well, I am going to post the stupid things that I have done today. Hopefully someone new will learn from my stupidity.
So had this great axe hung, I soaked it overnight upside down to get the BLO in the top, gave her 3 coats of BLO on the handle, and took her out for some chopping today.
She's pretty sharp, dry shaves my arms.
After using it, I noticed the head was loosening up a bit, it wasn't seated where I originally seated it. I had a good idea, So I re-seated the head and it went back to where it was (microsopic movement) and I used a metal wedge, and it turned out pretty good, no cracks. This is when the stupidity set in. I used it again and I thought that it still wasn't tight enough as it was still moving, so I put in a second wedge. Well this is when all hell broke loose. Not only did I noticed how bad the wooden wedge filled the kerf, but I cracked the hickory as well. I think everything will stay tight, but I really saw how crappy my wedge pounding went, and I accidentally hit the wood on the side with the hammer and made it even more ugly.
Normally I wouldn't post this embarrassing feat, but I hope someone learns from my mistakes.
Just the thought of having to spend another 3 or 4 hours shaping a handle has me quite livid. We'll see how long this holds up I won't be using it that much, so I am concerned that when I do use it things will go bad. Any advice on how to remedy this? I am hoping some magic technique can fix my craziness. I am thinking about finding a local guy that can hang the heads I restore. I enjoy the axe restoring a lot more than the wood fitting.