father used to be general contractor and used to find axes with broken handles all the time. Two of those heads ended up at his son's. When he told me story of his axes I just went to my car, grabbed trusty Heller file and tested the bits. 1 1/4 lbs Snow and Neally's heat treatment was messed up but 3 1/2lbs Kelly was fine.

His story: Whenever he had decent supply of broken axes and was going to have a bonfire at the back of his property, he would lie down broken axes with handles directed toward center of the fire (the axe heads would end up just outside of the flames). He did not bury the bits in the ground.
Well there comes the kicker: Over period of 30 years he created a walkway from his patio to fire ring made of axe heads.

Considering New Jersey humidity and the constant exposure to rain and oxygen, I believe, most of them would not be salvageable. Still, I wish I could see it with my own eyes ......................................................................................................... and come back late in the evening with shovel and wheelbarrow J/K
I must check weirdNJ.com; maybe I find his address :-)
 
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Removing a broken handle is simple and does not take long, without resorting to a fire that can draw the temper. Cut off the handle just below the head. Remove any steel wedges that were mistakenly inserted. Drill out the wood wedge from the top. And because most American axe eyes taper from the top of the eye to the bottom, drive out the handle from bottom to the top with a metal or hickory drift.
 
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