First Hang - Collins Boy's Axe - Constructive Criticism Needed!

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parasloth

Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
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Gentlemen - first post and first hang. I'd love to get feedback so I can figure out what I'm doing right vs. wrong. I have very thick skin - so please don't hold back. But don't say anything about my mama ;)

Head is a Collins Boy's Axe (2.5 lbs) I recently purchased off that great auction site. Haft is a Link that I grabbed from the local Ace (I wasn't patient enough to wait for a Tennessee Hickory).

I had to take A LOT off the cheeks of the haft to get the head to slide on. My concerns are the height above the shoulder and the small space behind the rear bottom. No matter what, unless it's a great safety concern, tonight I will sand the handle and oil it with BLO.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

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Welcome, and nice first hang. Not perfect, and since you asked I will give you my opinion. There are others here who are more experienced than me and I hope that you will hear from them too. I also had a Link boy's axe handle with fitting issues on my first hang, but it was more my problems with handle selection for the head that led to it, not the handle so much.

The wedge looks good, and the head looks great, it's in very nice shape. Normally I would say that ideally the head would sit a bit lower, but functionally it's fine. In this case, however, that little gap in the back will be taken care of if you can take the head off and spend a little more time shaping the wood. That will kill two birds with one stone- the gap will be gone and the head will be sitting lower nice and tight on that shoulder. As for the wedge- it's really good but could be much better with only a small adjustment. If you can save it you can probably reuse it or save it for a hatchet rehang. Since you are taking it out again anyway, I would make/find a new one that is just the smallest hair longer than the eye. This way it will compress nice and tight front to back as well and fill all available space. It will look great too. If when removing more wood from the shoulder you accidentally remove more from the top you can fix this by making the new wedge a tiny bit thicker. Optional once done, you could thin out the handle, but that is purely personal choice.

You did a nice first job, much better than my first attempt. If you really are into it and want to work on your experience, I found that rehanging a few hammers helped quite a bit. Same concepts, but the smaller straight handles were more forgiving and easier for learning/practice. The heads and handles are cheap too. You can make three handles out of a sledge handle for example. Mauls are good learning too and you can pick the heads up for almost nothing. I find that you can learn and get better fast if you like the work, I can already do a solid workmanlike job. There are others here that are artists who make really beautiful things. You will find that you will want to improve yourself and also love seeing the great things that other people can do. I am constantly impressed.
 
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My first hang looked very much like that one. It worked just fine until it bugged me enough to seat the head lower, and leave a bit of the haft proud of the axe. I have a few where there are some minor gaps (usually towards the bit), and I'll add another small wedge if I feel the gap is excessive. If it were mine I would rasp the edges a bit more and seat the head lower (which would likely eliminate the gab at the rear), but that's really only personal preference and I think it will work just fine. There's only one way to find out. Use it!
 
Did you have a good time putting it together? I find it therapeutic lol.

I'm no master at this but...

The recommendation I got for filling the spaces is to cut to shape some slivers of hickory from other handles and driving them in. Then you can file them off and smooth them to match your existing material.

I do this now on all my rehangs. If your wedge job has the head solidly in place then doing this will keep some dirt and some moisture from getting in there. Imalterna was the one who shared that with me.
It also looks a little more "finished", in my opinion.
That space underneath doesn't look big enough to worry about but you could try to sneak some slivers in there.
Looks like you left enough room to rehang it again if you want as well.

The handle could be worked to shape but that is solely user preference.

The Collins is in good shape - nice work!
 
Thank you very much jblyttle! That was exactly what I was looking for. I have to admit, I probably rushed it a bit as I was pretty excited to get this done. But all in all, I'm looking to learn so I think it would also be neat to figure out how to get the wedge back out (will research later - I have a few of these hanging around the garage) and whittle her down a little more as suggested.

I'm pretty excited to play around with this. I've been restoring old Lee Enfield rifles - if you know about them you pretty much have to go through a similar process to mount the rear stock to the receiver - whittle, fit, whittle, fit, whittle, oops too much, get a new stock! The plus is the walnut is a bit softer. The minus is the Enfield is a little pricier than an axe head :)

Regards
-Don
 
SC T100 - I think that I'm finding the more I look at it the lower I want it now! I may sneak some use out of it first ... we'll see.

Agent_H - VERY therapeutic! I really find that I enjoy working with wood like this, as I mentioned the Enfields above. Gotten pretty good at fitting a stock but like I say, a little expensive as I find it hard to sell those once done! Thanks for the point about the moisture entering the holes - that's something I didn't think of - very good advise!
 
If you sit the head lowest as you can on the shoulder, this will provide extra stability and contact for the head, give you the wood that you need to completely fill the eye at the bottom, and then with a good wide solid wedge you will be all set. Link handles are notoriously fat in pretty much all regards, and take more work than they are worth IMO. I can see you having to remove a lot of wood to get the setting somewhat correct.

Also lube that wedge up with linseed oil - it will help it to fill in those gaps especially if you have a hole in the top like shown.

Good luck.
 
Thanks Operator - yeah ... it was a bunch of work already :) At first I thought I had the wrong handle, but in looking at House Handle's site, that handle was just a tad wider.

On another note I tackled my BSA Plumb hatchet tonight. I didn't stop until I had it ground down to the shoulder, and everything looks a lot better. Still have a small hole at the front, and I'm not exactly "proud" of my wedge, but all in all it passes. First coat of BLO is on it now and I can provide pics to the "what I hung this weekend".

Just out of curiosity....with the Enfields it has always been the practice to put BLO on them then set them out in the blazing hot sun (or in the oven) for a time. I haven't seen this recommendation on this forum for axe handles ... anyone do this or wonder why it's not done? (of course maybe for fear of the temper?)
 
parasloth,
You sound like a basement/shop troll :) and I say that in the best possible way. I LOVE a hobby that lets me sneak off to the basement ofr an hour or so and just lose myself in what I am doing.

I buy a beat up head at the flea market for 1-5.00, spend 1-2 hours filing on it and cleaning it to remove the years of hard use, set a new edge profile, polish edge and get it ready for service again. Another 1-2 hours to hang it and then sell it for 10-20.00. About 3.50 per hour on a good day but the value in satisfaction is worth far more than time in a gym or on a couch blabbing to an overpriced gossip. Not that those are bad things, but my basement is closer and the fees are cheaper. :)

Along with dropping the head a bit, I would remove stock in front leading up to the eye as you drop head- literally moves the head back on the handle some and often times improves balance quite a bit. I have been working with draw knives and spokeshaves enough to know that I need a better spokeshave. Draw knives work great but take a delicate touch not to gouge out more than you meant- like working a dry fly, a touch to be learned.

If you pull any old toilets, grab the seal- the wax is great for sealing cracks too small for shims and seals out water well. I do not put on end grain though as I want it to soak up oil.

Warming the wood would be to open pores for oil absorption but I do not know that it would be beneficial on an axe handle? I used to fix up Mausers and Garands but found I was "sinking" in the economy and had ot turn to cheaper hobbies ;)

Bill
 
Bill - a toast to my fellow basement/shop trolls! I have to admit I have neither so I work in my garage off an old wood table. I like your idea of moving it back a little...I'm going to see what I have once I take that head off. Thank you sir!
 
That's a decent first hang. Nothing to be ashamed of for sure. And that's a fine little Collins axe you have there. The boys axe is still one of my favorites. They're just so handy.

As others have noted you should drop your next one a little lower onto the shoulder of the haft. And leave 1/8" to 1/4" of haft protruding through the eye when you cut it off. The protruding haft will expand wider than the eye when wedged - locking the head onto the haft.

A 4-in-hand rasp is handy for fitting a new haft. If you don't have one you're in for a real treat when you get one and use it.

If you have a good bench vise it's nice to file/sharpen the axe head before final assembly. You can sharpen a hung axe just fine but I find it easier and better to sharpen the axe in the vise. You may still wish to fit the axe to the haft before sharpening so you don't have to watch our for a sharp bit while you're fitting the haft.

Link handles vary greatly in quality. It looks like you chose a decent one. For some reason they seem to do a better job with their boys axe handles and cruiser handles than they do with their full size handles. In any case, that one will do fine.

There are others thing you can do if you like. A little Swel-lock or DPG applied to the wedge and kerf before assembly is a good idea. Sanding or scraping the factory lacquer off the haft before assembly is easier than doing it later. A couple coats of BLO are essential in treating and preserving an haft but I like to top that with a couple coats of tung oil which makes a nicer finish and feels a little grippier to me.
 
parasloth said:
I have to admit, I probably rushed it a bit as I was pretty excited to get this done.
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Sounds just like me. This is the evolution of learning I think. You rush to get it finished and you feel accomplished, then you want more, and you expect more, and you do better and better. I am just wondering if it gets to a point where "good enough" is achievable. I'm still working on that, in search of my perfect axe handle.

parasloth said:
Just out of curiosity....with the Enfields it has always been the practice to put BLO on them then set them out in the blazing hot sun (or in the oven) for a time. I haven't seen this recommendation on this forum for axe handles ... anyone do this or wonder why it's not done? (of course maybe for fear of the temper?)
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I don't exactly do this on purpose but most of my hangs end up next to the wood furnace while they soak in BLO over night. The furnace is in a small room and it gets really toasty in there. I can't say if it does anything or not, but some handles will soak up the first few coats in a matter of just a couple hours, others never seem to "dry". Is that a function of the heat? I dunno. The warmth seemed like a good idea in my brain so I just kinda go with it. Interesting that it might actually be good for something. Of course a handful of my axes live right next to the furnace because I am usually hauling wood and axe into and out of that area multiple times a day and it's just convenient.
 
Para,
My patron was a gunsmith and I spent years knocking around in his shop- I first heard the term from him :) G-Pig is a member here that hand crafts his handles and he has that setback in his handles- I loved the look and then found the balance felt better. Since i use pre made handles, it is not often I get to move one but smaller eyes give you more room for work.

Today I will give one of my sons a restored Flint Edge boys axe head on a retuned Seymour/OP Link handle. I hope he is using it long after I am gone and remembers the love put into it.


I lack a vice and found that I can clamp or screw a 1" board to my workbench set back far enough form the edge to butt against the poll, then tap an old handle into the eye- use a bar clamp to hold the handle, a wedge under the bit levels and support. Gives you a solid hold for filing. I recently bought an old vice but my bench needs some mods before I can use it.

Do not listen to COS-- the man is turning out some EXCELLENT handles from rough turned blanks. Check out his thread and you will see. I am lucky enough to have one so I speak from experience.

Welcome to your new addiction.

Bill
 
Based on your recommendations ... I was able to get the head off (easier than I thought ... but nervous about doing it my first time ... hmmmm - insert joke there) and get that head down a bit. I think it turned out much better. Thanks so much for your help walking me through this. I'm always glad to find a helpful hand when needed, and in the future hope to help others.

By the way, this was pre-oil. I thought I'd try an experiment using Raw Linseed Oil instead of BLO. I recall an argument on another forum going into the details of both and how RLO absorbs better into the wood and gives it a better finish. Based on word from a former British armorer, RLO is what was issued in the field to wipe down the rifles. Sorry to bring all this Enfield stuff in but that's my background :)

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Little rough on the wedge. I thought there was a bit of a hole up front but when I went to stick some more material down there it didn't go, and I found it was already full of wood. Think I snapped that piece off.

Thanks again gents! And to you and your families, a very merry and blessed Christmas!
 
That's excellent. The rehang looks VERY good. It's sitting straight, down on the shoulder, peeling the wood down in the back means it a super close fit and I think that the wedge looks good, no issues there at all. I think that it is better than the first one. I think that it is a phenomenal first hang. It's as good as anything that I can currently do.

Now, Merry Christmas and go thin that handle! ;)
 
I'll agree, the rehang (of what was a respectable first hang) looks much better. If you see one at a flea market or something you might pick up one of the old farrier's rasps; they're longer than most wood rasps (less strokes to remove the same amount of material) and have one really aggressive side for removal and another one that does a respectable job of taking off wood and leaves a clean, smooth finish. But that's just my opinion. Different strokes for different folks. Try different things and keep what tools you find useful in achieving the results you want.
 
That's certainly what I needed! Quite a bit of work with the 4-n-1 and rasp! Thanks all, I'm happy with it - appreciate your words of wisdom :)

Merry Christmas all!
 
quinton said:
JB, that rasp may be a lyttle too far gone to rescue..
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Maybe, I bought it to bang on an anvil that I never bought and probably won't. I'll probably find someone to give this to for raw materials, or I'll maybe play with it some day.
 
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