Practical stock removal axe?

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War on Packaging

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Dec 7, 2016
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I have a piece of steel a 1/4 of an inch thick lying around, and I am wondering about a design for a practical wood hatchet that I can make out of this. The main problems appear to be the that the steel is a bit to thin to split the wood apart like a traditional axe, and attaching the blade the the haft seems troublesome. I have thought of three ways of attaching the head, a full tang design with scales on the sides, a slot starting at the top of the haft with a 4 inch tang inside, and a slot starting about an inch away for the top just big enough for a simple axe head to be inserted into it. I could post this in the knife making section but wanted the opions of the axe experts (as I know very little about axes). Feel free to post picture of stock removal axes you like, comment on my design ideas, and comment on stock removal axes in general.
 
There is the 4th way:
- heat, bend, weld - are quite enough videos showing how to make an axe from a file or similar.
I don't like the idea of the slot unless you find a way to "close" the slot at the top after inserting the blade - but this is just me. I would go for full tang and scales.
PS I am not an ax expert by any means, but 1/4" is not unusual for that type of hatchet.
 
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Definitely a good design, but probably not for me. The wrap around design is more forging than stock removal like what I do (and I can't weld yet).
 
Why not make a straight batoning tool, sort of a knife style froe.
I'm in the school of thought that a full tang " axe " built like a knife is really just going to be an axe shaped knife and never as good as an actual axe is.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Why not make a straight batoning tool, sort of a knife style froe.
I'm in the school of thought that a full tang " axe " built like a knife is really just going to be an axe shaped knife and never as good as an actual axe is.
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The froe is a very interesting idea. Do you think that my other ideas where the the head is attached at the top of the handle are any less of a "ax shaped knife"? Do you dislike full tang "axes" beacause of the balance? the thin blade? the poor shock absorbtion?
 
War on Packaging said:
The froe is a very interesting idea. Do you think that my other ideas where the the head is attached at the top of the handle are any less of a "ax shaped knife"? Do you dislike full tang "axes" beacause of the balance? the thin blade? the poor shock absorbtion?
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I dislike them for all of those reasons.
 
Sounds like you will end up with something like the "Klecker Klax Feller Axe"
I cant say im a fan..in fact I actively dislike them. Why anyone would want to step back 500 years in ax design to when heads were "lashed" onto a handle is beyond me..but anyway each to their own..

Give it a search it may give you some ideas anyway.

edit; in regards to a full tang steel axe / axe with integral steel handle. The problem with that, for me anyway is that it ends up being unreasonable heavy and the extra heft does not help cutting whatsoever.
You would be better off with a heavier axe head on a lighter (wooden) handle for the same overall weight and much more cutting force.
 
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nzedge said:
Sounds like you will end up with something like the "Klecker Klax Feller Axe"
I cant say im a fan..in fact I actively dislike them. Why anyone would want to step back 500 years in ax design to when heads were "lashed" onto a handle is beyond me..but anyway each to their own..

Give it a search it may give you some ideas anyway.
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Though the axe you mentioned looks like a bit of a gimmick. I was already thinking of doing something like that except with a little bit more "tang" and using pins to attach it instead of lashing it onto the handle. I was wondering if it would be strong enough, if the wood on either side of the head would be worn away, and in 1/4 inch could split anything as well as an axe.

North river custom knives makes some axes a bit like this.
aug1-1.jpg
 
it wont be a good splitter that's for sure. Its too thin and wont have meat in the right places.

Its the taper of the axe head that makes it split well.
If your axe head is 6mm at its thickest point you wont have enough material thickness to grind in a taper that will split effectively. Also removing steel from the 6mm starting thickness to make your taper is just going to reduce the head weight further. It will end up being physically very large and light for its size, which in itself is also not a good combination. (you want more weight/force concentrated on a smaller cutting edge/blade)

By all means have some fun and make something unique, just don't expect to end up with a something ground breaking.
A flat piece of 6mm / 1/4" stock is just not a good starting point to make an effective axe head out of with stock removal mothod.

edit; tomahawk head is more do-able and a better choice for the material. They are generally thinner than an ax and lack much of the taper, therefore will not split as well. But it is what it is. They have their pros and cons. Its just splitting is not one of their pros :)
 
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There are hundreds of versions of tac hawks and Bare Grills-type survival hatchets out there made from flat bar using pinned scales or paracord/leather wrap. See if you can adapt one of these designs for your own purposes. If a practical working tool for chopping and splitting larger-than-branch-sized material is what you want it may be time to visit a blacksmith with that piece of steel and have him/her forge fold it over to make a proper eye to accommodate a handle and be able to give it a decent blade slope.
 
I hate full tang hatchets. Too thin to be effective and you're always worried about knocking the scales off. Yuuuckkkk!
Some makers run the scales all the way to the head where they're one errant blow from getting knocked. And if you hold the scales back you can't choke up on them. Worthless garbage IMO.
 
True, Square_peg. Still, I doubt insisting on making a light hatchet out of such thin stock w/o forging/bending, you can find a more durable design. If those scales come off, it means they've been poorly attached - they hold up just fine on big choppers and I doubt such a design would sustain more stress than a 3-4 lbs kukri. I suppose it would be used for kindling, mostly. OTOH, with bad technique anyone can ruin the best ax handle in the world.

One problem I have with this design is that it is usually a "tacticool" approach :), that I absolutely abhor. However, drop the abrupt lines, and put some nice wooden scales on it, and I'm becoming less grumpy about the idea :). I have one in O2 steel with wenge wood, received as a gift, and it's a cool little thing. That was the 1st one I didn't hate :).
 
Hacked said:
How about a Celt style axe? They are still widely used in Africa. In my opinion they are a neat design. And the reason they have been around for so long is the ease in which they can be made.

Click here for some examples and more information.
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This design looks very simple to make. I didn't see any when I was in africa though, I saw more than a few axes with peices of pipe welded to the head for an extremly strong haft, and extensive use of panga style machetes. Once I saw a man use a thin 5$ panga to chop through a tough log about a foot thick. I might just expiriment with this idea it has all the advantages of a wooden haft, only lacking the spliting capabilitys of a larger head.
 
War on Packaging said:
This design looks very simple to make. I didn't see any when I was in africa though, I saw more than a few axes with peices of pipe welded to the head for an extremly strong haft, and extensive use of panga style machetes. Once I saw a man use a thin 5$ panga to chop through a tough log about a foot thick. I might just expiriment with this idea it has all the advantages of a wooden haft, only lacking the spliting capabilitys of a larger head.
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It's a big Continent and I'm honestly not sure as to what countries within Africa these are popular. Those axes with pipe handles sound terribly painful to use, no doubt durable though. The other disadvantage would be the lack of wedge shape to pop chips and move wood out of the way. I would suggest doing a nice convex bevel for the bit to avoid a sharp transition and to keep as much thickness and weight behind the bevel as possible.

32575298924_1856ff684a_k.jpg


Here you can see what I mean about the wedge effect pushing the wood up and out of the cut. This allows the edge to continue cutting. I think you can still no doubt end up with a very capable tool.
 
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