Tomahawk head on hatchet handle? help!

[Hawgsnawt]

Okies, so.... I bought a pair of Rinaldi hatchets to test out for bushcraft use...

For those not familiar the Rinaldi brand uses top thru handles like a tomahawk on all their axe heads, even the full size ones... this makes replacing them in the field very easy if ever damaged or broken....great idea on a bushcraft hatchet!

The problem is that means the top of the eye is bigger than the bottom of the eye...for that wedged in fit....so when you come at it from the bottom with a standard hatchet handle the bottom fits snug, but the top makes 0 contact at all...

So... now I have this 85.00 hatchet, with a second one on the way from a separate source, which is fitted from the bottom to a regular hatchet handle...and has at least 1/8th inch all the way around it of daylight.... the wooden wedge is the ONLY thing making contact all the way across, and its maybe 1/4 inch thick .....naturally, I'm worried about the head slinging off like a throwing knife and killing someone across the camp sight as I chop wood for the evening fire...

if it were just one side, I would try and maybe shim it and see if I could wood glue or epoxy in a fix that let me feel safe enough to use it.... but as is, its a damned expensive paperweight.

Ideas on a fix? I really like the thicker feel of the hatchet handle on the head, I hate to scrap it entirely and just make a new drop in from the top slightly tapered handle...though... if that's the only way to save the head, I will...

Thoughts? ideas?....

added file pics of both hatchets to give you an idea of what I mean.... sadly, I cant take pics of the poor fitted heads to show you, but hopefully you understood what I ment....... pics were blatently stolen from the internet.

 

[Steve Tall]

Since nobody else has jumped in yet, I'll take a stab at an answer.

...The problem is that means the top of the eye is bigger than the bottom of the eye...for that wedged in fit....so when you come at it from the bottom with a standard hatchet handle the bottom fits snug, but the top makes 0 contact at all...

That pretty much describes the typical American axe or hatchet, too, before the wedge is installed. The wider taper of the slip-fit axe heads would need a wider wedge.

....fitted from the bottom to a regular hatchet handle...and has at least 1/8th inch all the way around it of daylight.... the wooden wedge is the ONLY thing making contact all the way across, and its maybe 1/4 inch thick...

I think part of the problem is that factory handles tend to be pared down at the top, with a "ramp" to accept a range of eye sizes (at the bottom of the eye), and this means that the wood going through the eye and out the top is narrower than it needs to be.

A random example that exaggerates what I'm talking about:

Another random example, showing how a typical wedged axe can have a wedge that takes up a third of the eye width:

I would think that a well-fitted homemade handle, or a larger-eyed factory handle that is rasped down just enough to tightly fit the bottom of the eye (without tapering the eye portion of the handle at all), along with a wider-than-normal wedge, can make it work, filling the slip-fit eye for a snug fit.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I recommend using a "+" or "‡" arrangement. Here's a "Genova" pattern of mine that I re-hung with a wedge-fit carving handle. Note the near total lack of a shoulder to it (not counting the offset neck as one.) I left ample wood above the eye until I was certain the wood was all "settled" and I tightened the fit of the wedges twice before cutting it off flush. It's rock solid. Cut your kerfs BEFORE doing the final shaping that allows it to pass through the bottom and it allows it to compress to fit through the bottom and then spring back out once it's through. You could always try using a tapered dowel wedge in the loose handle to see if that'd take up the slack, since it spreads the wood in all directions.

 

[Hawgsnawt]

EXACTLY the advice I needed, Thank you both!