Need advice on a new rehafting

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jblyttle

jblyttle

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So I hung a boy's axe head that I have been playing with for a few days on a Link 28" boy's axe handle. Looked like a good fit. I spent a ton of time getting it correct, and only when I wad well into it did I realize that the handle was not actually the ideal fit for this head. It is a 2.5lb head and the eye is definitely too small for a regular handle, so I just assumed... anyway I'm too stubborn and was not going to quit at that point. I figured that the handle would need to re-purposed into a hatchet handle anyway so why not see if I could make it work. Whether I failed or I quit, same difference. BTW, no material was remove from the front or the back, that is how it came. I only removed wood from the sides.

The problem is that there is not as much shoulder as would be preferable, and front to back the handle does not quite fill the eye. Up top is OK, and I made sure to make a wedge that was as tight as possible. Down below, if it would not fill the gap I made sure to have it at least tight up front. There is a gap that you can see. Not good but in the least bad spot as far as I can tell. My question is this: is there a recommended way to fix this? Should I fill it by driving a wooden shim in there or filling it in some other way? I would like this to work if at all possible. Worst case is I test cut and it comes loose, I take it off and re-purpose the handle. Best case I can make this workable as it is.





 
I'm guessing that you hung your head upside down. The bigger side or opening of the eye should be at the top of the axe. This allows the wedge to spread the helve in the eye for a firm fit.

Measure your eye...Do you have it upside down?

Tom
 
The advice I got (think it was Imalterna) was to use a piece of surplus hickory handle to drive in there then cut/file off the extra. You worked the handle so you probably know what size/shape the hole there is.

The other option is to pare down a larger handle. I would then ask whether you want to trim the larger one at the front or back initially. I've done both and found that taking off the front leaves it more stable and gives you more to work with but I suppose it depends on the original size of the handle. I'll bet someone here can give a "for sure" answer.

Any idea yet on what the DY stands for? Happy thanksgiving by the way.
 
Agent_H said:
The advice I got (think it was Imalterna) was to use a piece of surplus hickory handle to drive in there then cut/file off the extra. You worked the handle so you probably know what size/shape the hole there is.

The other option is to pare down a larger handle. I would then ask whether you want to trim the larger one at the front or back initially. I've done both and found that taking off the front leaves it more stable and gives you more to work with but I suppose it depends on the original size of the handle. I'll bet someone here can give a "for sure" answer.

Any idea yet on what the DY stands for? Happy thanksgiving by the way.
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Already done LOL. I have a pile of cut off handles, I sliced a small piece off of a good section, then hand filed it as best I could into a thin wedge but maintaining the round back to make good contact with the eye. I put some wood glue on it and drove it in. I'm not cutting the excess yet, I'll let it dry first. I will tell you, it feels rock solid, I cannot budge the head with my hands. The real test will be a few swings into wood. There are a few gaps that I will fill in somehow for aesthetics. This has been a good learning process if nothing else, and if a working axe come out of it, bonus.

Pics later, Happy Thanksgiving.
 
Looks like maybe a full size eye. Its not going to work for long. House handle has what you need. Full size eye, short handle.
Most boys axes are 2 1/4. Eye sizes are not as standard as you would believe either, they are pretty varied. Smaller eyed boys axes will fit nice on some hatchet handles for instance.
 
Double Ott said:
I'm guessing that you hung your head upside down. The bigger side or opening of the eye should be at the top of the axe. This allows the wedge to spread the helve in the eye for a firm fit.

Measure your eye...Do you have it upside down?

Tom
Click to expand...

I thought of that, but looking at the pattern, it would look so wrong if flipped over. I guess that could still be the answer, but that would be really weird.
 
garry3 said:
Looks like maybe a full size eye. Its not going to work for long. House handle has what you need. Full size eye, short handle.
Most boys axes are 2 1/4. Eye sizes are not as standard as you would believe either, they are pretty varied. Smaller eyed boys axes will fit nice on some hatchet handles for instance.
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Could be. I just matched up 3 different full sized handles to it, and they all look pretty close. Not much would have to be removed. Weird though, this head would look way too small for those handles.

This head was on a House Handle first. Great fat shoulders, no fitting issue, but it wasn't straight at all. They are replacing it, but it will be a few weeks. This project is cursed lol.

I have a couple of options. The shim is in and it looks and feels super solid, just won't win any beauty awards. I could leave it and see how it goes. I can take it off and try to save the handle. If I wreck it, it will become a hatchet handle some day. I can wait for the new House Handle, but I want to finish this and move to other projects. I have house axe handle that would be a great candidate, but that is being replaced as well, same wait.

I have a House Handle 28" straight handle with a full sized eye. That may be plan B if the current setup fails.

 
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Agent_H said:
Could you potentially pull the wedge and seat it lower to the shoulder?
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Not really, if you look at the first pic in the thread you can see that it never gets any wider front to back. Honestly, its all wedged in and the bottom wedge is glued. Its done. The only thing to do is try it and go from there. I'll try today, I'll chop through a 4-5 in maple branch that's in my yard and split a few pine rounds. After that I'll evaluate it.

I'm wondering if it passes testing, if it would be worth filling the gaps with some sort of semi flexible epoxy. It would look better and minimize movement, but I don't want to make clearing that eye out a disaster someday.
 
Paint thinner will soften most epoxy as will acetone and probably lacquer thinner also. And then there is heat. I am not affraid of epoxy.
 
garry3 said:
Paint thinner will soften most epoxy as will acetone and probably lacquer thinner also. And then there is heat. I am not affraid of epoxy.
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I have gorilla glue on hand would that have enough give not to crack and shatter under stress?
 
I went through this same stuff. It likely isn't a boys axe and if there is one thing I've learned it's that axe eyes were .... approximate. This is kinda why I was interested in the Jersey from your other thread when you said boy's axe. The head will more than likely be 2.25lbs if it's an actual boy's axe and the eye size difference will be obvious - more obvious than this. Various handle lengths were far more common in years past for full size axes and when hardware stores today only carry 36 inch full size, and 28 inch boy's axe sticks, it's misleading. This is why, despite various problems, many of us use HH - they are the only place that offers a variety of lengths for full size eyes. I don't put 36 inch handles on anything, so I don't even bother to visit the hardware store. If I'm not mistaken the 2lb Hudson Bays also went on "boy's" handles, but otherwise you'll know it if you have a real boy's axe head.


ETA again ....
garry3 said:
Looks like maybe a full size eye. Its not going to work for long. House handle has what you need. Full size eye, short handle.
Most boys axes are 2 1/4. Eye sizes are not as standard as you would believe either, they are pretty varied. Smaller eyed boys axes will fit nice on some hatchet handles for instance.
Click to expand...

This.
 
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cityofthesouth said:
I went through this same stuff. It likely isn't a boys axe and if there is one thing I've learned it's that axe eyes were .... approximate. This is kinda why I was interested in the Jersey from your other thread when you said boy's axe. The head will more than likely be 2.25lbs if it's an actual boy's axe and the eye size difference will be obvious - more obvious than this. Various handle lengths were far more common in years past for full size axes and when hardware stores today only carry 36 inch full size, and 28 inch boy's axe sticks, it's misleading. This is why, despite various problems, many of us use HH - they are the only place that offers a variety of lengths for full size eyes. I don't put 36 inch handles on anything, so I don't even bother to visit the hardware store. If I'm not mistaken the 2lb Hudson Bays also went on "boy's" handles, but otherwise you'll know it if you have a real boy's axe head.


ETA again ....

This.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this was a good learning experience if nothing else. I made some mistakes that I will not repeat, hopefully others like me see this and benefit from it. I'll try this out and see what happens. If/when it fails, I have a HH house axe handle coming. I think that is the likely candidate to receive this head. I'm going to skip the epoxy. It feels tight enough to work as it is, and if it needs epoxy to fix it, it isn't right anyway.
 
jblyttle said:
I thought of that, but looking at the pattern, it would look so wrong if flipped over. I guess that could still be the answer, but that would be really weird.
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hello, it is weird because pattern says you hung it the right way,but letters d y say no, they usually are at the bottom facing the haft, not the top...
 
jblyttle said:
Yeah, this was a good learning experience if nothing else. I made some mistakes that I will not repeat, hopefully others like me see this and benefit from it. I'll try this out and see what happens. If/when it fails, I have a HH house axe handle coming. I think that is the likely candidate to receive this head. I'm going to skip the epoxy. It feels tight enough to work as it is, and if it needs epoxy to fix it, it isn't right anyway.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I've hung two full size heads on boy's axe handles - they were left big and I wanted a handle right now so I bought them and made it work. They have worked out fine. Luckily they were so chunky that they didn't leave as big a hole at the bottom as what happened to you. However, I think with that wood shoved in there from the bottom, it'll work out fine. And if it doesn't, it doesn't. That head is gonna scoot up slightly long before it goes flying. I think we learn more from finding the (our) failure points than anything else. The only way you can expect more from yourself is to know what you need to do differently next time - at least this is what I tell myself - and there has to be some learning involved to do that.
 
So I don't know if splitting frozen pine and only one knot for a campfire counts as a true test, but this axe was used tonight and it is a solid as before. Passed it's first test anyway.
 
Aaaaaand, there is our answer.



I chainsawed a roughly 7 inch hardwood of some sort leaning on my fence earlier this year and left maybe 5 feet of it. I took this axe to remove 4 more feet and the head was half an inch loose after about 10 swings. I stopped and took it the rest of the way apart. But hey, my shim held LOL. Enough, this handle will be saved for a future hatchet head.

Incidentally, it was wrong mounted the other way too.



Kids, what did we learn? Use the right handle, and check it ahead of time. Case closed.
 
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