axe restoration

I know a fair few here have a splitting axe and while my x17 and x27 do most of the work I have a small collection of real axes that I’ve been rehanging, and thought I’d share some photos.

first of a 700 gram hatchet. I got gifted the head by a guy in Canada and although not marked he is confident its likely a swedish origin head. he steel is very hard. I hung it on a 20″ smedberg haft and its brilliant for kindling or around the garden.

that was the first I hung. Recently i did this 4.5lb Hults bruk. it had an odd eye thst was 1 1/4″ wide. I couldn’t find a haft to fit anywhere so in the end i modified a pick axe handle. that had the width but needed more length so after planning a flat surface I added a piece of ash and achieved a decent fit. the haft is awful though with grain run out. I have another which is better but chose to practice fitting with the bad haft first. pretty happy with the result.

haft got a light scorch then the BLO.

Then the other day I finally hung this. Its an American head by one of their decent makers – Kelly True Temper, a Jersey pattern felling axe, about 3.5 lbs. hung on a 28″ ash handle, light scorch and BLO.

hope the photos embed ok….google can be a pain. I have a few more photos if people want to see more.
I’ve a few more heads to hang including a wetterlings and a german sandvik just bought.

So, let’s see what everyone else has!

Be interested to see more- especially any work in progress pictures. I’ve an old draper hatchet head- I’m toying with putting it on a new handle or making up a frame to use it as a splitter.

Excellent work. I’ve just partially restored an ex army 4.5lb Elwell dated 1945. Will put some pics up later. I’ve got a couple more of them to do as well.

We had some trees chopped down last year and spent months using the log splitter as I forgot I had these at the back of the garage. Once I started using them though – what a joy! So much faster and more satisfying than the splitter..

work in progress pictures… a few I think. If you want a ‘How to hang an axe’ then I’d suggst Buckin’ Billy Ray on youtube, but lets see…

So this is the end result we are after, a head hung straight. DOn’t assume it will be by itself, the hanging process is a game of shave, fit, inspect, remove, repeat, and you need to keep checking for straightness by looking down the edge like this.

all 3 of my axes have needed more off the rhs of the haft to achieve a straight hang…the older and more vintage or hand made a head is, the less likely the eye will be straight!

we also want this, a no gap tight fit, wedge well swallowed. I follow Buckin’s instructions and go for the haft out the top a bit and aim to whack enough wedge in to ‘swell’ it over the top of the head. this photo reminds me…I’ve not yet banged a cross-wise metal wedge in, although no real need as the wood wedge is glued in and the head tight

we also want a tight no gaps fit around the bottom

the ultimate in tight fit arond the bottom is NOT with the head hitting a shelf, it should be sliding further and further on as you hit the haft, getting tight and tighter and giving a bit of curl

here’s a cross-wise metal wedge

hanging process is a game of shave, fit, inspect, remove, repeat

This is the bit I’m not looking forward to if I try a new handle. I know I’ll get fed up shaving/checking so then take a massive chunk out and it’ll be too small!

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Here you go – for the moment I’ve just sealed it with a bit of Renaissance wax.

Patience patience. It currently takes me 1 to 2 hours. Each time you knock the head on look around the bottom at the haft and check for gaps, user a pencil to mark the high spots and the line of ‘fit this far’. Knock the head off and you’ll also see the marks on the haft that are the tight spots, take a look, take a little off, refit.

I use a spoke shave, just a cheap one but I’ve sharpened the iron on a whetstone, and I use a shinto rasp. Well worth buying both! Then it’s easy to remove wood and you’ll not get frustrated.

#PeakSTW

Nice timbog. Original handle? It’s got a lovely fawn foot. Head looks smart. Is that a Kandy/military vehicle wheel in shot? Is that why you got the military issue Elwell?

I’ve a 2 3/4 lb Elwell that’s come loose on its haft. I got the wedge out the other day, I’ll be trying to do I
Knock the head on further then rewedge it.

It was an army surplus purchase so hard to say, but it’s a VERY good fit if it’s a replacement.

That’s a wheel off one of my Wolf land rovers, though those only have pick axes and shovels on the bonnet – no axe sadly.

My other hobby is restoring military vehicles and I bought a few of these to go on the side of some armoured vehicles. Now I’ve cleaned this one up though I think it’s far too nice to languish as a display piece! Tempted to get some cheapo modern ones and just paint them up for display purposes 😀

Haft selection. its all about the grain. ideally the haft is all sap wood or at least minimal heart wood. with grain going front to back the haft is stronger, this is the smerdberg that went in the hatchet

however what is far more important is no run out. i.e. the grain should run right up the length of the haft and not across it. if it runs across, then the haft will break.

take a look at the haft on the big Hults Bruk, as I’ve scorched it and picked the grain out you should be able to see it runs out badly, this handle won’t last

Some lovely axes on view …. 😯 A seriously nice affair Timbog has.

I’ve an old ,well i think its a hatchet, flat blade without a curve to it 😕 with a hammer on the other end. Picked it up during a cellar house conversions, so it was probably last seen in the 1940’s. Not sure how you judge the steel on these things, but it has a really nice ring to it, holds the note for 10-15 seconds, suspended on a thread(no handle) Its like a tuning fork.

Sure someone else posted up, but theres a number of people, one especially renovated things like axes and old estwing hammers on you tube.

this shows something i do that helps me, last thing before smack the wedge in, take a file and just put a little chamfer on the top of the kerf s its easy to start the wedge,

and this is something i tried that didn’t really work. I was trying to take a little surface rust rust off and get a black finish. I’d noticed when splitting oak, a day or 2 later my x27 was black, and realised the tannic acid in the oak was the cause. so i picked up a load of oak sawchips in a bucket and added some water. the heads stayed in a week and blackened beautifully, but it wasn’t hard and rubbed straight off.

Ah yes….handles with ‘shelves’ not a gradual fit….this was the hatchet early in the fit… not ideal!

it got better but not perfect

in my defence that head had some particular challenges….but I’d do better now. (although it has been darn tight for 2 years now so I didn’t do too bad.)

I love all the wilderness and wildness in the pictures. Amazing environments to bring up a family of Swedish axes 🤣

dyna-ti. sounds like a roofing hatchet, blade to split down cedar shingles, hammer to nail them in place.

Here’s my Elwhell with the loose head

and this Brades hatchet I’d forgotten about until i saw the photo…also loose on the haft. th worm isn’t (wasn’t) severe, the haft has a shelf…need to get the head off, take the shelf away and rehang.

This is a great thread – I got into this a few years back whilst unable to ride for a while – I hung one axe and then a few more . I then got into making leather Axe masks to protect them . I have a Brades hatchet Like the one above that I restored from being covered in rust – got it sharpened At a lawnmower repair place and it is very sharp , probably my favourite – the old steel really was good . Anyone got any good links for buying online quality handles ?

smedbergs handles. cheapest at oldtoolstore.co.uk but they add a tenner for delivery, so if only getting one t a time woodsmithexperience.co.uk is cheaper. both also have some unbranded quality handles, but currently not much stock

Right – totally inspiring thread so tomorrow I’m off to the shed to recover a couple more old axes!!

Great thread. Long before the internet I had a go at hanging a big Elwell felling axe. I think it took most of a morning, testing and shaving. Hugely rewarding process. The shaft I polished with steel wool and countless coats of linseed oil. Sadly I let my brother borrow it, when he returned it with the shaft broken I was devastated

I know that feeling! I’ve lent the HB to my nephew 14, who wants to start helping his dad (my brother) split firewood. I did they knowing the haft won’t last long anyway, so he may as well get his eye in on it.

I’ve ordered 100m of 3mm paracord and will apply some wraps to protect the axes, scuffs are inevitable.

This evening’s work.

Jeez! Feed the hamsters, please! as soo as I add a photo, that’s it, can’t type…just submit, close the site and reenter…..oh well.

As I was saying before the hamster tired out…this evening I hung a 6lb military issue Gilpin from 1979. Hung on a 36″ haft but I sunk it down a long way, haft probably ended up 35″ at most. It, supposedly is Hickory, I’m doubtful as it feel very light, which makes me think its Ash. TBF the lightness makes the axe feel light despit its silly big head, which is nice. The Haft has bloody good grain, no run out and almost up down orientation, very good!

After fitting I thinned the sides of the handle ever so slightly, gave it a go for an hour splitting some firwood, then a wipe of oak stain and a coat of BLO. I’m unsure if the solvents in the stain thinned the BLO, or the wood was super dry and thirsty, either way it took a lot of oil and will need many more coats over the next few days…as the saying goes, once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, then once a year. ok now for some detail photos..
Hmmm, not as straight as I’d like, I rushed it a bit.

Oh yeah! that should hold it!

and a good fit down the bottom too. Happy.

I have a slight problem, I’ve been enjoying rehafting these axes so much I’ve bid on and won some more heads on eBay but now realise… There is a limit to an axe collection! I therefore have the need to shift some on, probably on a one in one out basis. With the wetterlings and the German (Helko Werk) sandvik to hang I ought to move the Gilpin on. rather shove it on eBay i thought perhaps I’d mention it hear first… Since I’ve enjoyed the task I wouldn’t be want paying for the hang, I’d be happy to just recoup the cost of the head, handle and wedge….And and perhaps suggest that a purchaser might stick a couple of quid in a charity collection tin if they felt the axe deserved it.

Some excellent work there – I’ve just bought another 4.5lb Elwell but I’m not sure I have the patience to replace the shaft…

It was YOU that out bid me!!!! 😉

Very disappointed in this thread which I thought was going to be about restoring proper axes

I’ve got a mattock that needs a new handle. I don’t do all this woodworky stuff, so can I just buy a handle and whack it on?

Put up a photo of the head, iirc mattocks at like pick axes and tomahawks (and Basque axes) and the head slides on from the bottom of the handle. It’s called a friction fit as opposed to wedged. You ought to shave the handle to get a good fit, or else the head could be a bit waggly, but it won’t fly off.

It’s called a friction fit as opposed to wedged. You ought to shave the handle to get a good fit, or else the head could be a bit waggly, but it won’t fly off.

Oh, thanks. Yep, that sounds how it is – I reckon I could do some shaving to get a less waggly fit on it. It was put to a hard bit of use breaking up old fence post concrete, so has become a bit on the waggly side.

That sounds about right. A bastard file or rasp should work if you’ve not got a spoke shave. Knock the head off and you’ll see a shelf cut into the handle by the head, remove that to create a more gentle to taper. Refit the head and see how it fits. You’ll be aiming for handle to fill the eye top and bottom, all around if you can. Once or looks decent, assuming you’ve still got some handle sticking proud, put a chamfer on that so you can then give it a few sharp taps with a hammer without splitting it, and that will jump the head on further and firmly seat it.

Basic process to get a good fit is the same as for a wedged axe, except without the wedge. It’s more tolerant of a poorer fit though as it won’t fly off, it might just have a little waggle.

Oh and if you’ve a round file, put a tiny chamfer on the top edge of the head around the eye. Just enough to take off any ‘sharp edge’ so it slides up tight rather than cutting in to the handle.

Nice. Cheers for that 👍

I’ve been busy again.

Its not finished yet, but its a 4.5lb Sandvik, made in Germany. Sandvik is a town in Sweden that is the home of their steel industry, think Sheffield but Swedish. The original Sandvik axes were made by Wetterlings, then after the merger with Bahco manufacture moved to Germany and Helko Werk, that is what this will be. Still a very fine head. So far the head has has several coats of rust killer, and that’s it.

Now its hung It’ll get a polish and a sharpen. As for the hang….I decided I wanted a straight handle again, and they are hard to get so I went with a pick axe handle, very good grain on it running the length of the shaft, Ash.
a quick file to clean the eye and put a teenie chamfer on the eye.

roughing out where the eye and ‘shoulder will be on the haft

from there on its lots of spoke shave/shinto rasp work and is basically the same as fitting a normal handle. fit, see where it sticks, see how straight it is, mark the haft, knock the head off, shave more off and repeat.

i should have taken a photo. I find it very handy to have a large log/chopping block to hand. each time i fit the head I can whack the head on a bit hitting it down on the log, and then its there tight enough to take a god swing, embed the head in the log, and then drift the handle out again with a hammer and a bit of wood

Spoke shave and patience and about 2 hours took me from this

to

and

lots of

and lots of

on, check, off, shave, repeat

getting much better…

after a lot more of that, and a bit more, and a bit more, the head was where i wanted it, or I knew it would be with proper persuasion. Time to cut the kerf for the wedge

now to seat the head firmly i dangle the axe head down, hold the shaft loosely and rap it on the end with a club hammer a few times. it jolts the haft further through the head. first though, chamfer the end, else you’ll split the haft.

size and shape the wedge to fit the eye too

seated

oh yeah! that’s straight

glue on the wedge, hold the head down and smack the wedge home…if the head jumps up the haft you didn’t seat it right…it didn’t move. keep whacking the wedge until it starts to break up, then cut it flush.

the taper meant I have a small gap at the back, I’ll fill it with epoxy, however its rick solid anyway as its a very good fit on the sides.

I need to thin the sides of the haft with the spoke shave, scorch it, sand it, stain it and give it 4 or 5 coats of linseed, then a paracord wrap. I’ve given it a try though. plenty of oomph, it split some chunks the x27 hadn’t. it does tend to stick in the block though, so I’ll move this one on too. I’ve a no name swede and a wetterlings 4.5lb ers to hang and….a GBA on its way! I got lucky on ebay. its just little hatch though so not sure why i bid….i really like my no name swede hatchet that started me on this rehanging, but then I’ve a HB, a SAW, so need a GBA I guess.

I’ll post a finished photo when its done

I modded a very blunt and rusty axe head I found in the shed a few years back, to use for carving, a Kent-style I believe. Bought a cheap disk-cutter that had no box, ex-demo, and went for it, just to see if I could make something usable.

Not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but I’d never attempted anything like it before, and it turned out better than I’d expected, hair-shaving sharp, and I made a few butter knives with it doing the donkey work, before a bit of final knife work.