Hanging a Hudson Bay axe, need help, it will be by steps

F

Frank01

Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Messages
58
Hi Guys,

Here again trying to hang a HB Axe, so far this is where I am at, first question, should I go down little bit more?

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Thahks, if that is the case, should I make the cut deeper? The top of axe will be at the black line


 
Once I have the head in final position, I use a pencil and mark the top and bottom of the head, remove it and then use the lines as reference points for cutting the kerf. Somewhere between 2/3-3/4 is good. If you double your distance from the top line you will be all set.
 
I'd judge how far down to go based on whether or not you like the overall length and/or whether the head is good and tight. Looks like you've got the good and tight part. I agree on the depth of the kerf, and I would thin the shoulder all around to about the width of the head itself give or take.
 
You're far enough down onto the haft but the hang would look better if you rasped down the shoulder of the haft till it's just larger than the bottom of the eye, +1/8"-1/4" on each side.
 
Looks like the handle itself really should be resealed a bit before you lower it but that's a personal preference.
 
Agree with the above advice but while the head is not wedged I would slim down that shoulder, a lot. It will be more comfortable in use, and keep it from getting hung up in splitting tasks. As a general rule I perfer handles to be a bit thinner than the outer width of the eye.
 
I suspect (seeing as we can't see much more than a huge wood shoulder) that you have an exaggeratedly-oversize handle to begin with. Whittling the whole thing down in proportion to the head (use pictures of vintage or pretty HB hangs as a guide) will greatly benefit the end result. Many current commercial handles are made horribly 'fat'. It's nice that buyers believe they're getting a 'bigger bang for their buck' (namely excess wood) but in reality a gracefully thin handle is an absolute joy to behold and use.
 
300Six said:
I suspect (seeing as we can't see much more than a huge wood shoulder) that you have an exaggeratedly-oversize handle to begin with. Whittling the whole thing down in proportion to the head (use pictures of vintage or pretty HB hangs as a guide) will greatly benefit the end result. Many current commercial handles are made horribly 'fat'. It's nice that buyers believe they're getting a 'bigger bang for their buck' (namely excess wood) but in reality a gracefully thin handle is an absolute joy to behold and use.
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Agreed, so much so that I need to go back and pull the handle off of my first axe. After hanging a few and taking the time to thin out the handles I have sadly neglected it. It feels terrible in hand by comparison. I've become rather picky about handles thanks to influence from some of the members here, no regrets though.
 
Hacked said:
Agreed, so much so that I need to go back and pull the handle off of my first axe. After hanging a few and taking the time to thin out the handles I have sadly neglected it. It feels terrible in hand by comparison. I've become rather picky about handles thanks to influence from some of the members here, no regrets though.
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Same here. To the OP, I'd definitely take the advice of all the knowledgeable guys here and bring that shoulder down. Below is a photo of my first axe restoration I did last year with a handle I got from House. While I thinned down the haft a great deal to get it to feel really nice, I wish I would have taken away that shoulder bulge a bit more.

DadsAxe4_zpsvuqommwi.jpg
 
300Six said:
I suspect (seeing as we can't see much more than a huge wood shoulder) that you have an exaggeratedly-oversize handle to begin with. Whittling the whole thing down in proportion to the head (use pictures of vintage or pretty HB hangs as a guide) will greatly benefit the end result. Many current commercial handles are made horribly 'fat'. It's nice that buyers believe they're getting a 'bigger bang for their buck' (namely excess wood) but in reality a gracefully thin handle is an absolute joy to behold and use.
Click to expand...
Thanks for advice, I bought a boy's axe handle from HH (24") the original one is 22"..... I will sand its down on the weekend, probably more questions then
 
Frank01 said:
Thanks for advice, I bought a boy's axe handle from HH (24") the original one is 22"..... I will sand its down on the weekend, probably more questions then
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Sanding it down by hand will be an immense chore unless you have powered means of doing that. A rasp or spokeshave is better suited for stock removal and then you can smooth sand the end product. Some before and after pictures would be nice!
 
Frank01 said:
Thanks for advice, I bought a boy's axe handle from HH (24") the original one is 22"..... I will sand its down on the weekend, probably more questions then
Click to expand...

To my knowledge House Handle has never offered a 24" axe handle. Their boys axe handle is 28" and they offer a 19" handle for the same sized heads called a house axe handle. They can be worked to a very nice handles in my experience but as 300 said you will want to use a rasp and spoke shave.

Here is a 28" boys axe handle I worked with a rasp only.

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And the result is the one to the right.

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the wood extending above the eye in your photo can be removed by sawing it off before driving in the wood wedge making it eaiser to seat the wood wedge in the saw kerf or slot. leave this part a little proud of the axe eye , in other words don't saw the wood off even with the axe eye let it stick up about 1/4 inch.
yes, it would be good to thin the handle, at the shoulder. also probably would make a more comfortable handle and would be good practice to shape the rest of the handle to your ideal feel.
see if you can find a description of the parts of an axe so you can be comfortable with doing the hang correctly. you tube has several videos showing how to hang an axe.
 
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