Help IDing this old Axe Head and how to hang

2

2taol

Joined
Dec 15, 2022
Messages
6
Hello All,

I hope the community can help me out with one.

I bought an old Axe for splitting logs, it's I would say 3lb but the eye looks like it needs a "special" handle.

I like old tools and would rather revive old stuff than buy new.

It would be great if someone could shed some light on this.

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The dimensions of the eye are as follows:

21mm x 55mm

22mm x 57mm and just inside this opening there is a narrow point of 22mm x 45mm

The weight is actually 1.750kg's / 3.8lb's
 
Thank you for the info, I'm in Ireland!

That handle would be like this one so > https://seymourmidwest.com/64765/

My concern with fitting a handle to this is the narrow point just inside one end of the eye. no matter what end I put the handle through this narrow point determines the narrow point of the handle.
 
In terms of practical information and what you want out of this axe, maybe nothing I know will be of much help to you but I have one similar. It hangs out by my watering hole when it's not sunken to the bottom as a weight to keep wood submerged. A gift from my teacher in furniture making school, he called it a timmermanns axe, carpenter's axe, though the dimensions make it hard to imagine except for anything beyond the most basic preparation work. But ok, I've always taken his word. And yeah the internal features of the eye are nothing if not puzzling. The one I have is even more prominently shouldered inside the whole circumference of the eye, suggesting definite intentions. The only approach to handling short of complete knowledge is to, through carving and wedging, fill all voids of the eye as best possible,keeping the total length on the short side proportionally with the head's measurements. In terms of wedging in means a kerf wide enough to let the wood flex going in and then expand to fill voids as well as can be.
 
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Thanks for the replies all!

The option of removing it a realistic one for sure.

It could well have had the addition of some sort of strap is possible.

God only knows how it would have looked though.
 
I also wondered if it had originally had a strap.
To me it looks like you could hang it & just ignore the depression where the strap was located & it’d function fine, or glue in a filler piece afterwards if the cosmetics are important.
Not easy to see on the images though, I regularly take a round file to eyes I’m not happy with to get the desired “hourglass “ shape.
 
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I'mSoSharp said:
I also wondered if it had originally had a strap.
To me it looks like you could hang it & just ignore the depression where the strap was located & it’d function fine, or glue in a filler piece afterwards if the cosmetics are important.
Not easy to see on the images though, I regularly take a round file to eyes I’m not happy with to get the desired “hourglass “ shape.
Click to expand...
How much hourglass shape is desired? I have see eyes with a hump on the pole side of the hole and I assume this is what you’re taking about.
 
I'mSoSharp said:
It doesn't need to be much, obviously the wedge needs to spread the haft to make it tight so that's the limiting factor.

View attachment 2029553
Click to expand...
The hour glass shape should be seen in a section view opposite of what is illustrated here. The eye must get narrower and wider rather than shorter and longer - if that makes sense. The eye should grow in the dimension that the wedge is able to fill it.
 
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