Gransfors Bruks Not Seated Well

P

prdough

Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Hello Folks,

I just received a Gransfors Bruks American Felling Axe with the 31 inch straight handle.

This will primarily be a tag along when felling trees with my saw to pound wedges, or to get small stuff down without having to constantly start the saw up.

My concern is the gaps between the handle and the head on the shoulder. I have 2 other gransfors Scandinavian forest axes that don't have this issue at all.

Ordinarily this wouldn't be much of a concern, but pounding wedges can take a toll and loosen a head up real quick if it isn't seated properly.

Now that Gransfors don't come with metal wedges, I'm thinking of adding one just for extra assurance, as this isn't the quality that Gransfors is known for!

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Totally would, if gransfors didn't have huge waiting lists, and a decently large cost to ship it back.

It also looks like the axe head is slanted forward a bit. I'll pound on it tonight to see if I can get it seated down further and with the proper tilt.

If I can get it seated down further, I'll shave off some of the proud handle above the head, throw some steel wedges in there and hopefully she'll lock up tight.

Many would say it is foolish to get a gransfors for wedge pounding. I thought I was buying it because I could rely so heavily on the head not coming loose!

Granted, it isn't loose at the moment. Disappointed for sure though. Wish there was a company out there that only released perfection, even if at a much higher price point!
 
If there is no steel wedge you can take it off easy,if you drop it down your gonna need to wedge it again.Steel wedges are horrible for splitting the handle and as hard as it is to find straight handles with a swell,sure would suck to ruin it.
 
If it's not being sent back, I suggest that it be re-hung properly, and without using metal wedges, even if it means taking off the head and doing some work with a rasp.

The advice of a well-known member of this forum, Bernie Weisgerber:

Never insert iron, steel, screws, nails, or any other metal object down in the wooden wedge to tighten the handle, even though you see this being done on many factory-handled axes. Epoxy should not be used, either. This advice applies for the entire life of your ax. The metal wedges tend to split the grain on the hickory handle. I can't see any reason why you would want to do that to a properly hung ax.

from An Ax to Grind: A Practical Ax Manual
 
Some folks have recently reported success in drilling a hole in the top of the handle and driving a tapered dowel into it to act as an extra wedge without resorting to metal.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Some folks have recently reported success in drilling a hole in the top of the handle and driving a tapered dowel into it to act as an extra wedge without resorting to metal.
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Much as I'm in favour of any type of wood 'wedging', instead of having to resort to 'shrapnel', nothing is going to be accomplished by smacking in more stuff from the front in the expectation that that will cure loose fit problems at the back. Face it, somebody at the factory goofed. If the head can be removed without much ado you're either going to want to replace the handle outright or wrap the original with some sort of tape (tennis racket or hockey stick handle-type) in order to fill it out. Or bed the handle in epoxy such as Plumb pioneered in the mid 1950s (and the Swedes imitated for a short spell during the 1980s).
Tapered dowels are intriguing 42Blades. Where on earth could one reliably get hold of some of these? I tried using pencil sharpener - sharpened hardwood dowels already years ago and they were NFG despite my using taper drills to make the pilot holes. The angle is way too steep.
 
Just carve/sand one. Not hard to whittle/scrape one by hand.

Definitely in the case of this example, I'd yank the wedge and re-seat it properly. But as far as additional wedging when you need to take up some slack, a dowel wedge seems to be a pretty good option.
 
The head needs to be removed from that handle and re-seated.

I assume you're driving plastic felling wedges so any appropriately weighted axe will do. The keys will a solid hang and perhaps a sharp durable edge if you want that. Any vintage American or Canadian axe will do that. Many older Swedish axes will also do. You'll need an axe that does not have a short eye and has decent steel and a good heat treat.

You're best off learning to hang an axe for yourself. You'll end up with something far better than you can buy from any axe maker, small or large, for any price.

If you have your heart set on not hanging it yourself then check out some of the axes on this forum and when you see someone who's work you like ask them to hang an axe for you. I suspect you'll end up with a far superior axe for less than you paid for the GB.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
When in gods name did this heinous practice get started where the axe maker puts the handle on?
Click to expand...

I bought a whole bunch of stuff from a 90+ year old guy a couple of years ago. As we were walking around his property and through his barns (he was a young 90+), among the items that I found was one particular axe that he knew the exact age of because he remembered buying it 60-70 years earlier. He also told me that it was the original hsndle because he put it on. I thought he was confused until he told me that they commonly sold unhung heads. I wish that were still true, but I'm sure the lawyers had a part in ending that. Fear of liability. I'm sure that wasn't the only reason. The only issue with bringing that practice back would be a lacking supply of high quality handles to match them.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
When in gods name did this heinous practice get started where the axe maker puts the handle on?
Click to expand...
In this era of throwaway goods by and large expertly selecting and fitting a wood handle has become a lost art. As a consequence increasing numbers of implements these days (Fiskars hatchets and axes are a good example) cannot be re-hafted no matter how keen or skilled someone is. Factory tradesmen were long term - experienced and proud of their abilities a mere few generations ago. Good luck these days expecting 'pride in workmanship' from a short term, inexperienced (and probably underpaid) assembly line worker.
..and on the lighter side; it's projects such as this that keep us hobbyists (does anyone use an axe for a living anymore?) going and ensures that timeless quality classic tools continue to remain in service.
 
jblyttle said:
I bought a whole bunch of stuff from a 90+ year old guy a couple of years ago. As we were walking around his property and through his barns (he was a young 90+), among the items that I found was one particular axe that he knew the exact age of because he remembered buying it 60-70 years earlier. He also told me that it was the original hsndle because he put it on. I thought he was confused until he told me that they commonly sold unhung heads. I wish that were still true, but I'm sure the lawyers had a part in ending that. Fear of liability. I'm sure that wasn't the only reason. The only issue with bringing that practice back would be a lacking supply of high quality handles to match them.
Click to expand...

Council won't sell just heads for liability reasons or some such nonsense. Really you'd think it would actually divest them of liability since if a user hangs an axe poorly, it's not their fault, but if they hang an axe poorly and someone gets hurt as a result it's on them. It's too bad. It'd be cool to bring back the practice of buying just an axe head in its own little wooden box. I can buy just heads from Rinaldi of Italy, but choose to only carry them with handles on account of the price difference being small and the handle being able to be used as a template by anyone wanting to make their own, but those use slip-fit eyes so extracting the factory handle isn't nearly so great of a chore as it is with a wedged handle.
 
300Six said:
In this era of throwaway goods by and large expertly selecting and fitting a wood handle has become a lost art. As a consequence increasing numbers of implements these days (Fiskars hatchets and axes are a good example) cannot be re-hafted no matter how keen or skilled someone is. Factory tradesmen were long term - experienced and proud of their abilities a mere few generations ago. Good luck these days expecting 'pride in workmanship' from a short term, inexperienced (and probably underpaid) assembly line worker.
..and on the lighter side; it's projects such as this that keep us hobbyists (does anyone use an axe for a living anymore?) going and ensures that timeless quality classic tools continue to remain in service.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it is the same with a $2000 Apple laptop.
 
Liability is surely a part of it.

I wonder if another factor is common sense business model?
If an axe is only available as a completed unit, you have set numbers to deal with- end-user price all the way to financing production and overhead. And adjustments along the way.

Not selling the NOS heads alone can also limit a potential secondary secondary market. For instance, it would become feasible for someone to buy bulk heads at a discount, hang them well, and sell them. People may be drawn to that work and the company would not see the desired/needed return that they would by making their axes only offered as complete.

This would complicate projected sales numbers and lend more variability to supply and demand. Controlling your place in a market also means controlling your brand. It always helps if you make a quality, fair-priced product.

Just thinking out loud. I would gladly buy heads alone :thumbsup:
 
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