What did you rehang today?

Agent_H · Jul 8, 2015

smith357 said:
Did up this Flint Edge, first time having to carve away wood for the ears, definitely a learning experience.

I think it looks great Smith, where the lugs meet the shoulder - doesn't look like your first time.

aikonen · Jul 8, 2015

I went to the only store in Sweden that currently stocks decent hickory axe handles and picked up a 650mm for my military surplus and a 400mm for a hatchet.
Unfortunately I was so excited to hang it, I completely missed checking the alignment. It's waaay off, but I hope it still will work. I've had a couple of Hultafors' with the same alignment that worked just fine.

quinton · Jul 8, 2015

aikonen said:
I went to the only store in Sweden that currently stocks decent hickory axe handles and picked up a 650mm for my military surplus and a 400mm for a hatchet.
Unfortunately I was so excited to hang it, I completely missed checking the alignment. It's waaay off, but I hope it still will work. I've had a couple of Hultafors' with the same alignment that worked just fine.

I have an old Plumb cedar pattern with the original ball end helve, and It's off WAY more than that. It actually shocked me when I sighted down that beautiful old haft only to see that bit sitting at 2 o'clock.

Twoinch · Jul 8, 2015

it will work fine. your hand eye coordination will correct any misalignment in just a couple swings.

i personally wouldnt be able to leave it that way though. not that thats a good thing tho...

cityofthesouth · Jul 9, 2015

Looks like they make pretty nice handles aikonen. I know it aggravates me to no end when I realize that I forgot something along the way and it turns out to have caused an issue.

So ... uh ... I'm cool with metric and everything but, why are they measured in mm and not cm? Save a zero and a couple syllables in the process.

aikonen · Jul 9, 2015

cityofthesouth said:
Looks like they make pretty nice handles aikonen. I know it aggravates me to no end when I realize that I forgot something along the way and it turns out to have caused an issue.

So ... uh ... I'm cool with metric and everything but, why are they measured in mm and not cm? Save a zero and a couple syllables in the process.

I'm not sure why the handles are measured in mm instead of cm. In carpentry and construction everything is measured in mm, where precise measurements are important. It sure wouldn't bother me if the handle was 651mm or 649mm.

Curt Hal · Jul 10, 2015

I am not partial to polished heads, but the person I got this from cleaned in up with a grinder, so I had to put it onto the belt sander to try and get as much of the deep marking off as I could. You can see the grinder marks around the Collins stamp. The haft is 33". It is a Garant, so to trim it down, I shaped it into an octagonal shape with a rasp and a Schrade folding knife, sanded and applied a couple of coats of bee's wax and mineral oil. When I looked in my bucket of wedges, I found one with a bit of dark wood in it. I like how it looks.

jblyttle · Jul 10, 2015

I found a nice quality $3 Craftsman USA hatchet head and had a crappy $1 yardsale replacement handle. I wanted to finally try the BLO followed by tung recipe the Square Peg frequently mentions. I applied two coats of each after sanding the handle smooth. I like the way it looks quite a bit. The tung dried fairly hard and smooth, not like a varnish but definitely more like a regular "finish" than just BLO. The wood looks great. Not bad for a $4 hatchet.

rockman0 · Jul 10, 2015

Curt Hal said:
I am not partial to polished heads, but the person I got this from cleaned in up with a grinder, so I had to put it onto the belt sander to try and get as much of the deep marking off as I could. You can see the grinder marks around the Collins stamp. The haft is 33". It is a Garant, so to trim it down, I shaped it into an octagonal shape with a rasp and a Schrade folding knife, sanded and applied a couple of coats of bee's wax and mineral oil. When I looked in my bucket of wedges, I found one with a bit of dark wood in it. I like how it looks.

I'm not a fan of polished heads either but that one turned out nice, the haft turned out great, nice work.

rockman0 · Jul 10, 2015

jblyttle said:
I found a nice quality $3 Craftsman USA hatchet head and had a crappy $1 yardsale replacement handle. I wanted to finally try the BLO followed by tung recipe the Square Peg frequently mentions. I applied two coats of each after sanding the handle smooth. I like the way it looks quite a bit. The tung dried fairly hard and smooth, not like a varnish but definitely more like a regular "finish" than just blow. The wood looks great. Not bad for a $4 hatchet.

I like it, can't beat that for 4 bucks. The blo/tung finish brought out the grain nicely.

Agent_H · Jul 10, 2015

I like the contrast of the head and the handle. Nice work JB!

Square_peg · Jul 11, 2015

jblyttle said:
I found a nice quality $3 Craftsman USA hatchet head and had a crappy $1 yardsale replacement handle. I wanted to finally try the BLO followed by tung recipe...

I like that look. You even got a little curly hickory grain in there.

I like the feel of the tung oil finish. Has it cured for a few days? What do you think?

quinton · Jul 12, 2015

Yesterday, I hung this 3 lb. ridged eye double bit a friend gave me a few years ago to hang for him at my leisure. He said it was a paper label Kelly that he had purchased years ago, and his boys had cracked the helve splitting wood. I hung it on a really nice 36" hardware store haft that I thinned to a slim taper, and wedged with cherry. I gave it back to him today. He looked it over really well and loved it, then handed it back to me and told me to give to my youngest son as a gift to remember him..

Square_peg · Jul 12, 2015

It's perfect. Sweet axe.

Curt Hal · Jul 13, 2015

Just finished this Craftsman 4 LB splitting axe. The head was in nice shape. Put it on a 36" haft.

Square_peg · Jul 13, 2015

That's pretty cool, Curt. A double oval with phantom bevels. Great finish on that haft.

G-pig · Jul 13, 2015

This ones about 90% done. Little more fine tuning on the handle, hammer that wedge every day for a week or two, trim the extra off and that'll be it.

This one'll be going up for sale too.

300Six · Jul 13, 2015

G-pig said:
This ones about 90% done. Little more fine tuning on the handle, hammer that wedge every day for a week or two, trim the extra off and that'll be it.

This one'll be going up for sale too.

That's a beauty! That head pattern (Jersey?) really lends itself to the visual simplicity of a straight haft. That subtle curve really makes it.

flexo · Jul 17, 2015

garry3 · Jul 17, 2015

aikonen said:
I went to the only store in Sweden that currently stocks decent hickory axe handles and picked up a 650mm for my military surplus and a 400mm for a hatchet.
Unfortunately I was so excited to hang it, I completely missed checking the alignment. It's waaay off, but I hope it still will work. I've had a couple of Hultafors' with the same alignment that worked just fine.

Looks like the eye maybe punched off center. Not an easy fix using a pre-shaped handle. Or the head is just crooked.