Interesting Article on Axes and Early Handles

Also the points about repurposing old axe heads are bunk. The so-called "axe head hinge" is called such because of its visual appearance being vaguely reminiscent of the flare of an axe, not because it was made from one, and the felling wedges are solid, not made from old axe heads. Historically it was more likely for a worn axe to be re-steeled and forged out thin again if it had worn back too far. If it failed in another manner it was often discarded.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Also the points about repurposing old axe heads are bunk. The so-called "axe head hinge" is called such because of its visual appearance being vaguely reminiscent of the flare of an axe, not because it was made from one, and the felling wedges are solid, not made from old axe heads. Historically it was more likely for a worn axe to be re-steeled and forged out thin again if it had worn back too far. If it failed in another manner it was often discarded.
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Is it possible that the writer of the article had learned of old practices, and that a blacksmith could have used old axe heads to make barn hinges? I thought the article had some interesting information about axe handles and how they were somewhat unique like about the palm swell according to who the owner was.
 
SwedeFP said:
Is it possible that the writer of the article had learned of old practices, and that a blacksmith could have used old axe heads to make barn hinges? I thought the article had some interesting information about axe handles and how they were somewhat unique like about the palm swell according to who the owner was.
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Think about it--how big is the eye on even a small hatchet. You would need an absurdly stout pin to fit that hinge unless you were forge-welding the eye smaller, in which case it's much faster and easier to just start from scratch and make a properly sized aperture from the beginning by wrapping the hinge material around a rod.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Think about it--how big is the eye on even a small hatchet. You would need an absurdly stout pin to fit that hinge unless you were forge-welding the eye smaller, in which case it's much faster and easier to just start from scratch and make a properly sized aperture from the beginning by wrapping the hinge material around a rod.
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Yeah, I see your point. I have almost no knowledge of blacksmithing, hence my post. I guess the writer was either mislead or something. My main interest in the article was about handles. Thanks
 
Thanks for posting that, Swede. I believe the part about the handle patterns, I’ve seen old ones and made a couple of my own.

Like Benjamin, however, I’m skeptical about the hinge business. Seems to me that a blacksmith making a hinge would have better (closer to hinge shape) steel at hand. I would rather start with some segments of wagon rim, bend an eye in one end, pound the strap out flat and stack 3 or 4 on a pin than try to draw out a wedge into a flat and reshape the eye.

I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, or wasn’t done a few times, just that if it were commonly done there’d be more surviving specimens. I’d be more inclined to believe if there were pics of such hinges still intact, or if Eric Sloane had illustrated how it worked.

Also, the falling wedges chained together: how could you secure a raft with those? Raft dogs are a whole different animal.

Parker
 
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