Exactly. My bag axe has a round eye purposely designed into the head for easy handle replacement in the wild. :thumbup:
-
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.
Rehandling Axes and Hatchets in a Pinch
- Thread starter Triquetra
- Start date
Exactly. My bag axe has a round eye purposely designed into the head for easy handle replacement in the wild. :thumbup:
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2008
- Messages
- 432
I am not exactly sure of the axe, but it looks around the size of the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe(SFA). He has used the SFA in his videos in the past. I have one and it's a very handy size.
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2008
- Messages
- 712
The other option in the wild is to cut off the broken handle as close to the bit as possible and then plant the whole thing in a split handle and tie it up. Same as fitting a stone axe head. Why spend hours fighting to get the old head out and then more hours carving a new handle. Go paleo on that thing.
Have you done this? Interesting solution-i dont think idve ever thought of it.
I'm not sure it would stay together longer than a few strokes- it's not designed for that app
I've been a bit busy, and I've only scanned what has been written here already. If I repeat anything already written, please forgive me.
I have made and fitted a few axe/hatchet handles.
Rather than use plank wood cut from a log or a bit of lumber with a saw, I prefer to get a nice straight branch or trunk and split it lengthwise so as to get a bit of wood that follows the grain. When wood is sawn from a log, there is the possibility that too many grain lines might be cut through... thus weakening the handle you make from the sawn lumber. When I've made bows from logs, I always try to split the stave from a log also. By splitting with a wedge, the split is likely to follow down the wood fibres and keep them whole rather than cutting through them.
Once I have a split slab, I mark it out and then cut close to the lines with a hatchet. I finish it by using something like a knife, rasp, or disk sander depending on the circumstances.
One thing to avoid is splitting off the widened part of the handle at the operator end. This widened portion probably has a name, but I don't know it. This part is designed to stop the handle slipping through your hands while chopping. I have one axe where the wide part split off during manufacture, but I still use it... carefully. So when you are working on this part of the handle, it pays to slow down and think carefully about how you are making your cuts. You can make a tight binding of cord around the end of the handle if the wood ends up more parallel than you wanted. But a properly shaped smoothed wooden handle-end is best.
Fitting the handle to the eye in the head is something to take your time over. I force the handle into the eye a bit at a time then shave away whatever is necessary according to the marks left on the wood.
I seldom use metal wedges to spread the handle in the eye. I cut a slit in the handle and drive in a hard, thin tapered wooden wedge which I generally make from the same type of wood as the handle. Sometimes the wedge doesn't go in far before it breaks and it still seems to do its job.
Before fitting the handle to the head it can be a good idea to file burrs and high spots out of the eye. These don't allow a good fit between the head and the handle. There shouldn't be any odd lumps, and all the surfaces should curve evenly and 'slowly' if you know what I mean. A fine-toothed half-round file is probably the file I'd choose for the job, but a chainsaw file used with care will suffice.
There shouldn't be any abrupt changes in angle or size on the axe handle. No sharp 'shoulders'. Nice even tapers and curves should handle the shock better.
To remove a broken handle from the axe head, I generally drill it several times then punch it out while holding the head in an engineer's vice. But you wont have one of these in most wilderness situations.
As mentioned previously, burning out the head seems to be an option. I have read about this, but I've never done it. I seem to recall that the author of the article I read recommended burying as much of the blade as possible in the soil then building the fire around the protruding 'handle end' of the head.
Chances are you could lose some of the temper this way. However, an axe with a softened head is better than no axe.
Having said all this though, if an axe with a well-fitted strong handle is used with reasonable care, it is fairly unlikely that it will break. I've broken axe handles, but I think this has always happened when I've been chopping billet wood on a chopping block. The head overshoots the wood and the handle takes the full force of the blow just behind the head. Another way to break an axe handle is to lever with it.
But if you are chopping in such a way to let the 'falling' axe head do all the work, and if you don't miss your target, then the axe should stay together for a very long time.
My very successful handles have been made from our native Kanuka wood.
Here is a picture of a rather crude axe. It is the only one I had handy to take a picture of. I think the head was a Chinese made one. It is relatively hard, but it cuts well. The overall length is 21.5 inches. The head has not moved on the handle. I like fitting a longer handle than the original.
Best wishes... Coote.
I have made and fitted a few axe/hatchet handles.
Rather than use plank wood cut from a log or a bit of lumber with a saw, I prefer to get a nice straight branch or trunk and split it lengthwise so as to get a bit of wood that follows the grain. When wood is sawn from a log, there is the possibility that too many grain lines might be cut through... thus weakening the handle you make from the sawn lumber. When I've made bows from logs, I always try to split the stave from a log also. By splitting with a wedge, the split is likely to follow down the wood fibres and keep them whole rather than cutting through them.
Once I have a split slab, I mark it out and then cut close to the lines with a hatchet. I finish it by using something like a knife, rasp, or disk sander depending on the circumstances.
One thing to avoid is splitting off the widened part of the handle at the operator end. This widened portion probably has a name, but I don't know it. This part is designed to stop the handle slipping through your hands while chopping. I have one axe where the wide part split off during manufacture, but I still use it... carefully. So when you are working on this part of the handle, it pays to slow down and think carefully about how you are making your cuts. You can make a tight binding of cord around the end of the handle if the wood ends up more parallel than you wanted. But a properly shaped smoothed wooden handle-end is best.
Fitting the handle to the eye in the head is something to take your time over. I force the handle into the eye a bit at a time then shave away whatever is necessary according to the marks left on the wood.
I seldom use metal wedges to spread the handle in the eye. I cut a slit in the handle and drive in a hard, thin tapered wooden wedge which I generally make from the same type of wood as the handle. Sometimes the wedge doesn't go in far before it breaks and it still seems to do its job.
Before fitting the handle to the head it can be a good idea to file burrs and high spots out of the eye. These don't allow a good fit between the head and the handle. There shouldn't be any odd lumps, and all the surfaces should curve evenly and 'slowly' if you know what I mean. A fine-toothed half-round file is probably the file I'd choose for the job, but a chainsaw file used with care will suffice.
There shouldn't be any abrupt changes in angle or size on the axe handle. No sharp 'shoulders'. Nice even tapers and curves should handle the shock better.
To remove a broken handle from the axe head, I generally drill it several times then punch it out while holding the head in an engineer's vice. But you wont have one of these in most wilderness situations.
As mentioned previously, burning out the head seems to be an option. I have read about this, but I've never done it. I seem to recall that the author of the article I read recommended burying as much of the blade as possible in the soil then building the fire around the protruding 'handle end' of the head.
Chances are you could lose some of the temper this way. However, an axe with a softened head is better than no axe.
Having said all this though, if an axe with a well-fitted strong handle is used with reasonable care, it is fairly unlikely that it will break. I've broken axe handles, but I think this has always happened when I've been chopping billet wood on a chopping block. The head overshoots the wood and the handle takes the full force of the blow just behind the head. Another way to break an axe handle is to lever with it.
But if you are chopping in such a way to let the 'falling' axe head do all the work, and if you don't miss your target, then the axe should stay together for a very long time.
My very successful handles have been made from our native Kanuka wood.
Here is a picture of a rather crude axe. It is the only one I had handy to take a picture of. I think the head was a Chinese made one. It is relatively hard, but it cuts well. The overall length is 21.5 inches. The head has not moved on the handle. I like fitting a longer handle than the original.
Best wishes... Coote.
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2006
- Messages
- 5,510
Excellent post Coote:thumbup:
Nice job on the handle! I like the idea that you split the log or branch and let the handle find you! That makes alot of sense to me anyway.
Nice job on the handle! I like the idea that you split the log or branch and let the handle find you! That makes alot of sense to me anyway.