how to change wooden handle in axe?

[motif]

yeah I know silly question, but I cannot get the metal thing (blade) off the broken handle.
Is there any trick to do this? I tried to hit with hammer to get it off but no luck.
My wife suggested put it into the fire... 
thanks for any tips

[badpenny]

   I have had good luck using a 1/4" drill bit to make several holes in the eye portion of the handle, then a 1/2" punch to push out the wood in pieces. It seems to ease the friction holding the broken portion in the eye.

[ljmathias]

My son "burns" em out by throwing them in the fire- I wonder, though, if this effects the hardness of the blade.  Anyone have any thoughts, or better, sound scientific evidence one way or the other?

In a related vein, anyone making their own handles for rakes and shovels?  Excellent thread on making ax handles here but I have a dozen or so pretty good metal parts for hand tools that could resurface as usable tools if I could get or make reliable handles.  Prices of replacement handles are more than buying a new tool, suggesting the just buying a new one is the way to go.  That path just leads to more metal heads laying in my barn- handles nowadays are NOT made from good wood like hickory but seem to be from some cheaper and weaker wood like pine or poplar.  Anyone know if this is true?

Thanks.

Lj

[motif]

My son "burns" em out by throwing them in the fire- I wonder, though, if this effects the hardness of the blade.  Anyone have any thoughts, or better, sound scientific evidence one way or the other?

that's exactly what I am afraid of but wife said the temperature in house fireplace is too low to affect the steel.

[WH_Conley]

I have an older fellow up the road that makes handles. Every once in awhile I find a real good straight piece of hickory and load it on his truck when he come after firewood. When I have a handle break I just save it, on his next trip I give it to him, in a few days he brings it back. Guess what he pays for slabs?

By he way, his handles are superior to any I have ever bought.

[Magicman]

I've always used the hole drilling method that badpenny described.

[northwoods1]

My son "burns" em out by throwing them in the fire- I wonder, though, if this effects the hardness of the blade.  Anyone have any thoughts, or better, sound scientific evidence one way or the other?



Thanks.

Lj

Well.... YES! I have sound scientific evidence that it most certainly will affect the hardness of it!

It is this very fact that allows us to make axe heads out of steel to begin with

I won't even go into the hows & whys of it , but suffice to say , do not heat any piece of metal that you are concerned about affecting the temper. As soon as the metal is heated and it begins to show a temper color it has been changed.

Now , of course if you knew what you were doing it would be a real simple matter to harden an axe head again to any hardness you wanted by heating it and then cooling it , but how hot to get it and how fast to cool it is something that has to be done in a very exacting manner. I know all this because I am a blacksmith and knifemaker.

To get the handle out of the axe head this is what you do: cut it off flush with the bottom of the head, turn axe over and support it in front of and behind the eye, take a drift and drive it back out the direction it was put in. If it is difficult to do just drill some holes in the wood to loosen it up slightly.

Do not put it in the fire!!!

[sealark37]

If you do put it in the fire, it will be much easier to sharpen.  It will also mushroom very nicely when you use it to drive wedges.  Seriously, drill out the old handle stub.  Good quality handles will include a wooden wedge as well as one or two steel wedges.  Use them both.

[timberfaller390]

Good handles can be had from Sequatchie handle works, Altamont, Tn. (931) 692-3220

[motif]

thanks guys, I'll drill then. I have already new handle but without the wedge so I use the old one.
One more thing after I'm done should I put the axe into the water for a while allowing handle to swell a little bit
to tighten up?  I read somewhere about it.

[badpenny]

   It's been my experience that soaking an ax head and handle swells the wood, and when it dries, the handle is loose, or at least looser than when first installed.

[beenthere]

Tighten the head by using the wedge.
Putting the axe head in water to tighten it is temporary fix until the wood dries out again. Plus the swelling can crush the wood fibers giving a much poorer fit when it dries out again.

And I drill the old wood out. Would never burn it out.

[motif]

gush, I cut off the head, drilled in 10 wholes and still the wood with old wedge won't come out.
I guess I have to drilled all of it  :( with the old wedge, BTW it looks like it's plastic or rubbery
because I can drill through it, I thought is was metal at first.

[Magicman]

The old handle was possible epoxied in.  A small amount of heat may be required to cause the epoxy soften.  Just continually brush it with your torch and it will loosen.  A hot hair drier, etc. should also work.

[Chuck White]

Position the axe head over two blocks in such a way that there is nothing against the remainder of the handle.

Use a punch, bolt, etc. that will just clear the sides of the hole in the axe head and drive the pieces out.

It helps to have someone help you by holding the axe head so it won't tip over.  Wear gloves.

[ErikC]

  As said, heating it in a fire is a bad idea. If you must heat up some epoxy to remove it, keep the heat off the cutting edge and use just enough, it won't take a lot.
 I would also advise you sand off all the varnish if it is a production handle, and treat the entire thing with linseed oil after it is mounted. I use several coats all over and around around the head area, and it helps a lot with keeping it tight. This is partly because water won't readily soak in and crush the fibers, as BeenThere was describing. Handles are much more pleasant to use with a linseed finish that has been steel wooled. No blisters.
 Make sure you rasp down the handle to fit the eye well, forcing it will yield bad results, as the slot for your wooden wedge will be to close to get it deep enough. The head should go on the handle all the way with a few taps, and just fit snug. The wooden wedge will not go all the way in anyway, but 1/2 or 2/3 is good. trim it off with a handsaw, then add the steel ones,perpendicular to the wooden one.  It is worth taking a little time to do right.
 I also like to put a 1/8 brass drift pin in all the handles I use a lot, axe and hammer both. That makes it a little more trouble to get off if the handle breaks, but I find they last much longer this way, and are safer.

[motif]

The old handle was possible epoxied in.  A small amount of heat may be required to cause the epoxy soften.  Just continually brush it with your torch and it will loosen.  A hot hair drier, etc. should also work.

yeah, it was it, epoxy - i heated the eye part a little bit and finally it came off.
If I knew it took so long I'd buy a new axe  ;D  it was only 4x more expensive then
the wooden handle...  :  Now I have to buy a wedge too what makes even less
economical.

[beenthere]

[..............If I knew it took so long I'd buy a new axe  ;D  it was only 4x more expensive then
the wooden handle...  :  .......

motif
That is so you will be so much more careful with the new handle. ;D

We like pics

[Dave Shepard]

My rule of thumb when working with any tempered edge tool, especially when sharpening, is to never let it get hotter than you can touch. For me, that's  maybe 120°. :D I, too, sand the varnish off, it'll tear your hands up quickly.

[CX3]

Dont buy a wedge.  Use a round metal washer and spank it in there

[woodmills1]

no one mentioned that northwoods said it right

tools with wedged handles, when broken, should have the handles cut off as close as possible to the bottem of the head, then be driven out from the bottem to the top

reuse the wedge that was there

do not put ina fire, usually no need to drill

[Phorester]

I've re-handled probably 40 - 50 axes and hatchets over the years.  What everybody says - saw off the old handle close to the head, punch it out, drill it out if necessary (as many holes as it takes), put in the new handle, wedge it.  A new handle should come with either a wooden or metal wedge or both.  I agree with not soaking it. Worst thing to do with an ax handle. I'd do that only for an emergency fix to get it through a necessary work period before putting in a new handle. A weekend camping trip for example.  A loose handle can and should be permanently repaired with a new wedge, not water soaking.

The flat portion on the end of a quality ax handle is for driving the head up onto the handle upside down by inertia.  Don't pound on the top of the head trying to force it down onto the handle. Start the head onto the new handle, then turn the ax upside down and hit the flat spot on the end of the handle with a heavy hammer.  The head will slide right up on it.  If a handle doesn't have this flat spot (cheap ones usually don't), I saw off half of the tip to make one.

Make sure the blade edge is perfectly in line with the length of the handle. Otherwise it will make it miserable if not impossible to cut straight with it. Look down on the top of a replacement handle. Cheap handles might have the split off to one side, crooked, etc. Make sure the rest of the handle is straight and it doesn't have knots bigger than 3/8" diameter, and none on the edges. I'd rather pay $15 - $20 for a good quality handle that $6 for a cheap one that's not tooled straight. (A brand new quality ax costs $25 - $30 locally) You might have to saw a narrow strip downward off one side of the new handle where it goes into the head, wood rasp it, etc., to get it to go into the head nice and straight. Might have to shave down the sides of the new handle to even go into the head.  Take the 30 - 60 minutes if necessary to carefully make the new handle a smooth snug fit. If the edges start splitting out as you drive the head up onto it, take it out and shave some more until it goes into the head without any splitting.

Also, if it needs more than a light sharpening, it's easier to sharpen on a bench grinder before putting in the new handle.  If necessary, grind off any mushrooming from misuse on the back of the head.  If the blade edge is chipped, you will need to grind a new edge into it by pressing the edge vertically against the grinding wheel and rotating it the full length of the edge until the chipped out portion disappears. You'll then have a nice smooth, curved chip-less blade with a 1/16" - 1/8" thick edge.   Then resharpen it the correct way on the grinder.  Keep the head moving at all times or spots where you stop will be heated so hot the temper is lost and it will chip or crack right there when you use it.

Reminds me - with a real rusty head I clean the rust off first with a wire brush wheel on the grinder or chucked in a drill, to check the condition. if the head is cracked to begin with, I'd throw it away unless you can weld it and grind the weld down to match the blade contours yourself.  Too expensive to pay to get it welded.  Paint the head if you want to. Lightly oiling a bare metal head every so often works too.  Get a good quality sheath for your "new" ax or make one.


This is the lower one in the next photo


4 new'uns

[Dave Shepard]

I think isawlogs has a nice tutorial on making your own axe handle. A long time ago anybody that used an axe regularly had their own axe handle pattern, and kept a few extra handle blanks ready to go. I made my own broad axe handle. Out of a piece of elm firewood. :D Ugly, but it works well.

[northwoods1]

Most all the axe handles you find these days in the stores are way to thick and bulky. If you ever find an old axe that was from pre-chainsaw days you will find they were much more slender and light. Much more comfortable on the hands.
Dave mentioned a real good rule of thumb about heating any kind of hardened tool, like when your sharpening it on a grinder, if it gets to hot to hold on to then you are in danger of ruining the temper.
One real good trick I found for saving an axe handle from getting damaged right below the head, like when splitting, it to wrap some soft ductile wire around it. Stick the end of the wire right up in to a space between handle and axe head and then wrap it tightly around it for 3" - 4" down the handle, then just drive a very small nail in to the handle almost all the way wrap wire once around cut off and drive nail in flush to handle. This will extend the life of the handle by 10 times.

[Phorester]

Good points NORTHWOODS1.  Although they sometimes make an ax awkward to use for experienced users, the commercial hard rubber "bumpers" that slide up the handle to the bottom of the head work well to protect the handle with inexperienced users, like Boy Scouts  (or their leaders) ;D