Axe restoration project *update*

I spoke earlier about finding a broken axe head at a flea market I was interested in restoring, and little by little I've been doing so in the past weeks since then.


The project is coming along; I have removed all the rust and peeling paint from the axe head and removed what was left of the broken handle from the eye of the head.

One thing that I wanted to do originally was carve my own handle from a piece of hickory, but there are several problems with this.

1. Finding the right wood; Hickory is best for this particular use
2. Going out and cutting down a live tree
3. Waiting the appropriate amount of time for the wood to season before I would be able to work with it if I wanted a long term axe.
4. Carving the axe handle, without the proper crooked knife would be a labour intensive job

All of these combined left me with the realization that it might be better to get a shaped hickory handle and work from there.


It took some time to actually find a handle with the attributes I wanted. Make no mistake, you can't just run out to the store and buy the first handle you see...not if you want it to last. Comfort, grain direction, weight and balance all factor into what makes a good axe handle.


Then I ran into a problem. I found that after some rough shaping, that the reason the head I'm restoring broke from the axe in the first place is that it was shaped poorly. The eye of the head is tilted off to one side, meaning that it does not line up with the center of the handle when you view it from above. To correct this, I'm finding that I need to remove more material from one side of the handle than the other, making the axe inherently weak there. This means that I run the risk of breaking the axe in the future.

I briefly considered abandoning this project because of this, but decided that I would rather continue on. In the event that the axe is not perfect, at least I've learning a lot about axe repair, a lesson that would be useful if I decide to purchase a better made, more costly axe in the future. It would also benefit me to learn good axe work and maintenance on a cheaper axe, rather than spending top dollar on an axe that I didn't know how to properly use or take care of.

Continue to Part 2 of the Axe restoration Project