How perfectly must the handle fit into the axehead?

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WayTooSharp

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Aug 18, 2014
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How perfectly must the handle fit into the axehead? Like, does it matter that much if you have a wedge?

My German military hatchet's handle broke in the woods and I've been making a new handle out of a maple branch. Shaping things with a broken hatchet and a kabar are tricky.
 
I believe what the OP is trying to ask is, If the handle doesn't completely fill out the eye.. say lenthwise of the eye when you're fitting it, but it fits fine width wise, and you wedge it well, will the gaps at the top and bottom between the handle and the eye matter?
 
Hahaha @ square_peg

It's gonna be a bear fitting a wedge if you don't have a saw to cut the kerf. But you say you're going to have a wedge, so I would tell you that the wedge is going to do a lot of the fitting for you - so to speak. What I am saying is, if you have some maybe 1/16th gaps around the eye from the top, the goal is to drive the wedge so tightly that it actually spreads the handle until it fills up all those gaps and then some. Gaps toward the front or rear of the eye can be filled by using an over-sized wedge. When I say wedge, I am talking about a wooden wedge that is driven parallel to the tool head. Down toward the shoulder of the handle - the bottom side of the head - you're just going to want that area to fit tight. Your typical handle will simply be over-sized at the shoulder so that the head seats down until it can't go any further.

If olybears57 is right then I don't think it's a big deal, plus you can hammer in some small wedges to fill those gaps if you like. I just pulled another handle that I had hung where I put two little wedges at either end. I drilled the wedge and then beat on it and beat on it and beat on it. This is using an axe eye shaped drift too. I had plenty of wedge driven even though I had gaps at both ends of the eye. That handle was never coming off - I must have hit it 20 times with tremendous force before it even budged. So My conclusion is that the wedge is really the vital ingredient - gaps at the ends of the eye aren't a big deal. I did this same procedure to another one of my handles where I did NOT do a good job of getting a lot of wedge in, but DID fit the handle itself very tightly, and it only took a handful of blows to get it to move after drilling the wedge.
 
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Oh it's called a kerf eh? Ya, I have a Silky coming. I don't know how I would have cut the notch without it. And thanks, that's kind of what I thought too. Overall, I think this will be a learning experience more than anything else. Once the saw gets here I'm going to restart using a split log, rather than shaping the end of a branch.
 
Yep kerf. A good learning experience - having fewer tools forces you to use your brain and critical thinking skills.
 
WayTooSharp said:
Oh it's called a kerf eh? Ya, I have a Silky coming. I don't know how I would have cut the notch without it. And thanks, that's kind of what I thought too. Overall, I think this will be a learning experience more than anything else. Once the saw gets here I'm going to restart using a split log, rather than shaping the end of a branch.
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You don't have to cut a 'notch'. Use the axe blade to begin a split or use your knife to initiate a deliberate crack. Then drive the wedge in right there. But don't go believing that wedges are the saving grace to an ill-fitting haft. Wedge is merely a lock and not supposed to be a wood filler.
 
WayTooSharp said:
I have a Silky coming.
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300Six said:
You don't have to cut a 'notch'.
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WayTooSharp said:
I have a Silky coming.
Click to expand...

300Six said:
You don't have to cut a 'notch'.
Click to expand...

WayTooSharp said:
I have a Silky coming.
Click to expand...



You can send that saw right back to where it came from but whatever you do do NOT go around believing that wedges are the saving grace to an ill-fitting haft - just ask the lady in your life.
 
300Six said:
You don't have to cut a 'notch'. Use the axe blade to begin a split or use your knife to initiate a deliberate crack. Then drive the wedge in right there. But don't go believing that wedges are the saving grace to an ill-fitting haft. Wedge is merely a lock and not supposed to be a wood filler.
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Interesting. Ya I know. This whole handle is just a learning experience at this point. I doubt it will be secure.
 
Ok so what I did was take a little spruce wedge and didn't even both splitting the end. I just rammed it down the side and smashed it in with my Cold Steel trail hawk until it wouldn't go in anymore. After a day, the head is perfectly secure. The handle did snap in the middle though. Water damaged maple. Black lines running all through it. Anyhow, I have a nice long piece of mulberry now and a new project for the week :). The broken axe handle is sort of hatchet length. Good enough for use shaping a new handle.
 
WayTooSharp said:
Ok so what I did was take a little spruce wedge and didn't even both splitting the end. I just rammed it down the side and smashed it in with my Cold Steel trail hawk until it wouldn't go in anymore. After a day, the head is perfectly secure. The handle did snap in the middle though. Water damaged maple. Black lines running all through it. Anyhow, I have a nice long piece of mulberry now and a new project for the week :). The broken axe handle is sort of hatchet length. Good enough for use shaping a new handle.
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Hahaha, cut your kerf this time dude - it's really no big deal even if you don't have something to hold the handle while you cut. However, since your hang lasted longer than the handle I guess you could say that handle integrity is going to be top priority on the next one - Mulberry will certainly be tough stuff but I really don't know what the shock absorbing qualities are. I want to see pics. Forum threads with no pictures are too boring.

BTW, I fully understand the ghetto project that you don't want to put a lot of effort into, but I am addicted to the feeling you get when your own two hands are responsible for the thing you've just created when it's really good. Like any drug, you begin to need more from the project to satisfy yourself, meaning you will do a better job or attempt to and the failures have greater educational value each time. Just some philosophical rambling from my desk at work. :)
 
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