strangest way to loose an ax head

[sutured]

Well, I've never heard of this happening before.

I was chopping away when the head flew completely off my Plumb boys ax, clean as can be. It surprised me (a lot) because the head wasn't loose, and I'd hung that ax more than two years ago and used it often since. More surprising was that both the wooden and steel wedge were still in the head. They hadn't moved a bit.

My take on the situation is this: The wedge was too wide in the eye...it had strong contact with both the front and back of the eye, which is why it stayed in the head when the head left the handle. I think it was also the limiting factor in how deep I could pound the wedge, so the sides of the handle weren't getting enough force.

Finally, it was cold...about fifteen degrees. I've been in the habit of soaking my handles and wedges in BLO before hanging them, and I think that's got some drawbacks. In the cold the BLO turns to a hard varnish which reduces friction. The steel wedge was essentially glued to the wooded wedge by the crystalized BLO. In addition to trimming the wedge I ended up scraping the varnish off both the handle and the wedge before reassembling the ax and it worked fine.

Should have taken a picture but it was cold and I was a lot more concerned with getting my ax operational than snapping pics. Here's the ax, anyway. And ya, I know the edge is ground too convex. It was a flea market find and profiled even worse when I bought it.

 

[OutdoorEnvy]

good thing you or no one else was hurt. I think the wood obviously dried out a bit and thus shrunk enough to come lose. I never put BLO on the handle until after it's hung. Also I like leaving about a 1/4" of the haft sticking out the top of the eye. That allows for more expansion and helps keep it tight and snug to the handle and harder to slip out since it is now wider than the top of the eye.

 

[G-pig]

Ive seen that before too, on hammers and whatnot. Thats why I am never really concerned about the wedge from bit to poll, and I never understood the fetish for it. the spread of the handle to both sides of the eye is much more important. if there are gaps that I am really concerned about I will fill it in with another piece of wedge AFTER I make sure the main wedge it sufficiently tight from side to side.

I also never oil my axes or handles, mostly because I cannot afford to drop the money itd take to keep all 50 odd axes oiled. Seems more and more like Im getting some other benefits apart from having more money to buy axes with.

 

[bearhunter]

That's odd! Sorry to here that.
Did it bugger up the bit or anything when it flew off. If that we're to happen to me, I'm sure the bit would smash directly into a rock...

 

[sutured]

Amazingly it hit a large rock with the poll and then stopped. Had the rock not been there it would have gone into a creek that was way too deep and cold for me to consider retrieving it.

It was really the strangest thing, as that head had ZERO wiggle in it prior to disembarking the handle, and I wasn't chopping hard at the time.

 

[bearhunter]

I guess that you don't know your own strength

 

[thebrain]

I have not heard of soaking before hafting only after . The handle is at its largest just after being soaked .

 

[Square_peg]

It's been a really dry summer. I think the handle just shrunk up. Glad you're OK. You could have ended up 'Sutured'!

 

[Wyszrd]

Congratulations on living the etymology of the phrase "Fly off the handle!" Swel Lock, easily found on-line, is the wood expander of choice both for hanging an axe handle and for tightening up a loose one (also works for other wood handled tools and loose chair supports). BLO, though frequently used, will contract after the initial expansion and its use should be limited to maintaining the handle itself or emergency, temporary tightening of the axe head.

 

[Square_peg]

Swel Lock, easily found on-line, is the wood expander of choice both for hanging an axe handle and for tightening up a loose one (also works for other wood handled tools and loose chair supports).

It's also available generically (and much cheaper) as dipropylene glycol. Check the auction site or the book site for deals. It's used in perfumes and requires no special handling. It doesn't even require an MSDS because it's completely harmless.