Corrosion inhibitor inside mounted ax/hawk/polearm eye?

[BlackKnight86]

Hi, guys!

Quick technical question when mounting a head onto a shaft: do any of you oil or grease, or otherwise apply some kind of corrosion inhibitor to the inside of the head eye before mounting it onto a wooden handle? Is it a good idea, given the ability of wood to absorb moisture to some extent? Assuming that the wood will be contacting the metal for an extended period of time, and allowing for microscopic channels between wood and metal due to small fitting imperfections possibly allowing for moisture to get in; how do you folks protect your tool heads in an area that you probably won't see very often?

Thanks!

BK86

 

[Barbarossa]

Good question. I do use a corrosion inhibitor treatment but it is not any petroleum oil or grease. I use the same thing I use to treat the handle. The age old formula that goes back 1000 years plus that Scandinavians used to treat wood and steel. 1/3 Pine Tar, 1/3 Linseed Oil (Flaxseed Oil) *Not BLO, and 1/3 turpentine. This is absorbed by the wood and makes it swell for a tighter fit. The pine tar in particular is what is used to treat steel for corrosion and waterproof the wood as well. I hope this helps.

 

[BlackKnight86]

Good question. I do use a corrosion inhibitor treatment but it is not any petroleum oil or grease. I use the same thing I use to treat the handle. The age old formula that goes back 1000 years plus that Scandinavians used to treat wood and steel. 1/3 Pine Tar, 1/3 Linseed Oil (Flaxseed Oil) *Not BLO, and 1/3 turpentine. This is absorbed by the wood and makes it swell for a tighter fit. The pine tar in particular is what is used to treat steel for corrosion and waterproof the wood as well. I hope this helps.

It does help; thanks! So, after you mix it up, you apply to both wood and head? And you apply it to the entire handle, not just around the mount area?

 

[Barbarossa]

It does help; thanks! So, after you mix it up, you apply to both wood and head? And you apply it to the entire handle, not just around the mount area?

Sorry I should give more details. Yes I apply it to the whole handle and inside the eye. I treat the whole handle after the head is set up after a few days. You can also use it on a head already attached. I have used it to tighten a loose head many times and the nice thing is it lasts a long time. It will absorb into the wood so I always apply a second and third coat in a couple of days. I use light coats.

To use it I warm the handle up outside on a hot day or put it in the car on a milder day for an hour or so. I also warm up the mixture on low in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes. Caution here just 150-175 is plenty warm enough so it doesn't catch fire. I always have an extinguisher handy just in case but I have never had any problems. I will take some pics of the Swedish surplus axe I treated to show you how nice it looks and send them to you or post on here in a little bit after I get home.

 

[Barbarossa]

Here are some shots of one of my Swedish Army surplus axes that I sanded the green paint off the handle and treated with my pine tar recipe. I left the green paint in the deeper grooves of the wood and didn't sand it all out as I thought it looked nice this way. I have another Swedish surplus axe that I just started to sand the handle down too that is in the last pic. I am sanding the head on the second one as well.

On both of these Swedish surplus axes the heads were a little loose since the wood was so dried out. I poured my pine tar mix in the eye from above and below to allow good absorption from both ends. I did this over three days and on a hot day. Both heads are rock solid now. There are a couple of pics of my Gransfors Bruks with the handle as it comes from them so you can see the color difference. I love the darker color and look of the pine tar treatment. I will be treating my GB with this pine tar treatment as well the same time I treat my other Swedish axe when I get done sanding the handle so I can do both at once. The pine tar recipe dries to a slight sheen and you can buff it to be shiny if you like. I only use food grade linseed oil (flaxseed oil) as I don't like the nasty chemicals used in BLO on my hands. I hope this helps and if you have any questions let me know.