View Full Version : Good old axe.
Hi guys, I had some nice exp. this weekend that i want to share with you.
My dad found this axe head on a pathway in a mud near a factory that used to make them long time ago (he worked there). I was very suprized by the shape of it, 'couse it looks like it has been a production fail of some kind. But the steel is an old school carbon and by the looks of it is very good.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7B9Co6rHcI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/gtOde9m_MRg/s640/1.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7B9C4xtM1I/AAAAAAAAAgU/QNeCCnwWbws/2.JPG
So i cleaned it to inspect a little more.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7B9C9gSP7I/AAAAAAAAAgY/LM1hTuBO_tY/3.JPG
And by the end of it, couldn't resist of attempting to make a handle to it... Never done that before. Oh, and couple of my mates came over with a 1l. of Grant's... So the workbench was set with food not tools :D :D And one of my mates joined me in doing a handle to another axe.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7B9DMGiqQI/AAAAAAAAAgc/KXngI-z19WI/4.JPG
And even before the bottle was done i came out with this:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7B9DiLeGFI/AAAAAAAAAgg/u5GSYypNxH0/s640/6.JPG
I owe thanks to GB for handle shape, some more pics later with more detail on it if anyone will be interested.
Thanks for looking!
And NO i made no mistake, the axe head is facing right direction ;) I'll make more sketches on it later so you could get the idea.
robin wood
29-03-2010, 11:50
Nice looking axe head. Personally speaking from experience I think it is a very bad idea to mix drinking with friends with woodworking, both fine activities but as soon as the alcohol comes out my tools go away. Interesting that you chose to reverse the head why was that?
I made a few sketches to help me show the problem. It's an usual head, 'couse it's angled opposite to what I would recognize as "normal". If I would've done a straight handle and put it on it would have came out looking like this:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7CUvQRH-TI/AAAAAAAAAgw/0xIHlDX6xHM/galva1.jpg
I don't know if axes like that exist :D :D the blade should be faced straight down, or a bit backwards, but not forward? Or am I wrong?
My first though was to make a "bended" handle that would solve this problem and the axe would look like hatchet:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7CUvX5PrPI/AAAAAAAAAgs/BjjiFSY4YR4/s640/dizainas%201.jpg
But having no exp. in this, I thought I would be happy just with a straight handle and came up with this design:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7CUvF7VDqI/AAAAAAAAAgo/tNkfnZpJ7-c/s640/dabartinis.jpg
I think, It's a failure in making process, maybe some drunk geezer (You are absolutely right Robin about drinking and woodwork... when I think about it now) cut the (thingy i don't know in english) on the wrong side of the head ?...
How do i test the blade for hardness without making too much damage to it? :)
I haven't sharpened it yet, just treated the handle with linseed oil.
gowersponger
29-03-2010, 13:14
nice work there mategoodjob,nothing beter than a nice drink on the job
It looks like a sturdy axe head!
Everything Mac
29-03-2010, 13:54
certainly unusual looking. I have never seen one like that. Looks to me like an attempt at a nail puller.
but as you say it is probably a mistake in the forging process.
you have handled it up very nicely.
Atb
Andy
its hard to say what is right.
but try it the new way, if that doesnt work, reverse it.
(not the first axe with an upside down head Ive seen!)
its a good find whatevver.
Dave Budd
29-03-2010, 15:55
It is a nail puller and as Robin suggests the head is meant to go the other way around :D
I've come across a few axe heads of that sort of shape (though without the nail puller) normally coming from your part of Europe and Russia funnily enough :rolleyes:
If it were a production flaw then it would've been put in deliberately and to be honest it would be a lot more trouble to do so than just sling the head out ;) Also who would bother handling it and using it to death afterwards?
some axes are look almost symmetrical and a way to check which way round a head should go is to measure the inside of the eye. one end should be narrower and it is this narrower side that the handle come out from. Axes have this feature so that when a wedge is fitted it fills the wider end of they eye so there is no way it can come off.
good job though!
Pete
Dave Budd
29-03-2010, 18:34
not always. Many have an hour-glass shaped eye, especially modern ones ;)
Peter, I found no major difference, m'be 1mm. but not more. Really hard to tell..
Dave, is there any chance you'd provide us with an example of that sort of axe? Nail pulling bit is common to axes made in that company, though I have never seen one like mine. I'll check other axes my father has at home. If you're right I'll have to apologize to it and refit it properly :D :D
I've heard that some smiths used to "sign" there axes with a notch of some sort and that it had little practical meaning. The nail gotta be quite high above the wood already if that nail pulling device gonna work? :D
Dave Budd
29-03-2010, 22:38
I suspect that if a notch were put it to identify the maker, then it would be a small one or series of small notches. Something like that would take a fair wallop to cut into the head and I can't see it being done for identification purposes.
Sure the nail would need to be very tall, it could be used for ripping sheet metal off buildings, breaking wire, things like that maybe?
I was at a woodfair last autumn and there was abloke witha stall of secondhand tools, most of which he said he brought over from France. There were at least half a dozen axe heads of that sort of shape there. So I bought one to see what it was all about :) I've not got around to handling it yet, but I'll take a picture tomorrow ;)
Having seen a load of them last year, I know they exist and are apparently common in at least one small pocket of Europe. But having spent the last 40 minutes searching all over Google, I can't find a single blooming picture!!!!!!!!:dunno:
robin wood
29-03-2010, 23:38
It's not a design I have seen before but I like it a lot. No question of it being a forging error that is a beautifully forged head and the slot is put there on purpose by a skilled smith. If I ever see another I will know instantly where it came from.
I see the heads below regularly and have heard it suggested they may be French but have nothing to back that up. These belong to my mate Robin Fawcet.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll168/Treewright/Frenchaxes.jpg
The til;ting back head thing can be quite nice for a carving hatchet, in fact it is the way the Gransfors Swedish Carving axe works, it gives a nice slicing motion when you know how to work it. Here is a GB carving axe with one of those other types handled up.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/IMG_7675.jpg
Despite what many say there is no right and wrong with handles, they should be made by the user for the user and very often the user will adjust their technique to adapt to the tool they have made, if it works for you then it is far better than anything you could buy and should give you pride when you use it.
Definitely truth Robin ;) I made it to be light and comfy to carry. Hope it works well in bush, if so it's what I'm after... :)
I'm very keen to see those pics Dave. :)
I'll ask my granpa about it, he has build a few houses with just an axe, maybe he will remember something about this kind.
Dave Budd
31-03-2010, 15:51
this is the axe I was talking about. Ok not quite as similar as I remembered it, but it's not a million miles away :o
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i98/buddknives1/Handmade%20Tools/frenchaxe.jpg
the edge is about 5" long. the maker's mark is this:
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i98/buddknives1/Handmade%20Tools/frenchaxe2.jpg
_scorpio_
31-03-2010, 16:58
so its not marking it as a factory second? its a nail puller? i dont see how that works or why it would be put on an axe and not a hammer...
You made a lovely handle. It looks the business, no matter what way the head is meant to be.
so its not marking it as a factory second? its a nail puller? i dont see how that works or why it would be put on an axe and not a hammer...
I remember having an old carpenters axe that had a nail puller and a hammerhead as a poll... It might have been an "estwing or eastwing??)
Small pic but the head was identical to this http://pmimages.worthpoint.com/thumbnails2/1/0108/01/1_bcc014d2b7939e2a23453c3459df 0fcb.jpg
More pictures coming up after Easter, I'll take photos of the axe heads at my dad's, he has quite a few.
Cheers Caliban ;)
It turns out, that it has a lot to do with making process. The head is shaped like this when they put it under forging press to make a nail puller. It happens when the press chisel (don't know the exact word) becomes blunt. Dad said that this was a big problem, as they made loads of heads in one day and they had to sharpen those things all the time. But at the same time it is normal, that the head is facing a bit forward like we see on Dave's and Robin's example. Pic's coming later.
pinerevolver
09-04-2010, 14:09
What process did you do to clean the axe up ? Because it looks like just out the box :)
robin wood
09-04-2010, 17:40
What process did you do to clean the axe up ? Because it looks like just out the box :)
Judging by this pic I would guess he used an angle grinder with a wire brush attachment.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7B9C9gSP7I/AAAAAAAAAgY/LM1hTuBO_tY/3.JPG
What process did you do to clean the axe up ? Because it looks like just out the box :)
Just like Robin said ;)
I was cleaning up wood workshop to get it going again, and I found this example witch is the same kind of style but on a larger scale. This does look like your's referred "carpenters axe". So everything comes to it's place.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S92Rsj4rtuI/AAAAAAAAAiA/OS0Hq2LQw9s/s912/CIMG6162.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S92RttZtRrI/AAAAAAAAAiI/vsdiTkF6hiI/s640/CIMG6163.JPG
helixpteron
02-05-2010, 18:04
Good find, excellent clean up and lovely handle you made, looks great. http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv29/helixpteron/happy0034.gif
robin wood
02-05-2010, 18:48
Just out of interest lets stick these two images together.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S7CUvQRH-TI/AAAAAAAAAgw/0xIHlDX6xHM/galva1.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_w6UPNRVFaUk/S92Rsj4rtuI/AAAAAAAAAiA/OS0Hq2LQw9s/s912/CIMG6162.JPG
For hewing a sloping back profile is not a problem, in fact it can be helpful.
Well, a good lesson about axes learned here! Thanks a lot everybody, your knowlege is great!
Robin, Dave, others that are interested in sharps, if you would like an example of this kind of axe, PM me.
IanGilroy_2
03-05-2010, 18:23
It looks abit like my grand farthers that he used to take out partition walls with. You go through the wall with blade take nails out with the notch (hand forged nails taper so you don't bend them), then knock them back in with the poll.
A very frugall man my grandad. (Thats the polite version of what my Farther used to call him)
What do you think about the handle? These factory handles are too chunky for my grip. I want to slim it. But then I thought, maybe a bit of length could do as well??? What length do you like for your "carpenters" axe?
Rory McCanuck
08-05-2010, 22:44
I think you may want to keep the handles "chunky" if you are going to use the nail puller.
Pulling the handle sideways will develop a LOT of stress on a stubborn nail.
I would think that this sideways stress is why the handle is more of a square
profile than rectangular that we usually think of as "handle shaped"
However, if the handle is so uncomfortable you never use it, then a slimmer handle
is likely a better choice. How often are you going to pull nails with it?
A claw hammer or prybar is likely a better choice if you are going to pull lots of nails.
Just make sure to post pics if you do make another handle ;)
Well, never! :)
I have worked with my grandfather on some timber building projects and never ever used an axe to pull nails with. There are so many better tools to do the job. What I think I would use it for is: 1. Carving. I'm finishing a small workshop on weekends that i tend to use for bushcraft and woodworking projects. 2. As a forest axe to take out to the woods whenever the smaller axe I rehandled will not be enough.
I remember having an old carpenters axe that had a nail puller and a hammerhead as a poll... It might have been an "estwing or eastwing??)
Small pic but the head was identical to this http://pmimages.worthpoint.com/thumbnails2/1/0108/01/1_bcc014d2b7939e2a23453c3459df 0fcb.jpg
Interesting thread this . I scooped up an axe head a couple of weeks ago identical the one above see pic below. Bought the handle about 3 stalls down at the bootfair here in France
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/Bikerbloke99/axe.jpg
It's a carpenter's axe eh? Well that's nice since that's my trade anyway. :D Good point taken about using it to wrench nails out, I wouldn't, at least not with anything big for reasons already stated. I have a 12oz drywall Estwing hammer which has an axe head at the back and a nail-puller notch set in it. Since dry walling only use 30mm nails so it's not that great a stress for the handle to cope with.
Anyway nice work making cleaning and making that handle for your finds goodjob
Thanks Biker. I'll post more info after completion.