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Haft maintenance ?
- Thread starter Shotgun
- Start date
- Joined
- May 5, 2006
- Messages
- 1,968
How about this bro...Q's patented HSD (Haft Soaking Device)!
Soak it overnight!
OK, OK! So it's just a piece of PVC pipe with an end cap!
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2005
- Messages
- 63
I apply liberally with a wool dauber, then hang the axe by the head over a newspaper in the garage. Let it dry thoroughly, then buff with a cloth. Hit it again after a week or so. If you heat the wood with a hairdryer first, it seems like I get better penetration.
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2008
- Messages
- 1,397
wipe it down with way to much, rap the rag you used around the axe/ hatchet, place it in a garbage bag, twist it shut and let it soak a night or few.
I wouldn't do that. If you leave the handle for too long with too much oil, the oil will cure and leave you with an icky-sticky rubbery resin like residue that is hard to get rid of. You might even find that the rag is glued to the handle.
Double Action pretty much nailed it. Apply as much as the handle will absorb, then let it cure for a few days to a week. Then use some really fine steel wool on the handle before you apply a new layer of oil. If the handle feels like it is covered in a kind of sticky laquer, you have gone too far.
The idea is that the wood will soak up the oil, the oil will harden and thus reinforce the wood from the inside. So you have protection against shrinkage and so forth, but still the feel of wood on the surface.
Ookami
PS: Always keep in mind that rags drenched in hardening oils can self-combust, so take appropriate measures.
Double Action pretty much nailed it. Apply as much as the handle will absorb, then let it cure for a few days to a week. Then use some really fine steel wool on the handle before you apply a new layer of oil. If the handle feels like it is covered in a kind of sticky laquer, you have gone too far.
The idea is that the wood will soak up the oil, the oil will harden and thus reinforce the wood from the inside. So you have protection against shrinkage and so forth, but still the feel of wood on the surface.
Ookami
PS: Always keep in mind that rags drenched in hardening oils can self-combust, so take appropriate measures.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2006
- Messages
- 7,035
When I do mine, I sand the haft with some fine sandpaper, slather on a thick coat, wait for it to dry (anywhere from 6 to 10 days, depending on heat and humidity), and then do it again, and again (three coats seems to feel the best to me).
Once the exposed haft is done, I fill a small plastic tote I have (a cheap Gladware container that will fit the head works also) with oil, then dunk the haft and head in, let it sit overnight, then take it out and prop it up so that the head is higher than the rest of the axe (so the oil will migrate down). Wipe the outside of the head off before letting it sit.
Yeah, and either rinse out the rags with kerosene or something, or let them lay out flat, not bunched up, an toss them out ONLY after they are dry and hard. BLO soaked rags when bunched together will combust (the process of drying releases heat, which is why the wood also darkens a bit).
Once the exposed haft is done, I fill a small plastic tote I have (a cheap Gladware container that will fit the head works also) with oil, then dunk the haft and head in, let it sit overnight, then take it out and prop it up so that the head is higher than the rest of the axe (so the oil will migrate down). Wipe the outside of the head off before letting it sit.
Yeah, and either rinse out the rags with kerosene or something, or let them lay out flat, not bunched up, an toss them out ONLY after they are dry and hard. BLO soaked rags when bunched together will combust (the process of drying releases heat, which is why the wood also darkens a bit).
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2004
- Messages
- 5,781
Very good point to remember.....