Posted: Mon Jan 12, 15 8:14 pm Post subject: Replacing axe handle - advice please
I have a couple of axes and a sledge hammer all with broken wooden handles. I'd like to replace the handles with new ones.
Is there an easy method of fitting new handles so that they make a nice safe tight fit. The handles that I can buy will need trimming to fit the hole in the heads... how is that best achieved? Any advice will be gratefully received. Thanks.
I tend to trim down handle shanks with a Rasp,till they fit in the head loosely,if not already cut,saw down the centre of the shank,fit back on the head,and drive home a hardwood wedge,cut off flush with head,and cross drive the wedge with steel quillets.
Nick
Joined: 02 Nov 2004 Posts: 34535 Location: Hereford
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 15 8:57 pm Post subject:
Quillets?
Is that what those wedge shaped bits of metal are called? Well, I never even knew they had a name.
Ash used to be used for axe and hammer handles as it is resilient and can be bent, cleaved and carved easily. If we make a handle ourselves from scratch we use ash. Hickory is easier to buy commercially though.
Is Hickory to be found growing in the UK?,i thought it was sourced from the US.
The spurs that grow off tree` at the base tend to have more give in them ,than a piece cut from the trunk,and as you mention more Axe shaped,
This comes into its own more when making a handle or leg as we call them for a Collier`s Hatchet,as the leg is more bow shaped,and a natural curve has more strength than one cut from a straight trunk,one of the reasons the handles/legs tend to snap at the base at an angle ,following the grain.