Suggestions? No wonder these tools are so damn tough, they're too damn tough to build

Good info here and interesting thread for me. I find many old axe heads every year while metal detecting. If they aren't really old fur trade era I toss them. The last one I found is still sitting in a log were I put it. It had a square head nail as a wedge so is probably turn of the century. I should do some electrolysis on them and look for marks. A lot of these late pioneer era axes strike me as generic junkers though.
 
I also have a little Norlund like that. Your new handle is longer, which I like. Might have to look into that.

One question: why soak the portion above the eye that you just end up cutting off? Why not cut it off and then soak?
 
My initial thought was more surface area for drawing in the oil, or in case something shifted during the main swelling process and I had to seat the axe farther, start over...-then I could do it without junking the handle. Who knows, maybe you're better off chopping 'em beforehand. All of mine have turned out that way thus far, so if it ain't broke...

If I had to do the Norlund all over again, I'd find a 16 or 18 inch straight haft. It IS very tomahawk feeling, and it's just weird swinging a short curvy handle on that kind of design.
 
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