First Axe Hang

[Muaddib1116]

Hi guys, last night I finished hanging my first axe. It's a 5 lb Plumb Construction(?) axe head on a 36" House handle (premium hand picked, de-laqcuered). I liked not having to deal with the laqcuer, but jeez do these handles have a lot of wood on them. I tried using a spoke shave, but either I don't know how to use one (very possible, it was my first time), it wasn't sharp enough (factory sharp), or I couldn't figure out a good way to hold the handle and use the spoke shave at the same time.... or all of the above. I figured, I have about 8 more axes to hang, so, for expediency in the moment, I decided to just use my bench sander with an 80 grit belt, which did a fair job, but I think I still left too much material on the handle.

As far as the shape of the handle, I think I was getting impatient, I think I could have thinned it down more, especially up at the shoulders. I can understand why House leaves so much material on the handles, but the way they grind the shoulders leaves a lot to be desired. I think I did a pretty good job at the swell and curve. The discoloration at the swell is not dirt, it's just the color of the wood there, it didn't really show up until I put the BLO on. I chose a curved handle over a straight handle because I'm planning to use it as a splitting axe, and don't intend to use the poll for any impacts. As far as the axe head, it's in pretty great condition (I think). This is exactly how it came from ebay. It looks like it saw very little use, but sat somewhere where it could corrode for a while, thus the pitting.

Overall, I'm not too confident about the hang. I had a lot of trouble getting the eye to seat right on the shoulder, and there is a small amount of gap at the front of the eye. More worryingly, the wedge looked very skinny to my inexperienced eye, and I was very concerned about it bottoming out in the kerf (the kerf goes about 2/3 the way down the eye), so I cut some off the bottom of the wedge. I pound the wedge in as far as I could with a block of wood and a 3lb hammer, but I think there's a good amount of kerf with no wedge in it. I'm not sure how important either of these deficiencies are or which is worse, but it's a concern I have. As is the way these things go, I think my next hang will be much better.

 

[300Six]

Nicely chosen piece of wood, grain-wise and your reshaping from a 'club' was artfully done! The wedging effort looks great. Generally these multi-use heads use stocky straight hafts but I'm sure you thought long and hard about that and what it was going to be used for. Speaking of which; where are all these classic Plumb 'rafters' coming from? A lad from NZ featured another one just last week.

 

[Muaddib1116]

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it. I split some mulberry a couple hours ago and it seemed to hold up well. There were a couple splits where a chunk bonked into the handle right below the head or glanced off the shoulders, so there's a little "damage" now. Perhaps it's a good thing that I didn't thin it out too much up there. The wedge didn't budge at all, so I'm feeling better about that. I didn't try to split the really hard maple that I have sitting around. I figure that I'll wait till I get my maul rehung and my sledge hung and use wedges.

As far as these Plumb patterns, I just got into axes a couple weeks ago, and decided somewhat randomly that I was only going to buy Plumbs. I stumbled across the National pattern with the beveled poll and just really fell in love with it. So far, I've bought this 5 pound head (which I'm told is not a National pattern, but a Construction(?) pattern), a 4 lb, a 3^2 lb, a couple 2.25-2.5lbs, a couple ~1.7lb, and 3 boyscout hatchet heads. I'm going to be hanging a lot of axes in the next couple months, I just have to decide what length handle to use for each one.

 

[Moonw]

Good job. I see nothing wrong with a smaller wedge, in fact from a mechanical POV keeping more of the haft intact seems to me (as an uninitiated) like a good idea? Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I really don't see anything wrong with a smaller wedge (as long as works as intended); on the contrary. I intend to make mine even skinnier and see how that works.

 

[Curt Hal]

Wow! For a first hang, that's a great job, Muaddib1116! The head is in great shape and the grain on the handle is nice and straight. It's entirely a personal preference, but I like to leave about 1/4 of the haft sticking out of the eye at the top. Your wedge looks good. I wish my first hang had looked half as good!

 

[nzedge]

That looks really good. grain looks good, handle looks good and thin, wedge job up the top looks good.
Agree that leaving a little bit sticking out the top is a good idea. You can load it with BLO and it mushrooms out a little bit
All in all I think this looks good though. Awesome ax for a first hang. The plumb rafting / construction axes are, IMO pretty awesome.

I think you got lucky if you got this one from someone thinking it was a national pattern. Usually people are selling a national pattern saying its a rafting axe, not the other way around

 

[cityofthesouth]

Good stuff. Nice clean finished product too.

 

[Muaddib1116]

Thanks guys!

So there's not a huge problem that there's a good amount of kerf under the wedge that has no wedge in it?

This head was listed as a rafting axe I think, as were most of the other national patterns I picked up. Actually, I'm not sure if any of the axes I picked up were actually listed as national patterns.

 

[RICKOFF]

Good job! You gots some skills!

 

[300Six]

The Plumb rafting / construction axes are, IMO pretty awesome.

I think you got lucky if you got this one from someone thinking it was a national pattern. Usually people are selling a national pattern saying its a rafting axe, not the other way around

Wholeheartedly have to agree here. There were numerous other manufacturers of these types by the way. Why all axe heads weren't made with durable polls (aside from additional cost) is beyond me. Reason Plumb Nationals are often mistaken for rafting pattern is the high and bevelled poll.

 

[Hacked]

That came out great, especially for a first hang. Nice job on the handle, only thing I would suggest is a less sudden transition from the shoulder to the eye. In my opinion the ability to use a thin wedge is a sign of a well fit handle. Of course you will want to use a thicker wedge on the National patterns as they have a ledge half way up the eye on the inside making the eye substantially wider at the top than the bottom. Works great at locking the head in place.