Square_peg
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2012
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- 13,799
This little hatchet or actually 'house axe' crawled out of the woods during a volunteer trails project last Spring. A house axe (sometimes called a quarter axe) is a small axe, somewhat bigger than a hatchet, used for chores around the house and splitting kindling. I was immediately interested in it because I hadn't seen such a small axe with beveled cheeks before.
Despite it's small size it weighs a full 2 pounds, almost as much as a boy's axe. And it has the same sized eye as a boy's axe. The other thing I noticed about it was the long crack coming out of the eye. It had a tight fitting but badly damaged handle in it when I found it. I suspect the freeze-thaw cycle is what caused the crack. I think a water-soaked handle froze, expanded and cracked the eye.
I hated the idea and such an interesting little axe going for scrap so I had a friend weld up the crack. This photo also shows how mashed the bit was. I figure some kids chopped into the ground with it and hit some rocks.
Here's the weld after I ground it down and patina'd it with a little pickle juice.
I found a decent-grained house axe handle at my local Do-It-Center hardware store. The only thing I didn't like about the handle was that is was kind of fat and the swell at the end of the handle tapered too gradually into the grip. That gives you a less secure grip. So I thinned the handle out with a spokeshave and made the transition from grip to swell more pronounced. The arrows indicate where the most material was removed.
I also sanded the whole thing down to remove the factory lacquer and allow the handle to soak up the oil finish I plan to use on it.
I fit the handle to the eye, sanding it down as needed to seat it down on the shoulders of the handle. But the handle's shoulders were bigger than needed for this axe and looked a little goofy - bulgy and too fat.
So I thinned the shoulders down to match the axe head. I think it looks better now.
The overall length is almost 19 inches.
The edge profile is still a little thick. If I thinned the edge any more I would start to reduce the depth of the bevels. I know that wouldn't really matter but it would change the look of the thing and I like the look of the bevels.
With the thick edge it's not a great chopper but it's a dandy little splitter. That 2-pound head and 19" handle put a lot of force in a small package. It will likely take over duties beside the fireplace.
Despite it's small size it weighs a full 2 pounds, almost as much as a boy's axe. And it has the same sized eye as a boy's axe. The other thing I noticed about it was the long crack coming out of the eye. It had a tight fitting but badly damaged handle in it when I found it. I suspect the freeze-thaw cycle is what caused the crack. I think a water-soaked handle froze, expanded and cracked the eye.
I hated the idea and such an interesting little axe going for scrap so I had a friend weld up the crack. This photo also shows how mashed the bit was. I figure some kids chopped into the ground with it and hit some rocks.
Here's the weld after I ground it down and patina'd it with a little pickle juice.
I found a decent-grained house axe handle at my local Do-It-Center hardware store. The only thing I didn't like about the handle was that is was kind of fat and the swell at the end of the handle tapered too gradually into the grip. That gives you a less secure grip. So I thinned the handle out with a spokeshave and made the transition from grip to swell more pronounced. The arrows indicate where the most material was removed.
I also sanded the whole thing down to remove the factory lacquer and allow the handle to soak up the oil finish I plan to use on it.
I fit the handle to the eye, sanding it down as needed to seat it down on the shoulders of the handle. But the handle's shoulders were bigger than needed for this axe and looked a little goofy - bulgy and too fat.
So I thinned the shoulders down to match the axe head. I think it looks better now.
The overall length is almost 19 inches.
The edge profile is still a little thick. If I thinned the edge any more I would start to reduce the depth of the bevels. I know that wouldn't really matter but it would change the look of the thing and I like the look of the bevels.
With the thick edge it's not a great chopper but it's a dandy little splitter. That 2-pound head and 19" handle put a lot of force in a small package. It will likely take over duties beside the fireplace.
