Swel-Lock

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gomipile

Joined
Apr 17, 2010
Messages
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I bought a new CS Trail Hawk recently, and there was a lot of vertical play in the bit.

I threw away the set screw, sharpened the bit, and rounded off the rough metal around the top and bottom of the eye.

I read about Swel-Lock on this forum, so I bought a bottle. I sanded the part of the haft that is covered by the eye, and spread Swel-Lock on that area, and left it standing upside down to dry for about 2 hours. I wiped it down with a damp cloth, whittled away the rough edges of the wood where the top of the eye buts up, put the bit back on, and man is it nice now!

There is no play in the bit whatsoever, and it comes on and off the haft with one or two solid whacks against a solid surface. I'm really excited to get this hawk out into the woods to do some work with it.

I'll probably strip and finish the bit, and if I do, I'll post it in the Trail Hawk mod thread. However, in the mean time I thought I'd point out Swel-Lock in a thread title, since this stuff works so amazingly well for fitting hawk heads in general.
 
Yup. I've used swel-lock for hanging my axes. Good to use in the kerf and on the wedge right before putting the wedge in.
 
I guess I don't understand how swel-lock would help with a hawk. What am I missing?
 
M3mphis said:
I guess I don't understand how swel-lock would help with a hawk. What am I missing?
Click to expand...

When Cold Steel made the haft for my Trail Hawk, they removed a bit too much material, so that the bit had vertical play. I used Swel-Lock to expand the fibers in the surface of the wood to make up the difference. Now it fits perfectly.
 
gomipile said:
When Cold Steel made the haft for my Trail Hawk, they removed a bit too much material, so that the bit had vertical play. I used Swel-Lock to expand the fibers in the surface of the wood to make up the difference. Now it fits perfectly.
Click to expand...

Cool. I get it now. Thanks!
 
I have never used it for hanging axe heads. Is this the stuff the old timer uses in the forest service video?

I just use linseed on the wedge, and also put a little down into the haft slit. I have also used some elmers wood glue too, and it seemed to work fine.

I would think if you can get a nice tight fit with the wedge soaked in linseed, the linseed wouldn't be able to cure or evaporate, which would leave it moist in the head, which would mean it would stay expanded. However I have no solid proof if this is true or not, just a wild red neck hypothesis.
 
Operator1975 said:
I have never used it for hanging axe heads. Is this the stuff the old timer uses in the forest service video?

I just use linseed on the wedge, and also put a little down into the haft slit. I have also used some elmers wood glue too, and it seemed to work fine.

I would think if you can get a nice tight fit with the wedge soaked in linseed, the linseed wouldn't be able to cure or evaporate, which would leave it moist in the head, which would mean it would stay expanded. However I have no solid proof if this is true or not, just a wild red neck hypothesis.
Click to expand...

Linseed oil has worked well for me in the past. I am given to understand, however, that Swel-Lock is a more permanent solution, as it doesn't wet the wood, it expands the fibers. Also, the Swel-Lock leaves the wood dry and unfinished-looking, so I imagine that I could use it in concert with another finish if I so chose.
 
Operator1975 said:
I would think if you can get a nice tight fit with the wedge soaked in linseed, the linseed wouldn't be able to cure or evaporate, which would leave it moist in the head, which would mean it would stay expanded. However I have no solid proof if this is true or not, just a wild red neck hypothesis.
Click to expand...
I'd tend to think linseed oil won't go very deep in wood, so it will only moderately swel. I've done the axe-in-water-bucket in the past as a field expedient. Somewhat works on short term but that's trashing the axe on long term.
Some special liquid seems a good idea.
 
Ravaillac said:
I'd tend to think linseed oil won't go very deep in wood, so it will only moderately swel. I've done the axe-in-water-bucket in the past as a field expedient. Somewhat works on short term but that's trashing the axe on long term.
Some special liquid seems a good idea.
Click to expand...

Plus if you do the axe in bucket, it will only make the wood shrink more in the long run, thus making it worse.
 
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