Need help! First hang

F

Frank01

Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Messages
58
Hi Guys,

This is my first hang, not a fancy maul head but, it has been fun. I am also doing the Jersey axe at the same time but, do I have to go another inch deeper? Will the cut of the top of the handle open easier when it will be higher? Cause I believe now it is no way I can put the wedge

Thanks in advance for the help



 
If it were me, I'd take a wood file to it and bring it back some, closer to the shoulder. I also would take a handsaw to the kerf to open it up for the wedge.
Handles/haft need customizing most of the time.
 
I've only done a few rehangs, so there are people here more knowledgeable than I in this area. But basically you need to reduce the angle to as close as it can get to the eye. You want the wood to be filling the whole eye and in contact with the steel before you even put the wedge in (or as close as possible). So you can use a knife if you're good with it or drawknife, rasp, and sandpaper depending on how much material you have to take off. Looks like a fair bit to me but you still have to be careful.

You can just put the head on loosely, then use a marker to draw some lines where the material should be removed. You may have to go more than an inch, probably two thirds of the way to that arrow. You just want a gentle slope so that the kerf is open but the handle just slides in snug all the way through the eye.

Read through "An Ax to Grind" or one of the other free publications.
 
yeah go ahead and bring it down a little. By taking off some material down where it's tight, the kerf will likely open up some.
 
You will most likely have to still use a saw to saw the kerf/wedge area anyway once you have it where you like it as it will not be deep enough. 2/3 of the way seems to work fine.
Plus what I do if a lot of wood protrudes past the head is cut it before the wedge.
 
Thanks guys
Put it some more down and it open the kerf....now I have to test it

I hope this is not going to be a good business to HH (in case I have to reorder more handles)
 
Oh once you've started your not gonna stop. They'll make more money off of you, just wait until you start to check eBay daily, going to garage sales, online auctions, old relatives barns and work sheds, good weight loss program for the wallet to say the lease.
 
Guitarist7.62 said:
Oh once you've started your not gonna stop. They'll make more money off of you, just wait until you start to check eBay daily, going to garage sales, online auctions, old relatives barns and work sheds, good weight loss program for the wallet to say the lease.
Click to expand...

Already went to all flea markets in town.....not a lot but, might be some surprises....and, of course, checking the emkt often
 
I hope I'm not hijacking this thread. Just thought someone might find this searching and it may help others looking.

I got my first House Handle today and I'd like to start my first hang tomorrow and I have some questions:

What should I do to swell/prep the kerf before/during driving the wedge in? Where can I find Swel-Lock? Is there an alternative? Some suggest Gorilla Glue on this forum??

I have a bunch of Swiss Vallorbe metal files in varying cuts which I have been using to hand sharpen/profile the bit prior to using stones. I don't have a rasp (the ones I have are garbage). Will any old (chain store) rasp work or should I hold off for a few days and get a good set of woodworking files/rasps before I start in on the hang? Are there any other US/American-made comparable brands to Vallorbe?

I've been burning through (A*e Hardware) leather gloves almost every 8-10 days just with 2-3 hours daily of chainsaw and splitting wood. What is a good brand that won't get destroyed immediately when I touch a rasp? Ideally something that will last a while.

Is there an axis to a single bit 36" handle? I bought a House Handle AA Grade and it's absolutely wonderful. It exceeds every expectation I had. Zero runout, no twist and grain orientation seems to be perfectly parallel with the blade-poll plane. It is a little thick however (that's a good thing) and will need some thinning. Its also clearly hand made (also a good thing) and therefore not perfectly symmetrical. I have a bunch of measuring tools, a lathe, I'm right handed and I have a minor case of OCD. Should the axis of the handle be perpendicular to the flat surface of the head once the handle is fitted in the eye? Or should I assume the axis to be parallel with the notch in the kerf for shaping purposes and then hang/orient the head to the handle once shaping is done? (put head on handle and then shape handle... or shape handle and then hang head?)

Do I want to shape the handle any differently for left vs. right handed use?

Thanks, hope I'm not hijacking this thread too much.
 
If it were me, I'd bring it right down to the shoulder. Your wedge is going to pop out as you try to drive it home. A good trick I got from this website was this: once you have the haft fitting the way you want it, put the kerf in your vice and tighten it so that the slot in the kerf is closed, then resaw it again. This creates a little extra space in the kerf for the wedge.
 
1215 said:
I hope I'm not hijacking this thread. Just thought someone might find this searching and it may help others looking.

I got my first House Handle today and I'd like to start my first hang tomorrow and I have some questions:

What should I do to swell/prep the kerf before/during driving the wedge in? Where can I find Swel-Lock? Is there an alternative? Some suggest Gorilla Glue on this forum??

I have a bunch of Swiss Vallorbe metal files in varying cuts which I have been using to hand sharpen/profile the bit prior to using stones. I don't have a rasp (the ones I have are garbage). Will any old (chain store) rasp work or should I hold off for a few days and get a good set of woodworking files/rasps before I start in on the hang? Are there any other US/American-made comparable brands to Vallorbe?

I've been burning through (A*e Hardware) leather gloves almost every 8-10 days just with 2-3 hours daily of chainsaw and splitting wood. What is a good brand that won't get destroyed immediately when I touch a rasp? Ideally something that will last a while.

Is there an axis to a single bit 36" handle? I bought a House Handle AA Grade and it's absolutely wonderful. It exceeds every expectation I had. Zero runout, no twist and grain orientation seems to be perfectly parallel with the blade-poll plane. It is a little thick however (that's a good thing) and will need some thinning. Its also clearly hand made (also a good thing) and therefore not perfectly symmetrical. I have a bunch of measuring tools, a lathe, I'm right handed and I have a minor case of OCD. Should the axis of the handle be perpendicular to the flat surface of the head once the handle is fitted in the eye? Or should I assume the axis to be parallel with the notch in the kerf for shaping purposes and then hang/orient the head to the handle once shaping is done? (put head on handle and then shape handle... or shape handle and then hang head?)

Do I want to shape the handle any differently for left vs. right handed use?

Thanks, hope I'm not hijacking this thread too much.
Click to expand...

The last thing I do before I drive the wedge in is give it a good coating of BLO. It helps lubricate the wedge, and it may create a bit of swelling. Once the wedge is in and nicely trimmed, invert the axe (so that the wedge is at the bottom of the container) in a container with 1" of BLO in it. Let it sit in there for 48 hours. The wood will swell inside the eye as it absorbs BLO, giving you a secure fit.
 
I have started to on my more recent hangs, drive the wedge as far as it will go, then letting it sit for a couple of days before hammering on it again to drive it in more. And it will move further no matter how far it went originaly as long as there is space left in the curf. once all that is done that's when I cut the excess of and soak in linseed oil
 
linseed oil or boiled linseed oil? I'm either confused or see conflicts. Some say linseed oil is better than BLO and only use BLO in a pinch. Does it matter?
 
Curt Hal said:
The last thing I do before I drive the wedge in is give it a good coating of BLO. It helps lubricate the wedge, and it may create a bit of swelling. Once the wedge is in and nicely trimmed, invert the axe (so that the wedge is at the bottom of the container) in a container with 1" of BLO in it. Let it sit in there for 48 hours. The wood will swell inside the eye as it absorbs BLO, giving you a secure fit.
Click to expand...

Something along these lines?


 
1215 said:
linseed oil or boiled linseed oil? I'm either confused or see conflicts. Some say linseed oil is better than BLO and only use BLO in a pinch. Does it matter?
Click to expand...

I use BLO. I just usually end up typing in linseed oil because it's quicker to type. Sorry for the confusion, most people I know use boiled, so we know what one is talking about when we say linseed oil.
 
This HH that I ordered is going to need quite a bit of thinning at the shoulder. Do I need to make a jig so I can at least reference the centerline of the handle to the blade? Also, I was thinking about putting some powdered graphite on the inside of the eye so that when I slide the handle into the eye the graphite will rub off onto the handle and tell me where to remove material. Is that a good/bad idea?

Also, should I be sanding the part of the handle that goes into the eye or will using a fine rasp be enough to ensure a tight fit?
 
If your eye is so clean, by all means use graphite, it won't harm anything.
 
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