What did you rehang today?

Nice job Curt. I wish I could walk into a hardware store down here in Australia and buy handles like you can in the US and Canada.
 
ICS said:
Nice job Curt. I wish I could walk into a hardware store down here in Australia and buy handles like you can in the US and Canada.
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Thanks, ICS. I think our American friends have got the very best selection. I can get these hickory handles, but I have to spend a couple of hours scraping the varnish off of them and doing some re-shaping.
 
ICS said:
Nice job Curt. I wish I could walk into a hardware store down here in Australia and buy handles like you can in the US and Canada.
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The feeling is mutual... I have scrounged every hardware store in the Southern Highlands to get 2 decent hickory handles from Kruger. Called and spoke to Kruger directly and have not had a response about the rather large order I want to place with them... very frustrating.

I am tempted to import a lot directly from House Handles.
 
48kilo, I last bought a bunch of Kruger handles some years ago, I even went to their factory in Newcastle at the time but shortly thereafter it closed down. Haven't seen them produce any custom axe handles since. Let me know if you get on to some I could take another 50.
 
Curt Hal said:
http://www.garant.com/html/en/produits/sousFamilles.php?idFamille=1000002&idSousFamille=1000003

These are most often what I find in the stores in Calgary, if they are in. If I can help them find their way to Australia, I'd be happy to help the cause.
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I recently noticed that the 'flat slab' Garant Canada handles have been discontinued and the company is now back to supplying more traditional handles like they did 25 years ago. Problem for them now is new stock (complete hangs or as handles only) moves off the shelves (at Home Hardware) whereas the old stuff continues to linger and collect dust.
 
Cur Hal, thanks for the info, I will do some research and keep in touch. I guess I can get an em address of you off the forum?
 
300Six, I'll bet there is some good ones amongst those that linger, it's just a matter of finding them. A good hickory handle here in Australia now costs around $80.00 and is quickly becoming a very expensive part of the kit.
 
ICS said:
300Six, I'll bet there is some good ones amongst those that linger, it's just a matter of finding them. A good hickory handle here in Australia now costs around $80.00 and is quickly becoming a very expensive part of the kit.
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You don't want one of those (7/8" thick at best) irregardless of grain. "Good in the hand" was not one of the selling features of Garants during their 25 year run of 'cheap-s%^t' handles. Hickory is not a common wood in Canada and there must have been a wealth of southern suppliers for them at one time, and near as I can tell the newer versions (at least) do retain that feature (ie hickory) on top of their ever expanding plastic haft offerings.
 
ICS said:
300Six, I'll bet there is some good ones amongst those that linger, it's just a matter of finding them. A good hickory handle here in Australia now costs around $80.00 and is quickly becoming a very expensive part of the kit.
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I think I better understand your previous comments on not thinning handles. 80$ is a lot of dollars - Aussie or American.
 
ICS said:
48kilo, I last bought a bunch of Kruger handles some years ago, I even went to their factory in Newcastle at the time but shortly thereafter it closed down. Haven't seen them produce any custom axe handles since. Let me know if you get on to some I could take another 50.
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Send me a PM. I will chase up Kruger again, they even agreed to sell me blanks. Your 50 unit order makes my 'significant' order of a dozen rather insignificant, with our combined buying power we may be able to get some handles out of them.

Edit - ICS... please contact me ASAP... just spoke to Kruger today... they would love to fill a 50+ unit order of handles for us. Apparently my account is not able to send messages, hopefully I can receive messages. Apologies to the Moderator, the only reason I registered after years of lurking is discuss hickory handle availability in AUS with ICS . Thanks!
 
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ICS said:
300Six, I'll bet there is some good ones amongst those that linger, it's just a matter of finding them. A good hickory handle here in Australia now costs around $80.00 and is quickly becoming a very expensive part of the kit.
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WTF? We all love hickory but I would be looking for local alternatives. If there are none I would start looking at baseball bats and table legs! :D
 
It's amazing what different things affect us regionally and the closest thing we have to a suitable replacement is called spotted gum. No where as good as hickory though, more brittle and subject to splitting a lot easier. Baseball bats and hockey sticks might be ok for straight handled axes but I am yet to find one down here, they all have the curved pattern.
 
I find Spotted Gum hopeless... I break a handle every few weeks... too brittle and often have hidden wind checks or sap lines... that is why I have become desperate to find decent hickory handles. My most used implement is a 6lb splitting maul... and it goes through handles like sober Irishman through pints of Guinness.
 
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I'm really bothered at the plight of our Australian friends... How much is int'l shipping for a bundle of hafts? $20-30? I get my hafts for $10-20 each, and I'd be willing to collect and sell a bundle of good grained specimens at cost to the land down under if anybody's interested. ;)
 
This is my latest (not my best) hang. I got ahold of an axe head made by the Campbell Brothers of St. John New Brunswick. It came from someone who found a whole bunch of axe heads in an old barn in New Brunswick. By the look of the pitting, they must have been lying on a wet barn floor for some time. According to my research, the Campbell Brothers made ship building tools, of which this axe is one. By the look of it, this axe head must have been made between 1891 and 1926. The head as shown weighs 2 lb, 6 3/4 oz. It is good looking steel, and the hardened steel on the bit is quite a good size. I don't know if you can see that on the pictures. The butt had been hammered a fair but, but I managed to file off the butt mushroom. The haft is a nice 26 inch Wetterlings hickory handle I got in a trade. If anyone knows more about the Campbell Brothers and the XXX axes, I would love to get any info you might have.

http://www.thetoolgroupofcanada.com/images/Canadian_Tool_Manufacturers_1820-1914.pdf

Campbell & Fowler Saint John, N.B. 1863-1926
shipwrights, axes and other tools; became W. Campbell in 1879;became Campbell Bros. in 1891;liquidated in 1926.
 
Since I am here... I am as well post a couple of photos of the handle eater... a 6lb splitting maul aka block splitter in AUS

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Second handle in a fortnight(14 days to you Yanks)... a Spotted-Gum 900mm(36") Kruger... this was the best handle of the lot at the hardware store and has wind-checking... so I expect it to explode the first time I hit a ready hard section of timber.

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Not my best hang... hardwood wedge with a metal cross-wedge... I did reshape and oil the handle.
 
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