Military Axe project

RoyalM

RoyalM

Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
2,150
I was on the bay the other night and searched for axes and came across this:

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I ended up getting a deal on two, one with the rubber handle and the other with a wood handle and threaded tang at the end I believe.

They're both blunt as a rock and in need of a damn good clean but I think there may be a good hawk lurking in there.

Will get a pic of my two this weekend when i'm cleaning them up. Already looking to lengthen the shaft on one as they're only around 14'' long.

So anybody done this before?
 
I say you got a bad deal. But I will gladly take them off you hands. :cool:

Awsome find. I wish I had your luck. How much did you pay for them?
 
It was £15 ($23) for the pair shipped to my door.

Who knows what steel they're made from, the wooden handled one looks to be the project one and I'll keep the other intact.

Here's a link to a bit about them:

CHILLINGTON 'ARPAX'
 
So after a lot of distraction I'm back onto working on this project. Here's a couple of pics of the axe I have with the cracked wood handle and after splitting that off. The hammer is just for scale.
IMG_0427.jpg

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My plan had been to strip the wood and thread the tang then tap a steel tube and that would be it. However the tang is too thin for that and now I'm having a rethink.

I think if I get a decent piece of doweling and drill a hole for the tang then I can pin it near the top that should work. Secondly I think I may either get a piece of aluminum pipe or copper pipe the same diameter as the doweling. I'll heat the pipe and then hammer it down over the doweling to get a very snug fit. Lastly I'll then pin the pipe into the doweling near the base to further lock it all together. Very much belt and braces but that's my style. Haven't yet set the length of the shaft, thinking 18'' with about 3-4'' sticking out the top.

Mocked up image:

tomoaxe.jpg


The only thing I had wanted was a spike at the bottom for digging and piercing with. Anyone got any thoughts on how I could do that, or improve on what i'm doing?

Thanks in advance.
 
You could always get some birchbark, make cut outs and form up a stacked handle that you could then shape to your liking. I'd like to find one of these axes. They look like a neat project hawk/axe.
 
Careful with the dowel rod. Not good wood in my experience. What about a hawk handle? You could still fit the tubing over it with a bit more work and you'd have to shave down the handle a bit to fit, but it'd be much stronger and more ergonomic to your hand than a circular rod. Thats going to want to twist in your hand. I'm going to experiment some with making a wood handle stronger at some point. I know the paracord wrap helps longevity a lot, and I think I'll do a denim/epoxy or woodglue wrap and see if that helps.
 
I looked at hawk handle but they'd cost me more than the axe did. I do have some old axe handles but then I think it would make using the spike end more difficult.

I managed to source some decent wooden rod, from a very old broom pole, but now i'm thinking about the handle twisting in my hand.

I'm now considering a rectangular shaft. I was thinking of using some rectangular steel tube and using wood to pack out around the tang. I'd then use resin to secure the wood into the rectangular steel tube followed by 2 pins. Lastly I would cover the shaft in tooldip or some equivalent rubber paint and layer this until I had the desired thickness to make it durable.

Better plan or am I just over thinking this?
 
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