Why did this axe unhang itself -- The "What Did You Unhang Today" thread?

T

Twindog

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A while ago, I hung this old Walters, trying to do everything right. The double cross wedge was just for looks, a poor attempt to copy what COTS was doing. The haft and wedges were dry — about 10 percent moisture content. And I fitted and banged the head down pretty hard. I left the haft about three-eights proud, but later cut it flush with the head to clean up the looks. It was soaked in BLO.


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I never used this axe. It sat in a corner for quite a few months. A couple days ago, I pulled it out to take a look at it, and was humbled to find that the head was unhanging itself.


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The head has unhung itself by about a 16th of an inch, just sitting in the corner, head down.


So what the heck is happening? My tiny rainforest cabin runs hot and cold, moist and dry, because I generally run two small fires a day. I suppose that those swings in moisture and temperature could have loosened the head. It was probably a mistake to remove the proud part of the haft, because that would have been where the mushrooming would have prevented this kind of movement.


Still, it amazes me. I was sure it would stay hung forever.
 
The photo doesn't show it, but there's plenty of room to seat the head lower, but I'd have to get the wedge out somehow.

Mostly, I was suprised that the head came loose without having been used.

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I have a couple thoughts but I can't be sure. First, homes tend to be drier in winter because the heat is on all the time and people don't leave the windows open. It was 10% when you hung it. It might be 7-8% now.

Leaving the haft proud is an important part of keeping an axe hung. The protruding haft is wedged wider than the eye and makes the best insurance against the head coming loose.

Swel-lock or generically DPG applied to the kerf and wedge before assembly will give you an added layer of protection. BLO can be applied a week later when you're sure the DPG is all dry.

Another old axe man's trick is to stop just short of driving the wedge all the way home. Let the axe sit overnight. Then trim the wedge flush and drive it that last 1/8" into the haft (which is protruding 1/4" above the eye). The protruding sides of the haft will then expand over the wedge locking the wedge in place permanently. A second coat of DPG at this time is a good idea.

DPG - dipropylene glycol - NOT PROPYLENE GLYCOL - is available from several online sources, ebay, amazon, etc. It is a non-toxic colorless odorless liquid often used as a base in perfumes.
 
I agree with Square Peg, probably due to the drop in humidity when heating the cabin. I've had it happen on older axes too. Next hang maybe keep the handles in the house for a few weeks to dry further before hanging.
 
What I've done in the past when I have an older axe and want to save the haft is to drop the head down a 1/4 -3/8 inch and the trim the top just enough to get a grip and pull the wedge out, that seems to work well with wood and metal wedges. Also after you drop it down you can make a drift and use it on the wedge to drive it further down. JMTC

Rick
 
I use them a lot so many unhangs. Here's one. IIRC, I was trying to reuse an old handle that was too small (didn't fit eye fully). Some of the Emerson & Stevens and Spiller axes have massive eyes.

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RICKOFF said:
What I've done in the past when I have an older axe and want to save the haft is to drop the head down a 1/4 -3/8 inch and the trim the top just enough to get a grip and pull the wedge out, that seems to work well with wood and metal wedges. Also after you drop it down you can make a drift and use it on the wedge to drive it further down. JMTC

Rick
Click to expand...
:thumbup:

Also, if one has reason to think a head might loosen over time through use and/or seasonal humidity changes and use Rick's tightening method, it seems like a good reason not to bottom out the wedge in the kerf or glue it when hanging.

To quote Rick: "JMTC".

Bob
 
My thoughts would be a copy/paste of what Square_peg said. I've had the same thing happen to me on older hangs that sat around unused with the haft cut flush. Wood is fickle and DPG is cheap.

ETA: I'd have a go at seating the head back down and then as suggested, see if you can't drive your wedges a little more. I split an entire Ash tree green one day with only an axe and lemme tell ya, the head wiggled. I drove the wedge a little deeper and that particular axe is still tight to this day.
 
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I found that I could fairly easily drive the haft back out of the head with a drift, a 4-pound engineer’s hammer and a dead-blow hammer.

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Once out, the problem was apparent. The remaining wedge was too small, only a inch long. It had been larger when I had originally hung the head, but I made some mistakes trying to tidy up the proud portion of the haft and ended up cutting it off flush to the head. Cutting off the proud part eliminated the mushroom, as Square Peg said, and probably made the hang vulnerable to the wide temperature and humidity swings in my cabin.

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Also, the kerf didn’t go deep enough, largely because I seated the head so far down the haft.

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The cross wedges came out easily with just my fingers, so they were not doing anything.

This was my first hang, and because it was for practice, I used a House handle with perfectly horizontal grain. I didn’t want to waste a better handle.

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Thanks for showing us the details. Good lessons there for all of us.

I agree with your assessment of needing a deeper kerf. I think the kerf should go at least 2/3 the length of the eye unless you lave an extremely long eye like a Connecticut.
 
Good of you to follow up with pictures for us once you got it apart. That you could drift the handle out without much effort is telling. It's not supposed to be easy! As to horizontal grain on that piece of wood I wouldn't be worrying about it; the first 3/4 of the handle is straight enough that runout is minimal and the butt portion won't get much stress anyway. Going by quinton's advice that artfully thinned haft should have a real cushion flex to it when you're chopping.
 
Square_peg said:
. . . I think the kerf should go at least 2/3 the length of the eye unless you lave an extremely long eye. . .
Click to expand...
What would be the advantages/disadvantages of adjusting the 2/3 kerf depth proportion with different eye depths?

Bob
 
rjdankert said:
What would be the advantages/disadvantages of adjusting the 2/3 kerf depth proportion with different eye depths?
Click to expand...

That depth has served me well on standard axes like a Dayton or Michigan, on boys axes and on hatchets. It's relative to the length of the wedge. I've found I typically need to drive a wedge to about half the depth of the eye. I always want to make sure the wedge doesn't bottom out. Of course YMMV.
 
Square_peg said:
That depth has served me well on standard axes like a Dayton or Michigan, on boys axes and on hatchets. It's relative to the length of the wedge. I've found I typically need to drive a wedge to about half the depth of the eye. I always want to make sure the wedge doesn't bottom out. Of course YMMV.
Click to expand...

You don't want it to bottom out as a means to make further adjustments down the line if needed, or is there any other reason as well?
 
The wedge's forward progress should only be stopped by the tightness of the kerf. Any wedge stopped by bottoming out isn't tight.
 
Square_peg said:
The wedge's forward progress should only be stopped by the tightness of the kerf. Any wedge stopped by bottoming out isn't tight.
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I've also split handles under eye by misjudging the kerf to wedge ratio having the wedge bottom out... and then some I guess.
 
Agent_H said:
I've also split handles under eye by misjudging the kerf to wedge ratio having the wedge bottom out... and then some I guess.
Click to expand...

I did this recently with a handle that just wouldn't stay put. It was wedge number 4 I believe. I was playing with different angles as it kept spitting wedges. I guess I tappered it down too thin. I finally got the handle tight after adding three metal wedges, never had issues like that before but it was a poor quality handle and I'm guessing that has something to do with it. I consider it a learning experience.
 
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