What did you rehang today?

Agent_H said:
Collins-in-a-box, 32” octagonalized, cherry wood wedge.

The head was a couple oz shy of 4 1/2lbs and is unmarked with a weight so I don’t know what it started at – 4.5 or 5lbs. It’s also marked on the opposite of what seems normal – facing a right hand user.

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You did a lovely job of hanging this. Stamp on the right often indicates rafting/constructor/mining pattern and the profile of yours' sure looks the part. Betcha this one does serious damage to unsplit woodpiles and can take a lot of abuse (if you so choose).
 
Square_peg said:
Now THAT'S an axe!
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300Six said:
You did a lovely job of hanging this. Stamp on the right often indicates rafting/constructor/mining pattern and the profile of yours' sure looks the part. Betcha this one does serious damage to unsplit woodpiles and can take a lot of abuse (if you so choose).
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Those are highest order compliments, thank you.

I've always used an axe but a "reprofiled rafting pattern with 32" octagonalized handle"?

That I learned from here. :thumbup:
 
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30" White Elm with Osage Orange Wedge.
 
Beautiful axe! That orange Osage really stands out from that White Elm.

Looks like you just changed the oil on that one too.

Mantle worthy work.

Speaking of wedge materials - would Red Cedar be an option?
 
Here is one that I finished today that I am very happy with. It's done except for another round of BLO maybe. The head is an old R. King in an unusual style, hand forged and reminiscent of the later Collins export axes but not quite, and smaller. It also had an eye larger than standard even though it weighs 3.5lbs. Luckily a friend had recently acquired a rough hickory blank that was handle shaped but pretty thick, lots of extra material to work with. It was perfect. In the past I sometimes don't get all of the rasp marks out of the wood when sanding, this time I started with 60grit and the result was much better. The wedge is walnut, and I treated it all day with a turpentine/BLO mix. It is 31" long.






 
I did this last night, a local guy just wanted me to put a new handle on his axe (it was poorly fit and split, and the head had 3 layers of paint). The eye was a little weird and I didn't go nuts with the finishing as this is just a toss in the shed user, but it is tight and perfectly serviceable. House handle, hickory heartwood, poplar wedge and BLO. I just have to sharpen it, done.

As an aside, I charged $30 to do it including the handle (call it $8-9 shipped). I don't think that I charged enough as this was 60-90 minutes work, but on the other hand I enjoy it and he bought some other things too. Not looking for opinions so much as thinking out loud, although I don't mind hearing them either. I'd definitely charge more if someone wanted my best effort.




 
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I've been slow posting hangs and re hangs so here we go.

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Top, Craftsman boy's axe was lowered and re-wedged and filled the gaps with some red gum the haft was stamped "HEARTWOOD"
Second, wood slasher the haft came from another hatchet but works for this and not much work had to be done to fit it.
Third, TT Tomahawk the haft came from a dead fall Pecan tree 2'' branch in my front yard, as you can see it has everything wrong in it for a haft. This is the first haft I've ever made from scratch and I'm stoked!

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jblyttle said:
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Do I see the infamous HH cock-eyed swell on that handle jb? Gotta love it. The deal with charging, and I regularly have this conversation with other people in my life who think a guy would make money doing this shit, is; people used to have skills and do this kind of work themselves because the time involved in doing it would make it prohibitively expensive to outsource. Well damn, our time is worth a helluva lot more today (supposedly), and do you run into a lot of people who would give you $100 to put a handle on an axe that they only sorta care about in the first place? Nope. You gotta do it because you enjoy it. What's more is, I don't think your average Joe sees a real difference between a Chinese Truper handle and something some clown in Kansas *cough* spent 3 hours making. Anyway, I know you said no opinions but I'm just saying, good job, and a little cash in hand makes it just a little nicer.
 
cityofthesouth said:
Do I see the infamous HH cock-eyed swell on that handle jb? Gotta love it. The deal with charging, and I regularly have this conversation with other people in my life who think a guy would make money doing this shit, is; people used to have skills and do this kind of work themselves because the time involved in doing it would make it prohibitively expensive to outsource. Well damn, our time is worth a helluva lot more today (supposedly), and do you run into a lot of people who would give you $100 to put a handle on an axe that they only sorta care about in the first place? Nope. You gotta do it because you enjoy it. What's more is, I don't think your average Joe sees a real difference between a Chinese Truper handle and something some clown in Kansas *cough* spent 3 hours making. Anyway, I know you said no opinions but I'm just saying, good job, and a little cash in hand makes it just a little nicer.
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Yeah, the handle was actually much worse, this is after I removed a bunch of wood from one side to make it APPROXIMATELY even lol. Heck, the handle is straight and the bit is lined up, small miracles.
 
JB you did quite a credible job on that. When you think of all the vintage heads that get tossed because a handle is loose despite 1/4 lb of nails, screws and keys desperately driven in, what you did there, for less than the cost of a Mexican/Indian/Chinese-made new one, brings 20 years of re-newed life to that axe (Woodings-Verona ?).
 
I hung a Collins splitting axe on a wooden Link handle. Been curious about trying this type of head for light splitting and hated the glass handle that came on it. I hung it at 29-1/2". The feel and control of this little guy is unbelievable.

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