Grow the handle through the axe eye...

Here is a picture of a native American stone club made by inserting in a tree as described. I originally thought it was a deer skin stretched over and dried. Rock solid - no pun intended- I saw a auction listing a similar club as Algonquin. Friends family lore has it as being found by a uncle plowing a field in the fifties.
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A Visitor said:
Here is a picture of a native American stone club made by inserting in a tree as described. I originally thought it was a deer skin stretched over and dried. Rock solid - no pun intended- I saw a auction listing a similar club as Algonquin. Friends family lore has it as being found by a uncle plowing a field in the fifties.
ry%3D400
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You sure this isn't root-derived; no real 'bark' to deal with when you tangle with roots.

Family lore of having unearthed a centuries-old wood handled tool from a farmer's field doesn't hold much water: organic material (ie the handle!) would have decomposed in fairly short order unless it was submerged in an oxygen-free environment such as acidic muck of a peat bog.
 
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I found a Balsam Fir in the woods where someone placed a Coke bottle on a branch with the opening next to the trunk. When I came on it the entire top inch of the bottle was engulfed by the tree. I cut the tree, which was only about 5" diameter and took it home with about six feet of the trunk. After a couple months drying the bottle was loose enough to jiggle around. The same would happen with an axe head I'm sure. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it.
 
A Visitor said:
Here is a picture of a native American stone club made by inserting in a tree as described. I originally thought it was a deer skin stretched over and dried. Rock solid - no pun intended- I saw a auction listing a similar club as Algonquin. Friends family lore has it as being found by a uncle plowing a field in the fifties.
ry%3D400
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This is similar in construction to what I was saying about stone axes. My friend is big on Cherokee, and I think he said this was one traditional method.

With the split wood growing around the axe, club, whatever, there would be no bark. Then when it was cut and dried, wouldn't the shrinking wood tighten up on the head? I don't think it would take more than a season with an appropriately sized sapling split in early spring.
 
halfaxe said:
I found a Balsam Fir in the woods where someone placed a Coke bottle . . .
After a couple months drying the bottle was loose enough to jiggle around. The same would happen with an axe head I'm sure. . .
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Wood shrinks in both directions across the grain as it dries. So it seems the wood shrank from the outside toward the bottle and from the bottle toward the outside. Another thing besides coming loose is that if the bottle would have been a stone axe head and an axe made with it, I would think the "handle" would split quite easily since the stone would end up between the long grain fibers. The video in this post post shows the construction of a celt stone axe. A celt axe uses a mortise in the handle to hold the head. To get around the splitting problem the people who made them made the mortise tight top and bottom so the head was pushing end grain. The sides of the mortise were wide leaving a gap between the head and the wood. So there wouldn't be outward pressure causing a split.

Bob
 
300Six said:
You sure this isn't root-derived; no real 'bark' to deal with when you tangle with roots.

Family lore of having unearthed a centuries-old wood handled tool from a farmer's field doesn't hold much water: organic material (ie the handle!) would have decomposed in fairly short order unless it was submerged in an oxygen-free environment such as acidic muck of a peat bog.
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I'm not sure of anything LOL. When I looked at it- I thought the "bark" was possibly a deer skin stretched over the stone and a stick and dried. In this auction listing it describes their example as "bark Hafted". I can tell you it is tight, is kept in a heated/ air conditioned home and hasn't loosened up. The family isn't too sure about the origins as the original owner was known to embellish.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6956253_rare-algonquian-stone-war-club
6956253_1_l.jpg
 
St33L said:
Can you grow a tree through the eye of an axe?

If an ash tree takes roughly 18 months to fully mature, and an axe handle would not need to be the full diameter of a full grown Ash tree...

Then what if you grew the trunk right through the eye of an axe? Wouldn't this mean that the axe head won't come off?

And, there will only be two parts: an axe head and the handle. So, no wedge or any sort of binding or adhesives.

It'll be a very simple design, yet very robust I'd presume. It would take more time, of course, but it could be a niche thing.

Maybe when scaled, you can "farm" axes en masse.

You can say you're a farmer who grows axes. :rolleyes: ;)
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I've done this a few times and it actually works pretty good. I used coppice shoots off an ash(English) stump. The tree fills out the axe head and then makes a collar either side which holds it firm. I have one which I did about 5 years ago and the head is still firm even though it has dried out. Only problem was some tunnelling bugs got into it. I have photos but couldn't figure out how to post them
 
Glassman123 said:
I've done this a few times and it actually works pretty good. I used coppice shoots off an ash(English) stump. The tree fills out the axe head and then makes a collar either side which holds it firm. I have one which I did about 5 years ago and the head is still firm even though it has dried out. Only problem was some tunnelling bugs got into it. I have photos but couldn't figure out how to post them
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Pictures ?
 
EngrSorenson said:
Of all the things humanity does that is good or useful, many of them are just to see if it can be done
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So sad, but so true. At this point of my life I have come to believe that MOST of what humanity does is just to see if it can be done. As I look around at all living things on this planet, the human animal is the only one that behaves this way.
 
Old Axeman said:
So sad, but so true. At this point of my life I have come to believe that MOST of what humanity does is just to see if it can be done. As I look around at all living things on this planet, the human animal is the only one that behaves this way.
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Depending on how you look at it, the thrill of exploration can be worth the experiment :D
It's genuinely good to see you still active Bernie - I think of you every time I pick up an axe or drive by the Springfield Armory.
I tell my son that I know the guy who worked on that clock, which is impressive to a 6 year old.
I hope you're well.
 
Im thinking this might possibly work if you had a smaller branch from a mature tree growing through an axe head. Maybe Osage Orange, its got a lot of shock resistance.
Put your axe head on the end of the branch and slide it down as snug as you can and walk away for 2-3 years. Come back and hack off the branch, shave it down. Maybe it will have grown around the head a bit at the eye area.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I do get a good chuckle out of a guy waiting a decade to grow a good handle through the eye of an axe and then breaking it a week later.
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But you got a free week of axe! Now all you need is 51 more saplings and loose axe heads and thats a year.
Or you could pay $100+ and never buy another but thats crazy!
 
E.S.--The thrill of exploration can be had with living a life of adventure (that was all I ever wanted from my life, that it be one adventure after another). You can have adventure without constantly experimenting.
Now if you and your son get to visit a log cabin in Alaska next to where Dick Proenneke (Alone In The Wilderness) lived or visit Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai (Father Damien's leper colony) or the Ocracoke Island Lighthouse off the coast of North Carolina you can tell him the same guy also lived there.

Thanks for your well wishes, but I never know how to respond. So, I will just say that one year from 80 years old it sure has gotten weird ! My lovely wife of 40 years turns 80 in 2 days and to say she is VERY unhappy about being 80 is a huge understatement.

Now, back to axes and trees. I must tell you how much I like these Ukraine axes and other primative hand tools that are being sold on ETSY. I find a reason to work with mine everyday. Since I now live on the Big Island of Hawaii, where there are 11 of 13 climate zones that exist on planet earth, I have almost every species of tree that grow on this planet to work with my hand tools.

Stay Sharp my friends,
Bernie
 
Old Axeman said:
E.S.--The thrill of exploration can be had with living a life of adventure (that was all I ever wanted from my life, that it be one adventure after another). You can have adventure without constantly experimenting.
Now if you and your son get to visit a log cabin in Alaska next to where Dick Proenneke (Alone In The Wilderness) lived or visit Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai (Father Damien's leper colony) or the Ocracoke Island Lighthouse off the coast of North Carolina you can tell him the same guy also lived there.
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Tremendous! A life well lived and the adventure continues. I will break out the map tomorrow morning 😁


Old Axeman said:
Thanks for your well wishes, but I never know how to respond. So, I will just say that one year from 80 years old it sure has gotten weird ! My lovely wife of 40 years turns 80 in 2 days and to say she is VERY unhappy about being 80 is a huge understatement.
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A very happy birthday to her- I can understand that being a shock, but age and experience and knowledge are all truly gifts. Blessings on you both.
 
E.S. Thanks. A few days ago I heard her scream from the bathroom. I yelled "are you OK". She responded "no I am not OK, there is a old woman in my mirror !"
 
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