Re-hanging an Axe

[ForgeCorvus]

Naughty Munchh ....... Pics of the new one please


Oldarborman. What can I say, I like Kents and the other old broadaxe designs much more then the Scandi patterns (mostly because I don't have to cut frozen wood). Glad you liked mine

Quercus. The 16oz started life as a cheap wrapped-eye plate steel wood chopper that I picked up from a junk stall. I reshaped it, reprofiled it and hung it on the 17 inch birch handle you see in the photos (the bottom of the beard is also sharp and I use it for light riving )

Looks like I'm going to have to get some trade stock, who'd be interested ?

[munchh]

ill get right on it as soon as I finish work.

[munchh]

So if i remember i paid £6, it says "made in England, J&C"


It weighs 500g like the kent


The wedge is quite far in


But there is some movement as it is loose, is it worth soaking the handle to make it swell, or do i try and put another wedge, mabie a metal one?

What i really want is a tomohawk head, that i can put on a handle in the woods, so i can just carry the head?

Like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKEBmf_PgA8

[ForgeCorvus]

OK,I think that hatchet is the same one I modified to make my 16oz.
The steel is quite good for the price-point but the handle is far too short for any serious use.
Axes are like bullets, a brick moving slow or a pea moving fast gives the best results. Because that head is so light it has to move fast and the easiest way to do that is to stick it on a handle about as long as your fore-arm (the whole cubit, fingertips to elbow)

Never soak a tool to fix a loose head, it softens the wood so it wears away making it even looser when the timber gets back to normal (OK, use it as a temporary fix to get you out of trouble. But you'll have to replace it asap)

Theres not really a lot you can do with that one, if you can get the old wedge out (burn it out with a hot nail maybe?) you could use a fatter wooden wedge to tighten it up. You could try a metal wedge (Transverse) or a ring-wedge (if you can find one), but all of these are just short term fixes.

Tomahawk enough for you?

I'm thinking of getting one and making a longer ash handle for it

[munchh]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COLD-STEEL-WI ... 2118wt_934

I cant help liking these?

[ForgeCorvus]

Cold Steel are OK
I've read on another site I go on that the finish in and around the eye isn't the best and that fettling with a rat's-tail file is a good idea.
They do make a few 'Hawks

The Bacho is 22 quid from the link and I like the utility of the hammer poll

[munchh]

Cold steel do one cald the trail hawk that has the hammer back, same price couple of quid extra on the postage, so am i wrong thinking that if i was to just have a hawk head in my pac, i would be better with one that has a round eye?

[Oldarborman]

Yes please pm Me if you have any excess stock I'm sure I'll have a couple of heads if any are going spare.

[munchh]

I hate it when you have to rewrite a post, bloomin PC's.

So i finaly got round to re hanging these, got the hickory handles off a bloke on ebay as i just couldnt find a good bit of wood.
The smaller one was 1st, i messed it up a bit, it sits just below the shoulder of the handle so its not ideal, but its on, i will just have to keep an eye on it when i start to use it.

I wnated the kent to be my go to axe when i go up the woods so the overall length is 22.5", the head is 1lb, i was aiming at a "foresters" style setup, so its possibly 1/2 lb light and about 2 1/2" too long from what you would buy as a foresters axe, but hey, until i try it i wont know. Had to carve the handle a fare bit to take the head as the handle is slightly wide at that end and the eye is very slim and sort of stepped like it was made by pushing square bar through to make the eye.

Im happy for my first goes.

[ForgeCorvus]

Well done, I'm glad I could help.