My First Handmade axe handle

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deepobs

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Feb 7, 2019
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A Fairly large tree came down in my yard about 2 years ago, it was a healthy tree, no rot, but a gigantic rotten oak fell right into it and took it out. It was snagged and most of it was hovering off the ground. This winter i decided to clean up all the dead wood on my property for bonfires and heat treating knives. I finally bought a chainsaw and processed all the fallen trees that werent too far gone. Im not sure what species this particular wood is, but after working with it and seeing the final product im thinking it may be some sort of Ash.

It was good looking wood and pretty strong so i decided to try making a handle. Many aspects of this project werent ideal, but it was something i really wanted to try. Overall id say it was a success. It was incredibly fun to see it take shape. I used a small axe and a tiny spokeshave for all the shaping. I cant wait to give it a good run. Ive done some splitting with it but havent chopped yet. if it holds up, i plan on making several more.
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I’d like to see and picture! Could you upload it to an image hosting site like PostImage and then link it here using the thread tools above?
 
Im having some serious issues posting pics. Tried using imgur, maybe its because its my first post. It keeps bringing up an error message saying that what im posting may be spam related or inappropriate. Ill keep working at it.
 
deepobs said:
Im having some serious issues posting pics. Tried using imgur, maybe its because its my first post. It keeps bringing up an error message saying that what im posting may be spam related or inappropriate. Ill keep working at it.
Click to expand...
1. Right-click your picture on imgur.
2. Select "copy image address"
3. Come back here and click the image insert icon above the text pane.
4. Paste the address into the window that pops up.
5. Click insert.
 
Nice job on the carving. I'd be careful swinging at first though, not all hardwood is created equal. It does look like ash which is good but it's tricky to tell by bark alone. I speak from personal experience having made a longbow from silver maple. I don't recommend.
 
GWashington1732 said:
Nice job on the carving. I'd be careful swinging at first though, not all hardwood is created equal. It does look like ash which is good but it's tricky to tell by bark alone. I speak from personal experience having made a longbow from silver maple. I don't recommend.
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Thanks, I'll be careful at first and then work up to chopping some of the really hard stuff. Gotta test it
 
From the texture of the bark and the color of the heartwood, I would say hickory too. I've been up to my ears in fallen hickory for a year now and that looks very similar to what I'm processing, though I couldn't say exactly which species it is. Nice handle for that axe!
 
DB_Cruiser said:
From the texture of the bark and the color of the heartwood, I would say hickory too. I've been up to my ears in fallen hickory for a year now and that looks very similar to what I'm processing, though I couldn't say exactly which species it is. Nice handle for that axe!
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cityofthesouth said:
Congrats! Nicely done.
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Thanks guys. Really appreciate that. And I sure hope this is hickory, got enough to make several more.
 
GWashington1732 said:
Nice job on the carving. I'd be careful swinging at first though, not all hardwood is created equal. It does look like ash which is good but it's tricky to tell by bark alone. I speak from personal experience having made a longbow from silver maple. I don't recommend.
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I’m surrounded by Silver Maple and always want them to make make better axe handles than “gutter chokes”. These here have leaves that are the size of dinner plates.

Downwindtracker2 said:
Looks very good. A truly custom handle fitted to you. Now you need a draw knife, a Nicholson #49 rasp, carpenters hand axe (hewing hatchet) and some more spokshaves.
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In the same vein, I am impressed with the Shinto rasps for fitting and shaping.
*of course you need all the items you mentioned.
 
Agent_H said:
I’m surrounded by Silver Maple and always want them to make make better axe handles than “gutter chokes”. These here have leaves that are the size of dinner plates.



In the same vein, I am impressed with the Shinto rasps for fitting and shaping.
*of course you need all the items you mentioned.
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Silver maple is ridiculously brittle. Like glass. It planes nicely and takes stain well though. Other maples are sturdier. Norway maple and sugar maple i think cut up better.
 
GWashington1732 said:
Silver maple is ridiculously brittle. Like glass. It planes nicely and takes stain well though. Other maples are sturdier. Norway maple and sugar maple i think cut up better.
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Agreed. I don’t think Silver Maple burns all that well compared to other woods and even other Maples but that might just be the ones I have here. It is a hardy and beautiful tree though.
 
Agent_H said:
I’m surrounded by Silver Maple and always want them to make make better axe handles than “gutter chokes”. These here have leaves that are the size of dinner plates.
Click to expand...

Agent_H said:
I don’t think Silver Maple burns all that well compared to other woods and even other Maples but that might just be the ones I have here. It is a hardy and beautiful tree though.
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Count your blessings on the Silver Maples and go get yourself some maple taps. I haven't had a chance to harvest from them but what I've read is that they produce sap similar to our Oregon Big Leaf Maples that will boil down about 40:1 into maple syrup. Sugar maples average more like 25:1 down to even 20:1.
 
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