• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

Plumb Duluth First Handmade Haft

C

cityofthesouth

Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Messages
1,638
My dad dug this hatchet up the other day and I decided it would be a good head to attempt to make a handle for. Chances are I'll only use it to make other handles or split kindling at the house (wood furnace), so I figured the wood didn't really matter much. Dad wanted to see what Red Bud would look like and he had a stump about 3 feet tall still standing so we went to sawing. Red Bud (at least in Kansas) only lives about 25 or 30 years before it starts falling apart, and it's typically forked or twisted or both. For something this small we managed to find a good enough slab and I roughed out the shape with an axe then set it to dry for a few weeks. It's not dry but I'm out of patience. Obviously huge growth rings, I have no idea if it's good for this application or not but I do know it's good looking.

plumb_duluth_head2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

handle_rough2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

handle_rough1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

plumb_duluth_rightside2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

plumb_duluth_leftside by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
Few more. I should have taken pics as I went along but it was dark when I started finishing it last night and once I get started it's pretty much a marathon to the end - although it didn't take long at all. The draw knife is new to me and I am learning, but for the corners it's really excellent. A 2x42 belt sander did the rest and my garage is yellow now. With a pattern, a board and a band saw, I think handles would be pretty quick to make especially for a project that was nice or in someway valuable to you. I also think a crooked knife is on my list of things to have. This little hatchet, plus a crooked knife = carving time for sure.

plumb_duluth_logo by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

plumb_duluth_wedge by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

plumb_duluth_handle2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

plumb_duluth_handle1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
Good for you! I have no idea what 'redbud' is (hopefully not an inferior strength-type of wood like Sumac) but if I sent you a stick of 'ironwood' likely as not it too would reappear as a beauty handle. Keep at this! You definitely know what you're doing.
 
Well according to Wikipedia Red Bud is Cercis canadensis ...... I'm sure that helps a lot! ;) But I would expect a lot more strength than Sumac. Redbud is small and mostly ornamental but it's an actual tree and this one was probably a foot across - they grow all over around here, even in the woods.

So I did make a handle with the Plumb, just not the sort I was thinking in the first post. Just finished making a big ugly hammer a minute ago - Hackberry head and Mulberry handle. The Boker got smoothing duty and it did a great job - no swedge to make two handed use uncomfortable and it worked fine as a mini draw knife. The tip is very fine and the spine is extremely square, so it could be better for this purpose, but out of my minimal knife collection, nothing ever came this sharp and even after this it is still hair snagging sharp. Not a razor like it was, but I think it did well for this amount of wood work.

woodhammer_plumb2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
Interesting that a taxonomist would call this legume C. canadensis (Redbud) when in fact it doesn't get up into Canada at all except in to the extreme sw corner of Ontario.
 
Forgot to mention that chopping block in the picture (in a lot of my pictures) is a chunk of large Redbud as well. Maybe taxonomists don't call it that .... this is wikipedia after all. :)
 
That wood is all crazy looking. The haft turned out real nice. Good work and thanks for sharing. That is one fine hatchet you have there now.
 
That is impressive. I like how much is exposed above the head. Looks really well-set.
 
Thanks folks.

It's nice to have a handle with enough material to properly fit the head unlike some that we buy where the shoulder isn't even as long as the eye, or barely. My first step in fitting a handle now is to completely change the shoulder and lower it (if I even can) so that there aren't little gaps on either end of the eye at the bottom. My brain is telling me that making my own handles is the only way to go, but I haven't made up my mind just yet.

ETA about the material above the head. I have become a believer (late to the party by a million years) in leaving some of the handle above the eye, only because I have finally got to the point where I can cause that wood to bulge creating a sort of lock. In this case the wood isn't as dry as it should be, so I figured it was important. I don't think that bulge is actually essential to keeping an axe head on and I happen to like the look of both a flat top and having some wood sticking out so I'll do both. Also for this axe I just didn't want to grind anything. It was in such perfect condition that all it got was the vinegar bath, no grinding.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top