What did you rehang today?

I sure wouldnt wanna swing an explosive axe. :D

If anyone is about making their own handles I can recommed Birch, really solid wood for axe and hammer handles.
 


I haven't wedged it yet, but it's at least 85% done. Hickory handle (self made) with a 4LB Collins Homestead Dayton.
 
You made a lot more progress than I did today G-Pig. Misplaced my rasp so it's been sllooooow going.
 
I use a rasp for maybe 1% of total stock removal. Mainly it's useful for fitting the head and getting the alignment right, but I still wouldn't suffer to much in that step without it. My spokeshaves, on the other hand, do work, along with the low angle block plane (the secret to straight and true handles on the flat plane) and draw knives. And of course the hatchets. A regular double bevel, and a Plumb side hatchet that is just a wonderful, if not admittedly specialized, tool.
 
G-pig- the grind on that one looks like it means business. I like seeing that you made your own handle. Kind of a different level of build when you make your own- I have yet to try it.

Good looking axe:thumbup:
 
I put it on the scale in the kitchen and it came in over 3 3/4 pounds so I believe it was 4 pounds originally, it has lost some because of bad mushrooming on the poll. It's a 33" handle.
 
Just finished this one. Master Mechanic in Hudson Bay pattern with a 28" hickory haft. May just keep this one!
 
Not much of a rehang but this draw knife looks a bit better now
still not as sharp as it could be, needs more work



 
Still in process rehang of a ??? pattern 3 pounder. When I purchased it it had a red-painted handle stub epoxied in with brick red epoxy. I posted a question as to how to remove it. I was able the drill out the bulk of the material, but the entire inside of the eye still had a thick coating of epoxy and sanding it off just started to look like more trouble than it was worth.

I ended up burning it out with a plumbers torch with the bit sunk into the mud up to the level of the eye. I theorized that the wet mud would prevent it from drawing the temper out of the cutting edge. I felt comfortable trying this, as it is a relatively modern, flat-cheeked, no-name axe with essentially zero collector/antique value. And I have a forge and the ability to retemper the axe if necessary.

In my opinion it worked fine and I cannot detect any softening of the metal at the cutting edge. When I pulled the axe out of the mud it was hot on the bit but not uncomfortably so. I filed the bit to a better cutting angle, but that was quite easy work with so much less metal to file compared to a high center-line head.

I don't really know what to call this axe pattern. Very slight rounded lugs and a fairly long bit. It isn't really what I'd call a Jersey (Jersey inspired?).

Handle is about 30" long white ash with a beech wedge. I have yet to sand it or oil it. I wanted to test the edge and working qualities before I put more energy into it. Cuts well and hits where I aim it. Did a nice job hewing up a small timber which will end up being some knee braces in the shed project.

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aikonen said:
I sure wouldnt wanna swing an explosive axe. :D

If anyone is about making their own handles I can recommed Birch, really solid wood for axe and hammer handles.
Click to expand...

White or Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera, decorative trees with easy peel white bark) is very much inferior in strength and durability to Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis, which has long been used for making commercial flooring (school gyms/bowling alleys). I would presume there to be similar versions of these trees in Europe.
 
300Six said:
White or Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera, decorative trees with easy peel white bark) is very much inferior in strength and durability to Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis, which has long been used for making commercial flooring (school gyms/bowling alleys). I would presume there to be similar versions of these trees in Europe.
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Betula pendula and Betula pubescens are the only two birches I've ever come across here in sweden. I believe birch was used to make axe and hammer handles before hickory became the go-to handle material.
 
There are far fewer species of deciduous trees in Europe compared to North America and Asia, Mostly because the glaciers scraped the forests off almost to the Med so there wasn't many places of refuge for the forests. We have many more species of birch, maple, oak, etc. I think European birch is very similar to White Birch.
 
Rehung a Tommy Axe yesterday from a tension wood stave that has been dried by the woodstove since December. The stave weighed 8.56 lbs. when it started, and ended up at 5.91 lbs. when dry.

The Hickory tension wood has some great grain at 4-5 growth rings per inch.

I started to make a straighter haft similar to what came in the Tommy Axes, but at the last minute decided to use more of the stave with a curvier haft.. The haft feels nice and balanced in hand, and there is plenty of clearance to use the claws on the head if needed..
 
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