Well, that didn't last long

[300Six]

I would say dry house, to finished handle, for the Unbrako brand anyway. The pictures in the add are my experience with air dried hickory, not so with kiln dried handles. I wish more people could experience an air dried hickory handle, It's nearly indestructible. Thanks again, Steve for the research.

For the sake of avoiding warranty returns of loosened heads I wonder if Axe makers did a quick kiln-dry to their sourced out air-dried material just before assembly. Certainly any green piece of wood is going to suffer 'big time' from forced dying but what of an already air dried piece? Not much moisture left in there to boil off or steam rupture the individual wood fibers, and the haft would temporarily shrink to it's smallest dimension just before it was fitted and wedged. Any chance this is 'best of both worlds'?

 

[quinton]

For the sake of avoiding warranty returns of loosened heads I wonder if Axe makers did a quick kiln-dry to their sourced out air-dried material just before assembly. Certainly any green piece of wood is going to suffer 'big time' from forced dying but what of an already air dried piece? Not much moisture left in there to boil off or steam rupture the individual wood fibers, and the haft would temporarily shrink to it's smallest dimension just before it was fitted and wedged. Any chance this is 'best of both worlds'?

I did that years ago with wood that hadn't seasoned very long. I would warm the tongue by a fire just before wedging. The old timers I knew would work the hickory green in the winter and dry the tongue at the fireplace before wedging.

My old double bit handle from the early 80's is still as tight as the day I hung it, and has seen seasonal use every year since.

 

[rjdankert]

For the sake of avoiding warranty returns of loosened heads I wonder if Axe makers did a quick kiln-dry to their sourced out air-dried material just before assembly. Certainly any green piece of wood is going to suffer 'big time' from forced dying but what of an already air dried piece? Not much moisture left in there to boil off or steam rupture the individual wood fibers, and the haft would temporarily shrink to it's smallest dimension just before it was fitted and wedged. Any chance this is 'best of both worlds'?

. . . The old timers I knew would work the hickory green in the winter and dry the tongue at the fireplace before wedging. . .

Thought about this thread watching a video on YouTube last night by Curtis Buchanan who is a Windsor chair maker. Might be apples and oranges but he leaves the tenons a little large then dries them before assembly.

"I make Windsor Chairs in much the same way they were made 200 years ago."

Not a trick question. Do these wedged mortise and tenon joints used for attaching the legs to the seat resemble anything you are familiar with?

Bob
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Bonus for woodworkers.
[video=youtube;ssYe_U0rEFI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssYe_U0rEFI&list=WL&index=46[/video]

 

[quinton]

I've fox wedged a chair leg or 3. Milk stool back in '88 comes to mind.

 

[300Six]

Thought about this thread watching a video on YouTube last night by Curtis Buchanan who is a Windsor chair maker. Might be apples and oranges but he leaves the tenons a little large then dries them before assembly.

Bob

Thanks for this Bob. There are lots of loose or wobbly old-fashioned chairs in farmhouses around here in the bone-dry air of winter. One thing about the chair maker that differs from someone fitting and wedging an axe is that there is more shrinkage/expansion to account for in an all wood joint.

You've got to admire guys like Curtis Buchanan; they can't be doing this to get rich or you wouldn't see the background in his start-to-finish video go from summer right through winter during the making of just one chair. How many dozens of hours does it take to hand make a Windsor chair from scratch (scratch in this case being a round log!). Notice though for optimum strength and durability he uses rivved and air-dried hardwood!