High Quality Chainsaw Bars Husqvarna Toys

Hand Making Axe Handles

XP_Slinger

They’re Just Saws
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
845
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
6,089
Reaction score
27,519
Location
Central NY
Country flag
Yes, and your craftsmanship isn't free. I have the tools to do the job but have never made one and wouldn't want to experiment getting fit right on nice wood.
Don’t blame ya. I would be nervous working with top shelf wood like that too. I’m no pro, still learning A LOT.
 

heritageguy20051

Super OPE Member
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
4645
Joined
Nov 21, 2017
Messages
98
Reaction score
349
Location
US
Country flag
Yes, and your craftsmanship isn't free. I have the tools to do the job but have never made one and wouldn't want to experiment getting fit right on nice wood.
Get yourself a few scrap pieces of whatever wood you like and give it a whirl. You'll get the feel of how that particular wood works and if you mess up, no big deal. XP gave us all a great thread to follow here.

Sent from my E6782 using Tapatalk
 

XP_Slinger

They’re Just Saws
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
845
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
6,089
Reaction score
27,519
Location
Central NY
Country flag
This took about 2.5 hours of patient draw shaving. When getting a handle to this point you have to take your time because if you go too deep it could cause a pull out that will make you start over. This one is going inside to dry with the other one.
A36DD30E-8A26-499D-8B5E-D757AA2862B7.jpeg
 

XP_Slinger

They’re Just Saws
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
845
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
6,089
Reaction score
27,519
Location
Central NY
Country flag
I got my hatchet handles finished today. Unfortunately due to a crack I had to drastically shorten the fawns foot on the one I made out of heart wood. Very frustrating as it would’ve had a nice shape to it. I blame myself for the mistake because the crack developed while hanging the head several times in the fitting process and I don’t think I left enough flat area on the end for it to take that kind of abuse. But anyway, let’s go through fitting the head.

First step is set the head on the handle and eyeball where it’s straight with the handle. Once it’s straight, trace the eye from the inside. Now that you have the eye traced start shaving it down to shape. And a heads up, the eye is smaller on the bottom then the top. Some of you may know this but I didn’t until I fitted my first axe.
A97A2276-8BD7-4364-B644-98ECC55DC952.jpeg
 
Last edited:

XP_Slinger

They’re Just Saws
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
845
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
6,089
Reaction score
27,519
Location
Central NY
Country flag
Once you get close to your eye outline start fit checking it periodically. I keep shaving fine layers off until the head just fits. Once it goes on a 1/8” I check to make sure my alignment still looks good. Don’t let your eye chase varying thickness in the handle. I know there are times where the head looks off center because of a high spot in the handle that hasn’t been sanded away.
056096B0-35B7-4531-ACB0-0D93DFE38E30.jpeg D012BE09-061F-4EDC-81EF-8A092793AFF9.jpeg 0FD326BF-9668-4491-8A0D-95B8EE51EE4A.jpeg
 
Last edited:

XP_Slinger

They’re Just Saws
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
845
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
6,089
Reaction score
27,519
Location
Central NY
Country flag
Now hang the handle in your hand with the head down. Give the end of the handle a couple sharp whacks with preferably a wooden mallet. The head will draw up the handle and when you remove it, the curls show you where you need to remove more material. I usually do this several times to ensure a nice tight fit.
94D97F69-4D40-4B2D-A303-3C917941790B.jpeg B330DD11-6396-4CE9-A40C-5C7ECDF43EAE.jpeg D34B0F50-D880-46FF-AD88-BECFC3813809.jpeg EB0251C8-371B-4321-968A-616E95A2D35F.jpeg
 

XP_Slinger

They’re Just Saws
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
845
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
6,089
Reaction score
27,519
Location
Central NY
Country flag
Once I get down to near full seating depth I switch out the draw shave for a rasp. Some use a rasp for the whole process but I do most of it with the shave. At his point small adjustments go a long way. You want I nice tight fit on the final seating to ensure a strong pinch when you set the wedge on the top. In this process I also did a lot of shaping of the handle just below the head.
F94699FD-D5AD-455D-BAA5-1D815E66F19C.jpeg 028D7DE6-5FA5-47BF-B3A8-501CDDE2DEC4.jpeg F7A5CD43-C60A-4C2D-98F3-1DCCC99E8186.jpeg
 

XP_Slinger

They’re Just Saws
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
845
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
6,089
Reaction score
27,519
Location
Central NY
Country flag
So in this process here’s where things went bad. I had to trim this crack off the fawns foot and now the handle looks goofy. It feels great in the hand and there’s enough swell left for a controlled grip but it just doesn’t look right.
437BCEAA-FDB4-45E2-822C-CCBFF1C46907.jpeg 58A2501A-E300-480F-859C-B1BC0C017BDB.jpeg
 

XP_Slinger

They’re Just Saws
Local time
2:42 AM
User ID
845
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
6,089
Reaction score
27,519
Location
Central NY
Country flag
The other one I finished today came out much better. This is the one I did for a friend that gave me an axe in exchange for rehandling this hatchet. My better work goes to someone else, rightfully so. This one feels great in the hand.
A4BA0959-056A-490E-AB7D-F60FFFA4E5C1.jpeg 81292F1F-179E-4AD1-A628-F5BA314ED18B.jpeg 79335E44-CAE7-46BE-8F5C-ACB895AAAC74.jpeg 1FE9E6AF-D7AB-45CB-B5AA-DB89C749720F.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • 01845A89-B7F6-4E15-A994-1927A90E6255.jpeg
    01845A89-B7F6-4E15-A994-1927A90E6255.jpeg
    91.7 KB · Views: 9
Last edited:

ajschainsaws

Axes never run out of Gas
GoldMember
Local time
6:42 AM
User ID
685
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
7,822
Reaction score
37,483
Location
South west UK
Country flag
Once I get down to near full seating depth I switch out the draw shave for a rasp. Some use a rasp for the whole process but I do most of it with the shave. At his point small adjustments go a long way. You want I nice tight fit on the final seating to ensure a strong pinch when you set the wedge on the top. In this process I also did a lot of shaping of the handle just below the head.
View attachment 100541 View attachment 100542 View attachment 100543

Nice job that wood is nice the rasp is a good tool
one day I couldn’t lay my hands on my carpenters half round rasp
So I used a blacksmiths rasp for shoeing horses it is coarse one side and medium the other side one edge is coarse and one is fine and a bonus it’s nearly 2” wide
So haven’t gone back to the small rasp
 
Top