Fitting an axe handle
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2019
- This video is the sixth in a series showing how to buy and restore a vintage axe using only simple hand tools & household items
Part 1 Covers:
Selecting an axe,
Removing a damaged handle safely,
Removing "mushrooming"
Part 2 covers:
Different ways to remove rust using everyday tools & items
Part 3 Covers "axe geometry" and the optimum shape for axes to accomplish various tasks (splitting, cutting and hewing)
Part 4 covers sharpening techniques
Part 5 Covers
Rust Protection
Part 6 Covers
Hanging an axe (fitting a new handle)
Music credits:
Artist = Earth Tree Healing
Composer = Claudine West
Website = ua-cam.com/users/redirect?q=ht...
You patiently give us the instructions in hanging the axe handle. I will remember these instructions in my heart and mind in my respect for my four axes 🪓 (hand hatchet, wildlife hatchet, small forest axe, and Swedish carving axe) Blessing
Thank you
I have two miner's axes, one, my grandfather's, one my father's, both by Cornelius Whitehouse and weighing in at a substantial 7lb each. In Wales, they were known as Ty Gwyn (White House). Each axe has had a few replacement helves over the years but it's getting increasingly difficult to get them due to the size of the eyes. When they were available, they were usually ash, not hickory. A miner wouldn't want the helve protruding from the top of the eye, it would have to be trimmed flat. My late father thought it a job half done. They were used for trimming and notching roof timbers and like all miner's tool were his property, not that of the colliery.
I hate to disagree with your Dad, but half a century of fitting and making axe handles has taught me to leave the handle a little proud. When it's time to replace the handle it's much easier to hook out the metal wedge this way. I do agree with him on ash, it's a fantastic, local wood. With a shave horse and draw knife it's easy enough to shape anew helve from a billet of home seasoned ash. I must video that process!
This was an excellent series! I watched the whole thing and learned so much. We have an old hatchet that my husband wants to take to someone to have it ground. But I think we can do much more ourselves first (after watching your videos) before we give up and take it somewhere. I have some basic files and wood rasps from when I took woodworking in college, and my husband has old rusty files that were his fathers that never got taken care of. SHAME!! I grabbed them up and want to restore them at least to a point they are not rusty anymore. I'll have another look at our little hatchet and see what can be done I already gave it a soak in vinegar. I like making my own soaps, creams etc and look forward to watching more of your videos.
It sounds like you would do a great job Mary - give it a go!
Proper Job! You explained everything perfectly well! Thank you!
Thank you! And welcome to the channel 😉
Very nice!! Clear, and presented in a pleasant way.
Thanks, that's very kind of you 🙂
Thanks for posting this - that cottage at the intro is absolutely beautiful. Those old tins came in handy as they were already on hand. Here in the States we use an awful lot of poplar wedges, they just seem to be standard bit of kit. Keep up the good work.
Really glad you enjoyed it! The cottage in the intro is our cottage - no-one knows how old it is. There are records back to the 1700s but an expert looking at the handmade bricks believes it at least 100 years older than that.
Thank you very much for making this video. I look forward to doing this tomorrow.
Excellent - let me know how you get on?
I have really enjoyed this section has I have enjoyed most of your content, doing a fantastic job please keep up the good work....👍🌟
Thanks Pete!
Very good information I felt like I was getting a lesson from my grandpa. Thank you
Consider me your UA-cam Grandpa 🙂
Thank you. Tremendously helpful advice.
You are so welcome!
Great instructional video. Thank you for your expertise.
Glad it was useful
Thank you for sharing your old-time knowledge my friend I enjoyed this information I will put this in good use thank you and have a great night or day wherever you peace
Thank you! Hope it comes in useful
I love seeing old things lovingly restored, and that was a very sympathetic restoration. (Some channels seem to go a bit over the top with their restorations).
Just a small caution - I would probably have had some tape protecting the axe edge whilst handling it.
Good job anyway!
Very good point!
Thanks for your series, helped me a lot restoring two small axes (one a Brades), that I inherited from my Father In Law. Both had been seriously abused/ neglected. They now look at least "workmanlike".
Excellent, Brades made very good axes indeed!
Great Job! Very informative video. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks so much for an easy to follow axe head installation, I'm getting ready to do that to mine tomorrow, but my axe head maybe 50 years old but old enough to have very good steel in it. These new handles you buy now most have varnish on them and to me that cheapens the look of the ax and doesn't protect as good as an oil finish, so that's the first thing that comes off when I get it home! Thanks again and take care.
Totally agree about the varnish!
More good stuff. You asked what we'd like to see; well, with our allotment producing now, I'm interested in ideas around preserving - mainly veg at this point. Thanks a lot and keep up the good work; it's much appreciated!
Will do, chutneys, pickles, soups & canning?
@@EnglishCountryLife For me the first three are I suspect the ones I'm likely to have a go at. Thanks!
Loved this. Would like to see more videos on how to use excess produce. For example, wines, chutneys, jams, preserves etc.
Will do - there's a Blackberry Port video starting on Friday 😉
thank you. I have learned a new skill forever.
So glad it was useful 👍
Excellent upload.
Thank you so much. Hugh
Brilliant! Congrats on a complete process of axe restoration from Canada, eh!
Thanks Norman 😁👍
Thank You Very Much Sir!!!
Most welcome!
I have 3 heads waiting in the shed.
Needed this as som inspiration to get going
Fantastic - what types do you have?
I like the rasp bc it provides a clean fit and it’s easy to remove material that you need to without the worry of tear out which you would have to with a plane and even with a knife you have to worry a little more about grain where with a rasp you just simply file away material every since I’ve used rasp I’ve just started to like them more and more even creating the handle itself if you want that clean look on your handle you use first cut your piece to the shape you want via axe drawknife etc then when you have the squared off handle you can use the rasp to take off all the edges then you can hit it with a lighter rasp eventually a file then sand paper to get a really smooth handle a rasp is a great great tool
I absolutely agree, brilliant tools
Not sure if you ever made a video about making an axe handle. But I'd love to see it. Currently about to make some handles for vintage heads
I haven't but I've some lovely seasoned ash I felled a few years ago...
Terrific!
Thank you!
Liked and subscribed. Great channel.
Thank you and welcome!
Managed to replace two axe handless today. I had just pounded them both on their current handles over a year ago. Split, crooked and atrocious. Using the wood rasp I custom fit a double bit Craftsman then on to the over 100 year old German axe found while metal detecting here in Florida. A holdover from the German American Lumber Company that scalped all marketable timber in Florida in the late 1800's. An odd shape with three spines each side to grip the handle and two triangular shaped wings each side. It took me several hours of little by little removing wood and shaping the handle but thanks to your tutorial I've got two great looking axes. Sanded the new handles down to bare wood and applied boiled linseed oil. Now to learn a proper sharpening technique. Cheers
A Master of the Trade. Hope the inheritor will do the same to it.
It's been passed on to a great guy who will use it well 🙂
Excellent restoration video that is the clearest, easiest to follow and most informative in how to restore an old axe. I did an excellent job in refurbishing and tightening up my old loose axe head and shaft thanks to this. I did this as practice for what I was really looking for on UA-cam.
Have you done one for a pick axe? If so, can you give me the link.
A wooden pick axe shaft is typically wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. This way you lower the narrow end through the top bigger hole on the metal pick axe (unlike the wood handle fed through the bottom for your hand axe video). The ideal being every time you swing the pick axe it will never fly off and further tightens due to the direction of swing.
Options
1. On some videos they advocate putting a slot in the wood to bang in a wood wedge, then a metal wedge to secure the metal/wood connection.
2. Others advocate just knocking the metal pick axe head as far as possible to tighten up.
3. On one video a guy put a bolt through the wood shaft just under the metal axe head to tighten up, for me the least convincing of all three.
What would you advise?
Good morning Andrew, thanks for the kind words.
I've not done one on pickaxes. My way does not involve bolts or wedges, they are designed to be friction fit
I put the new, dry handle in from the top. Then then turn the pickaxe over. Put it over an old board (so the head is near the ground) and give the thick end of the handle two or three sharp raps on the board. The weight of the head will seat it. After that I will give the handle three coats of boiled linseed oil letting each coat dry. That swells the wood grain for a really tight fit and protects the wood.
Hope that helps
Hugh
@@EnglishCountryLife
Hi Hugh,
thanks for the advice which I am following. I needed to remove wood; the metal axe goes 13 cm short of the top. With a wood rasp I have removed material to get the wood shaft further up metal pick axe hole. I’ve gone from 13, to 8 and now down to 4 cm. I aim to take it to 2 cm. Before I take any further action what would you advise?
Thanks for the tip of looking for the score marks on the wood in how much wood to rasp off. I used a pencil to shade in these areas, the idea being I wouldn’t rasp off too much. Repeating this process (and looking down for gaps) ensured the wood matched the profile of the oval hole that increases in size from bottom to top. This way I can achieve a really tight fit especially if the oval is not 100% symmetrical.
Thanks for explaining what a patina is, this is new to me. I cleaned off the rust with a circular wire brush on the end of my electric drill. This media will not take photos so I am unable to confirm if my pick axe metal is really is covered in a patina. I think it is, so I’ll bees wax it. I feel this will make it easier to maintain my axe head.
@@andrewboxall8460 I'd go no less than 2.5cm (1 inch) protruding Andrew
@@EnglishCountryLife
Job done!
Thanks for the prompt reply Hugh. I've stopped at 3 cm. I'm chuffed to bits finding your programs on restoration of old tools, miles in front of all the others out there on UA-cam.
Next is the sledge hammer.
Many thanks again Hugh.
@@andrewboxall8460 That's really kind of you Andrew - thank you & Merry Christmas 🎄
that is now a thing of beauty! I'm just a little bit in love.
Hey, how do you sharpen a spade? And how hard is it to reshape a spade into something with a pointy tip?
I'm thinking of offering it as a subscriber giveaway so stay tuned! Sharpening a spade is easy, I'll do a restoration series when I find a suitable donor. Changing the shape is hard as its 3 dimensional
Proper job
Thank you sir!
Alright Mark. Hows the health mate?
@@hillbill79 im getting there, still have mobility and dexterity issues, buy waaay better than i was even six weeks ago
@@maveraver God to hear mate. Seems a lot of us (back from bcuk days) have had shit to deal with. Life I guess. Keep the wood carving flowing! A toast to your health my friend!
@@hillbill79 aye, guess we are all just getting older and things that we used to shrug off to a certain degree, don't easily get shrugged off anymore, im telling people though that im in training for 35 -40 years time ;-)
Just a question. Would you get a tighter fit if the head did not sit on a shelf conformed to its shape on the bottom?
The tightness is occasioned by wedging the head rather than by rasping to a tight fit
Hi do you think Blackthorn would work for an axe head.
Great videos all the best from Ireland
I'm sure you mean handle rather than head 😉. It's definitely strong enough & being such an oily wood it would resist rot well. It was traditionally used for walking sticks (as well as shillelaghs 🙂). The shortcomings are that smaller pieces have a lot of thorn nubs on the side that are a right pain to remove & shape. If you could get a really big piece and quarter it (to prevent it from splitting whilst it seasons), dry it for a year per inch of thickness & then shape it with a draw knife, it should be beautiful & functional
@@EnglishCountryLife Thanks for taking the time to reply. I cut a bit piece here in Ireland recently (5ft) I will quarter it as you suggest and let it season for a year. All the best. Adrian (I assume by 'quarter' you literally mean to cut it in 4 shorter pieces?
@@burning4902 Hi Adrian, quartering is splitting it lengthwise, like pizza slices (Google quarter sawn wood). Wood splits when drying because the rings cannot dry evenly. A quarter sawn piece can flex at the edges. The final plank cuts off the "crust" of the pizza and the point..
what was this shapes purpose? I have this style of axe head myself and always wondered why it differed!
Hi John, Kent pattern axes were English pattern utility and cross cutting axes in sizes from a small hand axe up to a large felling axe. We explore grinds and shape more in the video below
ua-cam.com/video/Jwh0aQucT88/v-deo.html
Thanks for the vid. Do you know what the substance is, that some manufacturers fill in the top of the axe head with? It looks to be epoxy or something hard. Its normally black in colour. A kind of a sealer I imagine.
Generally epoxy resin. It's not just unnecessary but counterproductive with properly fitted wooden handles
@@EnglishCountryLife agreed. Thanks for identifying it
Are axe heads hour glass shaped inside if they are forged from the rift?
The eye generally tapers so it is wider at the top.
I notice you didn’t glue the wedge but would you consider that optional?
I've never found it necessary tbh h I've not had a well driven in wooden wedge back out
I've still got a True Temper "Flint Edge" axe head I need to handle from the batch I had from the US. Its 800g iirc. Not sure what to do with it. Been thinking of a bit a re-shape to the entire head, cut some weight off and have it as a long handled hatchet with about a 700g head. You still got the cruiser from that batch?
Is that it in the vid?
It is indeed, its a fantastic little axe!
@@EnglishCountryLife Yeah, a cruiser is almost a perfect axe. The only one that is almost perfect. They can do anything! I like the ideas behind American axe designs. We never really cottoned on a middling axe. We either had big felling axes or hatchets. They worked though.
The nearest we have is a limbing axe like a Scandinavian. 24" is a handy length
I've just bought an old kent pattern axe (Daniel Silcock) and realised the cutting edge of the head is a wonky (it veers off to one side) at the bottom corner. Do you think it's still okay for splitting fire wood? I made the mistake of installing a tiny stove that doesn't fit standard logs. BTW, I wish I had the skills to repair it properly like you do!
Hi Natalie! Are you on Twitter or Instagram? If so, end me a picture @engcountrylife and I'll take a look!
@@EnglishCountryLife I'm afraid I dont have either. I tried to link to a photo but I don't think the link is allowed as my comment was deleted. I'll try your website contact form...
Raw linseed oil is, in fact, flax seed oil. It takes a long time to dry but is entirely non-toxic. ... This true boiled linseed oil is also non-toxic
In most stores here Marco "boiled” linseed oil is not just linseed oil that's been boiled, but linseed oil that has been boiled with chemicals to aid polymerisation. These additives can make it toxic. Raw linseed oil is fine as is traditional boiled ( that is very rare) but most ”boiled” linseed oil should not be regularly used without skin covering. If in doubt, gloves is my motto
gimmethegoodstuff.org/is-linseed-oil-toxic/
Got a question. I picked up a woox forte axe. The axe isnt wedged. The handle slips through the axe head from the bottom of the axe handle and slides all the way into position . Leaving the perfect amount of wood atop the axe head to wedge it. Problem- ive never wedged an axe head that wasnt sliped on over the end of the axe handle. How do i wedge an axe this way ?
Hi! The Woox forte is a friction fit axe. This is the same mechanism used in tomahawks & pick axes. It's not intended to be wedged.
@@EnglishCountryLife thanks
@EnglishCountryLife so do I set it by tapping it on a hard surface or do I just start using it ?
@@eurika7655 Turn it upside down and give the end of the helve a couple of sharp raps on the floor to firmly seat the head then use it 👍
Hi, and thanks for this nice video.
Since alkaline "boiled" linseed oil is so nasty, why not use raw linseed oil? You spent quite a bit of time on this axe, surely you can wait a few extra days to let the oil cure on its own. You'll be spending many hours working with the handle in hand, I know I wouldn't want those chemicals on the handle. I only use raw linseed oil. For faster curing, I leave my oiled tools in the sun or by the woodstove, it works really well.
Its a good question and I should use raw linseed more. I'm not concerned about the axe in hand because boiled linseed polymerises in air so its safe when dry. I ought to invest in an oil press an make some!
Enjoyed that vid - given u a sub
Atb
Thanks Dave, I hope you find other stuff to interest you on the channel - its a broad range of self sufficiency / homestead type stuff 🙂. Hugh
A metal wedge at an angle is what most fellows would not know. Very few in the USA even ever saw an axe or hatchet used on wood or a new handle fitted. It is REALLY a dying skill...
Sadly so - now that heating is getting expensive, I wonder if it will come back?
I have a big problem: When i hang an axe then the wedge keeps getting out, i use woodglue but that doesn' t seem to help. Can somone please help me?
Hi Samuel, is it the wood wedge that backs out? If so, do you make your own wooden wedge? Hugh
@@EnglishCountryLife yes, wooden wedge. I make them myself.
@@samuelkurvits2073 Okay Samuel, 3 possibilities
1) If the angle of your wedge is too wide, it will back out. They must be a very acute angle make the finish rough, not smooth so that it grabs.
2) The wood is not completely dry. If it has even a little moisture it will shrink and come loose.
3) The fit of helve to head is too loose allowing the handle to flex & spit out the wedge
If those 3 are correct it should be fine, but lock it with a metal wedge to be sure.
3) You
Okay, thank you so much.
Next time i'm going to hang an axe i'll remember these tips.
I think my problem was that i sanded my wedges really smooth.