Gentleman, in short that haft was not coming off. I have a woodworking shop of 9 years and have been in Cabinetry since 1988. I'm new to outdoor striking tools (not using them I assure you but rather what makes a good axe a great axe) however with the shop I have nearly all the things we could hope for.
So that said, the aluminum wedge came out easily as I did remember to bevel a V into the side before installation. Using this to catch the end of a ground down pry tool the shim slid out with minimal effort. Good to go, right? ...Not. The handle felt literally glued to the inside of the eye. I suspect that when I soaked the Hickory in BLO prior to installation the liquid pushed out from compression and grafted itself to the newly cleaned up steel. Pushing and tapping with a piece of Oak I whittled to roughly the eye size got nowhere. I switched to a steel rod that I cut off a crappy tire iron and grinded down to the correct egg shape...no go! Used a straight blade dremel (not the rotary tool) to gently cut open the slot for the old shim and then ran the blade around the perimeter of the shaft hoping to break from the steel eye... I think the axe started laughing at that point.
Screw it, I'll reuse the Hickory for something needing a shorter eye (how's that for rationalization?). I cut off the shaft as close to the base of the head as possible. Even after repeatedly drilling out the remaining it was still STUBBORN. When I get the cell phone pic function to work again I'll post one up and you'll be rolling your eyes.
All righty...so enough of the bad news. I read intently all the great advice offered in this thread. I came to think squarepeg has the right idea however I just needed to think it through with the haft length versus the head weight and shape. Since this shaft I was trying to salvage had about 25-3/8" remaining I figured to loosely mount it and get a feel for that ratio. I'd invested enough time in removing the damn thing that I wasn't interested in reinventing the wheel. I just want a length with a vintage sharp Boy's Axe head that's suitable to sit in the Mud Room and be ready for the random stuff around the farm.
Soooo, I had one of the guys at the shop take the crappy lathe, I say this because it's an easy set-up but the accuracy between the arbors sucks...no detailed work allowed but we keep it plugged in, and do a quick turn down on a piece of 8/4 White Oak to 1-7/8" round. I took that blank and ran it through the table saw to get around 1/2" heavy for my width. Looked like crap but it worked. Starting at 25" I taped the "dowel" in place to get a feel for it. No swinging for fences, just seeing if the shoe fits. I dropped to 22" and then to 19". 30 minutes later I ended up close to where I started with a finish length of 24-7/8".
All I did from there was shape the end using another boy's axe handle for a template, soaked the new end in BLO and saddled the head as is. I really thought I was going to have grind and sand down the head to lose some weight but turned out to be wrong. The tool swings quite nicely. It's not strictly a 2 handed axe but can serve that way. It's also not really a single handed axe but I wouldn't hesitate to pound stakes, make some feathersticks or split even small kindling for fear of getting tired. I honestly think I've got the right marriage with these two.
I am going to clean up the head a bit but once that's done I'll post a pic or two. The overall size looks quite normal.
Anyway, that's all bygones.
If your drift is made of wood, you know you're doing it right when you start to destroy it. ha! I also have a wooden club that I use - I hold the axe by the handle, head down, close to the floor but suspended, then beat the living crap out of the poll, then the heel, alternating - driving the head off the handle. I've never seen a handle that wouldn't eventually give to that.
