Hey all I have been lurking for awhile learning lots of great things about knife making. A little while ago I made a "Viking" hand axe out of an old garage sale axe head I had lying around. I set about it in a "stock removal" manner with a angle grinder, a belt sander in a vice and files (I was pretty careful to not let it get too hot to loose temper). I left some of the pitting and patina on the sides of the head to add some character. The handle is a full sized hardware store hickory axe handle that I cut and sized to hang it on. The handle was finished by giving it a light torch and then multiple coats of walnut colored danish oil (after sanding off the factory varnish). I think it turned out pretty nicely. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5710pbtUdX4bUljc0hNMEcycTA https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5710pbtUdX4S2JPQkstRTA3Z28 https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5710pbtUdX4cXU0eEVhMHlHblk https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5710pbtUdX4WV83MXAtVDRZeUE https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5710pbtUdX4TWFuV0VxN3VCbDA https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5710pbtUdX4VGtjdlY2eThlYms https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5710pbtUdX4dmxTLW01Z0ZRNU0 I did however make a couple mistakes. When I was driving the wooden wedge in the top I thought I got it in far enough, couldn't seem to drive it in any farther but maybe I didn't get it far enough or should have cut the kerf a little deeper. Then I cut the top off pretty flush with the top of the axe head which was not my intention. As a result the head is a little loose, especially after I used it for chopping full sized logs. I plan to get it fixed up by using some chair loc, because I really want to be able to actually use this.
Well done, and I'm impressed you did all that without annealing the axe head first. That makes for tough going. FYI, if you store your images in a folder inside the "Public" folder in Dropbox, you can copy the links to them and paste them in using the forum's Insert Image tool. That way they show up as images rather than links.
Cool axe man. I think i'm developing a real love of axes. Especially historic style axes and hatchets.
Thanks guys. It didn't seem like too tough going, I think i went through two cutting discs. I do think it looks really sweet, but unfortunately it is a bit of a wall hanger right now. Tried soaking the top of the haft in Linseed oil to get it to swell but that seems to have made the head looser... maybe lubricated the friction fit on the sides? I'm going to order some chair loc and see if that works, if not I guess I can always rehandle it. That would probably be the most correct way to go about it but I have put quite a bit of work into it already so if I can apply a band aid that works well and looks ok then I think I'll go that route.
What about taking an oscillating tool and trying to "recut" the wedge slot. If you can get deep enough maybe it will chew up most of the old wedge and give you enough space to bang in a new one?
I plug off the bottom of the head, stand up then fill with warm epoxy. One hatchet head lasted ten years before it was misplaced
I like it ! I'm a lurker also, building up some needed tools, and watching and reading, gleaning information. You made a terrific looking axe, IMHO !
Thanks for the comments and the advice. I definitely could try and cut the wedge out, I have a feeling it would be a lot of work seeing as how I gorilla glued it in. I'm not afraid of the work but I have spent hours on this axe and really loathe the idea of taking that head off. Filling it with epoxy would probably work, although there isn't much for gap. The thing with that is if I ever break the handle it will be really tough to get the handle out of the head. This trick with the chair loc seems to be a fairly widely used option so I think I will go that route.
Just thought I would let everyone know for future reference that the Chair Loc worked awesome. Just drilled six 1/8" holes in the top to a depth of 1/2" then poured some Chair Loc in. I ended up putting a lot in but probably could have got away with way less. I was kind of expecting it to fill in the holes as it dried but it didn't so keep that in mind, could probably get away with smaller holes actually, and probably fewer. To fill in the holes I just put some gorilla glue in each one and then stuffed some sawdust in on top. Everything is tighter than a drum, probably stronger than ever too.
