Handle for Peruvian Hatchet

S

sonorantree

Joined
Nov 23, 2014
Messages
104
Hi All,

Hoping you can help me. I picked up a hatchet in Peru that had a soft wood handle - it broke. The eye is 3/4" x 1-7/8". I looked unsuccessfully through House Handles to see if I could find something to fit. I also emailed them to ask which handle could be modified most easily, they responded that they don't have anything to fit. I don't know that I am up to making a handle from scratch. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you,

Paul
 
Looks like a typical Central/South American trade axe pattern. It probably uses a slip-fit handle like a pickaxe or tomahawk rather than a kerf-and-wedge style. I have some handles for Italian axes that use that same style of handle that might fit, but I'd need to know the eye dimensions to see if what I have are large enough.
 
A pickaxe handle can probably be modified for it, in all likelihood.
 
sonorantree said:
http://s1028.photobucket.com/user/Paul_Kaufman/media/20150801_1041361_zpspjub2fbt.jpg.html

I have not posted photos here before. Hope this works!
Click to expand...

I also use Photobucket. This is what I do.

Open a Blade Forums editor.



In another tab or window open Photobucket to the image.


Click inside the IMG box. Go back to the Blade Forums tab or window. Put the cursor in your message where you want the image. Hold the ctrl key and press the v key. The image is ready to post. :)

Good luck in finding a handle.

Bob
 
Ok--I do have at least one handle that'll fit an eye that size. It's a beech handle, typical of European tool handles, but it has nice curves to it. If you think a straight handle would be fine (some of those heads have a closed enough bit orientation relative to the eye for it to work well) then modifying a pickaxe handle would be the way to go if hickory were a requirement for you. As with any rehandling project, varying degrees of rasping and sanding will be needed to get the fit right. It's even possible that your head might be a kerf and wedge one, though it's less likely.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Ok--I do have at least one handle that'll fit an eye that size. It's a beech handle, typical of European tool handles, but it has nice curves to it. If you think a straight handle would be fine (some of those heads have a closed enough bit orientation relative to the eye for it to work well) then modifying a pickaxe handle would be the way to go if hickory were a requirement for you. As with any rehandling project, varying degrees of rasping and sanding will be needed to get the fit right. It's even possible that your head might be a kerf and wedge one, though it's less likely.
Click to expand...

I think a curved handle would be nicer, and beech ought to be satisfactory (better than the softwood handle it came with!). As to the type of fitment is has, the hatchet was supplied with metal wedges in the head. It appears that the eye has the same dimensions top and bottom - should that tell me anything? I would like to buy a handle - can you email at pkaufman@emypeople.net for particulars? Thanks!!!
 
If it was supplied as a wedged fit then you'll want to keep it that way. If the top and bottom of the eye are the same, can you see any reduction in diameter on the interior of the eye? A head drifted for a kerf-and-wedge handle won't accept a slip-fit handle. You could saw a kerf in a slip fit handle, but since slip fit handles are made to pass through the top of the eye they have very little swell/knob to the end of the handle, if at all.
 
In which case, go with a handle made for an eye a little bigger than what you've got and work it down to fit?
 
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