A tutorial - handshaping an axe handle

[Dodgy Loner]

Saturday was a day for making axe handles. I made three of them. It is immensely enjoyable work with a very practical result. If you have never made an axe handle from hickory tree to finished handle, it is something you should try. The first part is easy - just find a nice, clear, straight hickory tree, 6-8" in diameter, and cut it into appropriate lengths (I cut 6' lengths, which will yield 2 full-size axe handles end-to-end). Split the lengths into quarters or eighths, whichever your log demands, and set them aside for 2 years. This is where the fun begins.

The handle in this project is for a hewing hatchet, so I picked a piece of hickory a little longer than a hatchet handle.


Work begins at the hewing bench. Since my hewing hatchet is handleless, I am using a normal hatchet.


I chop two flats on the blank roughly parallel to each other on opposite sides.


Next, I move to the workbench and smooth the flats with a jack plane.


We could pretend that I actually thicknessed the blank by hand ;D, but of course it took a trip through my planer until it was a little less than 1" thick.


Trace the shape that you want the handle to be onto the blank. I already had a well-shaped handle nearby, so this was easy.


Saw kerfs into the "valleys" of the outline. These will act as stop-cuts for the hatchet work that comes next.


Hew the handle as close to the outline as you dare.


Then move to the shavehorse, where you can shave it right down to the line with a drawknife.



Now back to the workbench, where I the shape of the tenon onto the end of the handle using the axehead itself as a guide.


Then saw down along the edges of the outline. This is where you can save yourself a lot of work by sawing close to the line, or ruin the handle altogether by sawing too much.


With the shoulders sawn off, the rough tenon is ready for fitting.


I always fit the tenon before shaping the handle. A mistake here can turn it into kindling, so no use putting too much time into the handle until you know it will work. I use a variety of rasps and files and check the fit often when I get close.


With the tenon well-fitted, I move onto the handle. First I rough in a centerline along the front and back edges to act as a guide for the shaping. I also mark a line on the sides, but it is not in the center - it is perhaps 1/3 of the way in from the back side. This makes the handle more comfortable.


Then, with a spokeshave, I round the edges over to the lines. For the most comfortable grip, there should be no "flats" on the handle when you are finished.


Now I turn my attention to the tenon shoulder. This must be faired smoothly into the handle for a tight fit.


I take off most of the waste with a drawknife.


Then I use a rasp to finish the transition.


To test the fit, I slip the axehead onto the handle, turn it upside down, whack the end of the handle smartly with a few raps of a mallet. Intertia does the rest.


The axehead itself does the final fitting. There should be 1/8-1/4" of hickory sticking out the end when the handle is fully seated. If not, take it out and shave off a little more. This handle fit perfectly the first time.


After sawing a kerf into the tenon and sawing a wedge out of cherry, the handle is almost ready to assemble. The fresh hickory, though, is very harsh on the eyes. I could let it mellow naturally, but I like to hasten the process.


So I take it to the garden and rub it down with dirt. Ahhh, that's better . A coat of linseed oil, and it's time to assemble. I use medium-hardwoods like cherry or walnut for the wedge - they are soft enough to compress when driven in, but hard enough that they don't break. To drive in the wedge, do not pound on the wedge itself, but instead turn the axe upside-down and place the wedge solidly on the benchtop. Then pound on the end of the handle. This reduces the risk that it will shatter.


It fits my hand like a glove.


The last handle was for a double-bitted axe. A good day's work.

[tyb525]

That's some incredible work there Dodgy. I've made a few handle myself, but they aren't near as nice as those!

[redbeard]

Nice work! Excellent choice on the pattern of the grains.

[Tom]

Is that George Washington's Axe?

[SwampDonkey]

Nice little tutorial Dodgy. You've got yourself some nice axe heads to. I also like your shaving horse. Thanks for sharing this.  Cool stuff. I also take the same approach to mark guide lines on the work piece.

I've also made axe handles, with just an axe. A sharp axe. I made mine from hard maple and have never broke one. ;D I also made canoe paddles from yellow birch. I used to take a sled in the winter, cut down a tree, haul them home. Then split them green in two for the paddles and quarters for the axe handles. Much easier splitting hard maple and yellow birch frozen and green. ;)

[Dodgy Loner]

Thanks, SD. I would say that I have an axe problem, but it's really not a problem at all! :D The choice of wood is always influenced by the species available. In Europe, the traditional wood for axe handles is ash, because they have no hickory. In Japan, they use white oak because they don't have ash or hickory. Depending on where you are in North America, the best wood around may be hard maple, osage-orange, or black locust. Hickory is a common tree around here, and that's what I prefer. I have not had the pleasure of splitting it frozen, though ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, your right on the wood choice. It's a regional thing of course. Actually, up my way the traditional axe handle is from O. virginiana but it's hard to get any of size and it's even more scarce than Yellow birch. I mean you can find the stuff easy enough, but it's small pole wood or smaller most times. Grows extremely slow. One fellow was mad to find I had cut one down to leave for the bugs. Well it was thinned out of a stand and crooked as a rams horn. It was also 3/4 mile to a road and no easy walk through natural rough terrain to get there. He found it when checking on my thinning job on my woodlot. Besides, I had cut a million of them down the size of hazel nut bushes. :D Some fella's like to complain. ;D

[tyb525]

I've made a hammer handle and a woodworker's mallet from O. virginiana (ironwood, eastern hop-hornbeam, etc) it's one of my favorite woods.

[Dodgy Loner]

Very interesting. I seem to remember an axe handle thread by Marcel a couple years ago. I believe he used hophornbeam, and that was the first I'd ever heard of it for that purpose. It makes sense, though- it's certainly hard enough!

Oh, and for Tom: I don't believe this is Washington's axe, but it does a fine job of chopping cherry!

[SwampDonkey]

Yes I believe Marcel uses it. Foresters call it ironwood in Canada and the locals always call it hornbeam. I know some regions say hop-hornbeam and I know it's because of the seed sacks, but no one I know uses the "hop" prefix. Unless your into beer making I guess, the thought of hops and similarity in appearance to hornbeam makes no connection.

[Dodgy Loner]

Down here, both ironwood and hornbeam refer to Carpinus caroliniana.

[Phorester]

Very nice work there, Dodgy.  And a good explanation.  (And I see you got a nice workbench yourself.... ;D )

[tyb525]

"hop" is used to distinguish O. virginiana from C. caroliniana, both called hornbeam. C. caroliniana is also referred to as blue beech. I've seen many woods referred to as ironwood.

[Dodgy Loner]

Very nice work there, Dodgy.  And a good explanation.  (And I see you got a nice workbench yourself.... ;D )

I have dreams of a fine, solid wood bench, but this workbench was my second big woodworking project and it still does fine job of holding wood. The base is solid elm, but the top is a 3"-thick sandwich with birch plywood on the outside and 2 sheets of MDF in the middle. Really, my only complaint is that it is not as long as I would like. It is 5' long, but if I were to do it over again, I would probably make it 7' or even 8' long.

[SwampDonkey]

C. caroliniana is also referred to as blue beech.

That's what Foresters call it in Canada, although I'm sure where it is growing the locals use ironwood as well. Doesn't grow outside of the hardwood forest region of Ontario and SW Quebec border in it's Canada range.

[SwampDonkey]

I was going to ask you if you had a shop in MS or if you were back at the home place in Ga. making your axe.  ;D

[Dodgy Loner]

This is at my home in Mississippi. I just bought the place in April. It has a very spacious shop. I'm not sure of the dimensions, but it has three rooms that look a lot like a power tool room (the biggest room, with a concrete floor), a handtool room (a smaller room with wood floors), and a lumber storage room (same size as the hand tool room, but with no windows). I like it here

[SwampDonkey]

Sounds like a nice spot. ;)

[Phorester]

"I have dreams of a fine, solid wood bench, but this workbench was my second big woodworking project and it still does fine job of holding wood. The base is solid elm, but the top is a 3"-thick sandwich with birch plywood on the outside and 2 sheets of MDF in the middle. Really, my only complaint is that it is not as long as I would like. It is 5' long, but if I were to do it over again, I would probably make it 7' or even 8' long."


I'd opt for the biggest and thickest I could make, too.  I've got a small space, so went with a 2' x 6' bench.  2' seems good for width, easy to work from both sides, but I'd prefer 8' length.  I'd also go for 3" - 4" thickness.  Next time..................

[WDH]

Those big benches are great as long as you don't have to move them, move as in relocate  .

Nothing like making your own axe handle.  A lot of work, but very satisfying. 

[Dodgy Loner]

Work? Oh, no. It was all play, no work ;D

[ljmathias]

Dodgy- great to have you as a new neighbor: Welcome to the "Deep South!"  Maybe I missed it, but do you have any pictures of your new place?  Love to see what it looks like, inside and out.  Lots of people think Mississippi is kind of featureless- just mostly flat land with farms in the Delta and tree farms everywhere else, but if you like trees, this is a good place to find or grow them.

Nice tutorial on the ax handles- have to try it out myself, and I do have some blanks in various stages of drying, if I can just remember what I put where. ???

Lj

[Dodgy Loner]

Thanks, I'm happy to be here! I just looked up Purvis and found that you're closer to McComb that I realized. I've found to terrain in my area to be quite similar to the Athens, GA area - mostly hilly, with a lot of pine and oak/hickory forests and pasture land. The big difference is that Mississippi has much lower population density, which is fine with me. I'm really enjoying my new job and my new home, but I'm ready for my wife to join me! She is a schoolteacher and is finishing up the school year back in South Carolina before she moves out here.

I do have some pictures of my home and will be happy to post them, but I am on a business trip in Arkansas this week and won't be able to post them until I get home.

[Magicman]

Dodgy, I'm between trips to the Cabin and just picked up this handle thread.  Very nice work.  I think that I have more axes and hatchets without handles than with.   

Yes, we've gotta have a "get together"  very soon.  Wonder if we could talk Danny into coming?   ;D

[WDH]

MM,

Since I retired, it is harder to flit fly around the country .