What did you rehang today?

Thank you Miller '72 Miller '72 . I think it’s Ash but I'm not sure.
I found it attached to a blue-painted Pickaroon (someone here ended up with pick part). It was the right shape for this eye but it was so outwardly nasty looking the eye and swell I forgot about it behind my axe storage. That and I don't readily find that style of eye.

It needed a couple of inches cut off the eye-end, lifted grain and a split at the swell removed, and the shoulder brought up to the head. I haven't handled the larger D-eye but never liked the shoulder that ends far from the eye, further down the handle, on many I see in pictures - I just don't see how it would be comfortable (maybe it's me missing something).

Trying to keep the shoulder "close to home"

BGA

This was on it initially.
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It's not completed but I am sharpening it now before it gets committed to the handle.
"Schienbeinbrecher axt"
 
I think I remember that pickaroon Agent_H Agent_H

I like where you have it, low and close to the shoulder. A better feel and pleasing to the eye as I see it.

Die beiden werden wunderschön heiraten
:cool:
Auch wenn nie wieder ein Schienbeinbruch-Akt ist
 
Quite a few pics(again). Ended up at 41". Was going for 42" but it's still plenty long in my book. The head weighs #4-4.2oz alone. I left the palm swell a little long because I think this oak is going to shrink and I'll need to rehang it. Same reason I left it so far above the shoulder. I'm still very happy with it! I wish i had taken more pictures while making it but I've got a couple. Here's some of the rasping i did;20190331_133642.jpg
I ended up not cutting the kerf till I had thr tongue sticking up through the eye a 1/4". I sanded it more than this to make room for the wedge.
I love making custom fit hafts! It's really the only way to get a perfect fit. Especially on huge eyes like this. 3-1/8" eye on this one! 20190331_154623.jpg
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I'm guessing that wavy grain will make this a tougher haft. What do you guys think? Thanks for checking it out!

Edit; i forgot to add that i tried my first yellow birch wedge with this hang. I'm just as happy as with paper birch. Check out the conformity in the photo of the eye! And this from a wood that is right up there on the janka scale! Yellow birch=1260LBf Red Oak=1220LBf Hickory=1880LBf on the janka harness scale.
 
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I feel like oak is a New England, NY wood choice for handles, like the Adirondack handle...just gathered from reading and the talk on the forum...nothing scientific to back that up. Locally sourced and a hard wood makes it a wood I will attempt to carve from.
I just sourced a straight 4' section of ash, I have painted the ends and will let it cure.:thumbsup:
 
I used oak because I can't source hickory locally. Plus I really do like red oak as haft material. It works (shapes) well and is fairly light. And, as has been mentioned, it's very common here in Maine so it feels traditional to use it. But mainly, this time, it was due to my being impatient and wanting to hang it!
 
Yankee Josh said:
I used oak because I can't source hickory locally. Plus I really do like red oak as haft material. It works (shapes) well and is fairly light. And, as has been mentioned, it's very common here in Maine so it feels traditional to use it. But mainly, this time, it was due to my being impatient and wanting to hang it!
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Sounds like a good reason to me! If your ever in the area of Gorham Maine and want to get some hickory (or just about any other hardwood you can imagine) Check out Downes & Reader Hardwood. They are a division of Rugby Architecture Building Products, a nation wide chain (I had never heard of then). I have only been there once, it was just a huge warehouse full of hardwood in all types and sizes.
 
I decided that after months of neglect, my minty-ish TT FE swamper needed a handle. A old, nice double bit handle a source brought home a few days ago with a partially rotten eye area was just the ticket. There was enough meat that after the punky area was cut off there was still enough space for a swamper eye. A bit of metalworking was needed on the eye and some chip removing from the bit but it turned out okay. It took forever to fit the head but the end result is worth it. The haft feels beautiful in the hand, the swell is gigantic, and the bits already had banana grinds on them! I had to test it out and this consistently sank in over an inch. I may have found a new favorite.... Ps. Sorry about the blurry cell phone pics.
edit: I was thinking about it and I remembered the previous owner had died last week. So, I've decided to name this axe after him in honor of his life and legacy. He was a logger all his life and he and his son helped with some logging we did on our property a few years back. R.I.P. Deed, you're missed by many, remembered by all. The forests are resting a little easier now that you're gone.
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On my third attempt at hanging a DB, I got it rightish. The first many years ago I put it on backwards, the sweeps were similar. But enough difference that looking at it, it was a oh sh** moment. It was stolen before I could rehang it. My next was a couple of years back on my Gransfor Bruk swamper. It had a straight single bit haft on it when I found it in a thrift store. When I rehung it, I didn't get square, when I looked at it, another oh sh** moment. When hanging this DB I had to be aware of which side I was marking . The sweeps were the same so I measured the eye. I was very easy to get it off square, it took 3 or 4 tries , lining it up against a framing square.

That True Temper swamper is nice. Mine has dead flat cheeks, who says Gransfor Bruk made high quality axes.( the old Gransfor Bruk, two bankruptcies back) Both my Wetterling made Sandvik and my Hulks Bruk have some swell.

I used a 8" Star brand half round rasp. Made in Portugal ! I had picked a couple for a buck at the fleamarket, I should have bought the box. Save the Nicholson for gunstocks.
 
I spent an afternoon hanging my first db and got the tightest, best hang I've ever had. On my second db hang the head seated crooked (which will be fixed soon) and it bugs me to this day. Over the course of approx. 50 hangs I learned to initially get the head to seat 3/8 to 1/2 an inch above where you want it so you can see how it sits, then you can use the extra area you left to fix the hang of it's too open, too closed, or if the bit alignment is crooked. If it's perfect at the initial seating, then just take your time shaping the extra to keep it that way.
 
This Vaughn claw hatchet has the original handle. Same thing I believe. 15543182805191049682893530301342.jpg It's quite comfortable as that thick spot in the middle gives support above your hand when your swinging it down low and then also gives the bottom of your hand something to grip when you're choked up on it. I haven't used it much yet but I think for smaller shaping it would excel.
 
Yankee Josh said:
This Vaughn claw hatchet has the original handle. Same thing I believe. View attachment 1103782 It's quite comfortable as that thick spot in the middle gives support above your hand when your swinging it down low and then also gives the bottom of your hand something to grip when you're choked up on it. I haven't used it much yet but I think for smaller shaping it would excel.
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Same idea, just shorter and thinner.
 
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