COTS Project Thread

quinton said:
COTS,
When I hang a head, I like to see about 1/16" space all the way around the top of the eye when the axe is seated, and ready to wedge. "By looking at the picks", I think if you lower the head the 1/2" that haft will work perfectly.
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Is this a dare?
 
:) I know I'm sorry. This waiting game for my handles is killing my thread!!! I might just try it, but it's more than a 1/16th all around - I wouldn't hesitate if I only had to deal with a 1/16th. The gap in the front and back concerns me the most, but in this case, even the left to right situation is worrisome. I think if I try it, this will be either cross wedged, or as Square suggested, material added. But that's only if I feel like it's pretty secure when I drop the shoulder. Even the handle that was in it had a sliver of wood added in the front of the eye.
 
As I pulled into my drive, there it was, a package long and narrow, one much like many others that have been there before it. I carried it inside and eagerly hacked at it with my pocket knife. And inside, smooth, lacquer-free axe handles, nothing like what I expected. Sadly, my rough sticks had apparently been shipped off to someone else in a mix up.

With my plans to set the Collins off in a corner and forget about it while I focused on something exciting shattered, I attempted to fit it to the unlikely stick seen up above. I took pictures but it seems I'm not smart enough to use my new camera just yet so they are either lost or waiting until I figure out how to use the thing. The bottom line is, no there was no way it was going to work out. I set the head down just a little at a time, slowly, until I had passed the shoulder completely and still hadn't found a good fit. Not be discouraged I decided that handle would be a good practice piece for when I finally get to make my own octagonal knob end handle discussed in another thread. I'll include a pic.

And so, here are some progress shots from this evening as I thinned and sculpted the club that was a pickaroon handle.

handle_reworking1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
Sadly this handle doesn't have the width to be a real swell, but, it will be a perfectly serviceable and has all of the other dimensions a plenty.

handle_reworking2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

handle_reworking3 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

handle_reworking4 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
This last picture is after I finished roughing out the swell and running the flats on the belt sander. I set the shoulder width to roughly axe head width and took a huge chunk out of the hook below the shoulder. Tomorrow I'll get some shots in daylight that depict it a little better but I figured it was time I had something to show. I feel fully confident about making the octagonal flats. The belt sander makes it so easy it's not even funny and I've done it a few times by now anyway.

knobend_kk_handle by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
The vintage knob end octagonal handle from the other thread.
 
With some swell side-to-side this would be a beautiful handle, but it's ok. 36 inches is a long ways when making the flats but it worked out fine and made good practice. I will complete the fawns foot when I actually hang something on it .... not sure when that will be but maybe someone will show up at my shop in need of a stick for something.

36inchrework_octagonal by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

36inchrework_noswell by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
The owner of the Douglas didn't seem to care much about the bend and I thought it would look best with a semi-vintage handle. I figure if it does end up being something of a show piece it will look more complete on a handle that looks as well used as the head. Pictured in the group shot is the Craftsman seen earlier in this thread (my go-to axe right now), then the Douglas, next the 3lb TRU-TEST and then the Plumb cruiser.

I hung the Douglas and Tru-Test today and the T-T was something of a trouble maker. The tongue on the handle had a lean to it and so does one of the bits on the head itself. Also, this axe has the narrowest eye I've come across (you can probably tell in the pics) and to make it worse there was some peening at the top of the eye causing a small lip to form inside. I have run across this several times in the past and I've often wondered if this could be done as a way to create a mechanical bond to the handle. In this case it was too much and I ground it down as best I could, but I will say that little lip does bite into the wood once the wedge is driven. I normally find double bits to be easier to hang, but I did spend more time on this one.

group_douglas_trutest2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

trutest_headdetail by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

trutest_wedge2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

trutest_wedge by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

trutest_fit by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

douglas_wedge by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
Looks good. That true test has narrow eye like a pulaski. FWIW I always grind any burr out of the eye. A half round file works best for me.
 
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Square_peg said:
Looks good. That turns test has narrow eye like a pulaski. FWIW I always grind any burr out of the eye. A half round file works best for me.
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What scenario do you think causes people to beat on the top of the head? I see it on hammers too. This is how they think you drive the head onto a new handle?
 
Makes me wonder what happens when they get to the lip they formed, making it even harder to get the handle through?
 
I think maybe that trade axe has a very oversize eye taper to it. We can controll what happens at the bottom of the eye with wood to eye fit but at the top of the eye not so much.
Maybe a couple wooden cross wedges, well place would take up enough space?
 
garry3 said:
I think maybe that trade axe has a very oversize eye taper to it. We can controll what happens at the bottom of the eye with wood to eye fit but at the top of the eye not so much.
Maybe a couple wooden cross wedges, well place would take up enough space?
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The eye at the top is 2-3/4 inches long and 1-3/8 inch at the widest point! The handle was actually able to pass completely through the eye (or damn near) and is still somewhat large for a typical full-size axe. I'll get some pics tomorrow. I never could figure out where my others went - I took the pics without a memory card but my last camera had a small amount of built in memory. I thought maybe this one did too since it didn't bother to alert me that there was no memory card in it at the time. If there is I can't figure out how to access it.

Anyway, there must have been special handles made for them I guess, or I dunno what. Some day my rough handles will show up and I can see if they will work. I am having doubts though since I believe they only start with 1-3/4 stock. On the one hand it is a Collins Legitimus and worth a handmade handle, on the other hand it's not MY Collins Legitimus so it's gonna be hard to make it worth my time.
 
garry3 said:
The smart ones will get a bigger hammer.:)
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DUUHH!! I'm gonna go see if I can find a sledge so I can start doing this the proper way! :)


So this is a Jersey in the pic, so a pretty typical eye to compare to.

collinstrade_eyesize by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr


Keeping in mind that this handle has been thinned some to be used for an axe, you can see it fits clear through the eye. It hasn't been thinned THAT much, but it was tighter before on the sides - it was never tight front to back.

collinstrade_eyesize2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
I'm thinking you might have to start with a pick or cutter mattock handle possibly. Their eyes are symmetrical but quite large and will require some wood removal to one side. It could end up looking a little funny, but it should at least fit the eye.
 
SC T100 said:
I'm thinking you might have to start with a pick or cutter mattock handle possibly. Their eyes are symmetrical but quite large and will require some wood removal to one side. It could end up looking a little funny, but it should at least fit the eye.
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Pretty much what I was thinking.


On a related note, I was just digging around with google and found a thread from a woodworking forum talking about how they guy/gal's relative just purchased a handle mill and had stacks upon stacks of handle blanks. He wanted to know what he should do with them and of course making handles was not anywhere on the list. Why doesn't this sort of problem ever happen to me? We have to beg and barter to get a decent axe handle and meanwhile a handle mill sells the whole kit and kaboodle for junk.
 
cityofthesouth said:
Pretty much what I was thinking.


On a related note, I was just digging around with google and found a thread from a woodworking forum talking about how they guy/gal's relative just purchased a handle mill and had stacks upon stacks of handle blanks. He wanted to know what he should do with them and of course making handles was not anywhere on the list. Why doesn't this sort of problem ever happen to me? We have to beg and barter to get a decent axe handle and meanwhile a handle mill sells the whole kit and kaboodle for junk.
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Why not just go cut down a hickory tree?
 
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