"Make your own axe handle" article

Again an old thread but I think it needs to be said the explanation is in the previous content. One works the handle while green then let's it dry sufficiently then hangs the axe. You can hang it green but it doesn't take long at all for wood of that thickness to dry out and you can wait to see if the fawns foot splits/checks before hanging. Last fall I had the occasion to need to cut down a small oak , so I decided to carve a few spoons as I had never used oak for that purpose. They carved beautifully, easy to work and looked sharp too. I kept the wood in Ziploc bags until I was ready to carve it to prevent drying, once carved I used butcher block conditioner on all but one and no cracking or checks on the conditioned ones, the one left without checked a few inches right into the bowl. So you can prevent checking and carve green but also wait until everything is dry enough not to shrink right out of your eye. Work green, hang dry!
 
Thank you all for your insight. While I have never made and axe handle YET, I'm also not dead. I have a trivial question. Why thin the BLO down?

Finally, treat it with a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil, thinned with turpentine.
 
Generally for better penetration into the wood. It's fairly thick on its own and won't penetrate past a very shallow layer under typical conditions. Even prolonged soaking generally doesn't get very deep.
 
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