Axe handle wedges keep coming out

[Hairs]

Hi Guys,
My Axe handle wedges keep coming out.
Last year I put a new handle on the head, the head is probably 40 years old or more, it was my fathers, put a couple of wedges in the head and every now and then a wedge will work it's way out. I've replace the handle before without a problem.
What am I doing wrong for the wedges to come out?
 

[Symon]

Hammer them in further?

Another trick is to throw the head of the axe in a bucket of water overnight.  The water will seep into the wood and make it swell up - helping the head to stay on.

[Mace]

What am I doing wrong for the wedges to come out?
 

Are you using metal wedges (brought from the hardware store)?

I usually use just the one, approx 4 to 5 cm?, and then pack it with timber slivers  above and below.  These can be any pencil sized (and smaller)  slim offcuts that you can jam into the crack and pound down by carefully dropping the axe/head onto any hard surface.

Keeping the axe  head timbers from excessively drying out also helps, as does not excessively removing any width of the handle prior to insertion into the head.

I have an axe of my fathers like that!
(C) 1950 Plumb Head, currently sitting in the shed awaiting a new handle.
Task 2morro,  find axe head.

 

[OzJeeper]

Most of my wooden handled tools go into a largish tub that is filled with sand.  All my old engine oil (well, a bit anyhow) goes into the sand and when the steel and wood hits the mix, the steel won't rust and the timber is fed with oil.  Timber handles stored this way will swell like with water but the effect is much longer lasting.  Wedges will not come out - ever - and your axe head will never need de-rusting!

 

[Hairs]

Hammer them in further?

Hi Symon,
Yeah, I thought I had.
Hmm

Are you using metal wedges (brought from the hardware store)?

Yeah Mace I have.
Even sat the head with handle fitted in a bucket of water for a few days.
Chiseled the handle so it was a very tight fit.

Most of my wooden handled tools go into a largish tub that is filled with sand.  All my old engine oil (well, a bit anyhow) goes into the sand

Well there ya go, you learn something new everyday here.
I have plenty of sump oil & sand.
I'll drive another set of wedges in and give that ago,
 

[MarkGU]

"I have plenty of sump oil "
yeah and its on ya rear bumper Jon

[Rob Mac]

Hi jon, I find Linseed oil is good for most wood tools. My old plastic garden rake handle is surviving better than the plastic tines after spraying once or twice a year for the last 7 years.
Cheers
Rob

[Hairs]

G'day Rob,
How are ya mate? Hope all is well.
Linseed oil, yeah, does a great job of looking after the handles of wooden tools.
My job this morning is to look at the axe, amongst other things in the shed 
 

[qlddsl]

I use aluminium wedges that are pinned through the head with a roll pin, never come out until I want it to

[Tjupurula]

I fixed mine permanently Hairs, i took the wooden handle out, and welded a steel handle in, then nused string and duct tape for a grip at the handle.
Regards
Tjupurula

[fuji]

Are you using metal wedges (brought from the hardware store)?

I usually use just the one, approx 4 to 5 cm?, and then pack it with timber slivers  above and below.  These can be any pencil sized (and smaller)  slim offcuts that you can jam into the crack and pound down by carefully dropping the axe/head onto any hard surface.

Keeping the axe  head timbers from excessively drying out also helps, as does not excessively removing any width of the handle prior to insertion into the head.

I have an axe of my fathers like that!
(C) 1950 Plumb Head, currently sitting in the shed awaiting a new handle.
Task 2morro,  find axe head.

 

Found an old axe at mums before she passed away, and I think it belonged to Dad. The axe is quite old so I will clean and sharpen it to go on the new CT when I get it. Probably 60-70 years old.
Wayne

[JU5T1N]

You could always drill a small hole in the side an screw a counter sunk wood screw into the wood and possibly the wedge to hold them in and the handle on

[Hairs]

Hi Guys, got a little side tracked over the long weekend with stuff. So this is what I got up to.
I hammers a couple more wedges into the end, It's tighter than a fish's bum at a thousand feet.
Now the head is sitting in a bucket of sump oil & diesel. I'll pull that out in a couple of days and see how it's looking.
If this fails i'll get a new handle and try the other suggests.
Thanks heaps for your ideas guys,
 

[Metters]

Hairs

You are not supposed to use a metal wedge.  I have a little book published by Cyclone that shows how to fit handles to an axe plus a couple more of their tools.  It says to use a wooden wedge with an axe.

You start by placing the head firmly on the handle by hand.  Next hold the other end of the handle in one hand and let it hang down vertically.  Don't let it touch the ground.  If you keep hitting the top of the handle with a piece of wood, or something like a leather hammer, the head will slowly work its way up the handle.  If you see the edge of the head digging into the wood as it goes on, carefully shave away the excess wood back towards the head with a Stanley knife and keep hitting.  Don't hit too hard though and damage the end of handle.  When you are sure the head is on as far as it is going to go, you should have about 30 to 40 mm of wood sticking out the top.  Use this to make the wedge but make it before you cut this excess wood off. 

Place the head in a vice with the excess wood pointing up.  Place a hacksaw about 4 mm off to one side of the cut in the centre of the handle and saw down on a angle to the bottom of the cut as close to the head as possible.  Lift the wedge out and make another one from the other side of the handle.  Cut the rest off flush with the top of the head. 

Open the cut slightly with a wood chisel, place the wedge into it and carefully and evenly tap it down as far as it will go with a hammer.  Cut off any excess then put lots of linsed oil all over the handle and around the head.   

The last head I fitted using this method was six years ago.  It has done a lot of work since then and has never looked like coming off.

[Chesapeake]

That's what grandad used to do with his.Still got it.It's had ten new handles and two new heads.

[prodigyrf]

I don't doubt that method Metters explains and it concurs fairly well with what I learned from my surveyor father and his crew. You can use metal wedges in an axe but as Metters rightly points out the main wedge should always be wood and you used to be able to buy them but you might have to make your own. The secret with any metal head (axe, sledge, claw hammer, etc) is understanding how their handle holes are shaped. At the handle side they have a short lead in taper to 'match' the appropriate bulge in the handle and then for half the metal head the'yre parallel until the top half where they taper for wedging. The secret is to carefully shape and fit the handle to the head in the bottom half before you wedge or it will come loose, no matter how well you wedge it. That used to be spokeshave and rasp but a belt sander is useful nowadays. You'll need a block of soft pine to repeatedly tap the bottom of the handle on so as not to damage that, in order to lightly work the axe head down to keep working out where the contact points are to work away until it fits right down and the handle fits the head all the way round with the final tap down using the inertia of the head to drive it firmly. Then you liberally coat it with linseed oil and can fit the large wedge firmly. Then you can add 2 small serrated metal wedges across the head diagonally splitting the head in thirds and cut off and dress and further apply linseed oil liberally around the head. It won't come loose then providing you don't leave them out in the weather and apply linseed oil once a year to the complete handles as maintenance (usually after a light sand)

[prodigyrf]

Of course you needed the right handle to start with- http://tennesseehickoryproducts.com/ and carefully selected the right grain and weight for your claw hammer or tool and with the effort of carefully shaping it and wedging it to fit the head you much prized it and looked after it like my old man's Plumb axe and hatchet, dutifully sharpened and oiled and in their leather pouches in my shed nowadays. To ask a tradey to use his hammer or any wooden handled tools was like asking to borrow his jocks and what the Hell are you smoking son, because whatever it is I want some too. Get down the hardware and get a new handle and fit it like I showed you once junior and that'll be your smoko and lunch for the day and again and again if you don't get it right.

Estwing didn't have much of a sell with their fully forged hammers and leather ringed handles under that regime I can tell you and to pop round your joint nowadays and see any wooden handled implement lying out in the weather in the backyard, I've got your technical and trade skills pegged right away and as for Mr Lendus he took off years ago with the woman who used to keep the books!

[Hairs]

The wedges I've always used are the aluminum ones.
This handle is the only one over the years I've had trouble with 
Maybe it's a dodgy handle 
At this point, all seems to be good. I had thought it may have dried out, but it sits in the tool box with an oily rag wrapped around the head.
I'll let you all know after I use it next time.
Thanks heaps for all your suggests and thoughts.
 

[prodigyrf]

Those serrated metal wedges are ali Hairs and there's some in my shed along with some wooden wedges somewhere but long unused now. That's because I don't have cause to chop trees/branches much anymore and quality axes are not much use for hacking up dirty firewood and we all remember Mr Lendus-
http://myswag.org/forum/index.php?topic=21715.msg334682#msg334682
When you seriously stuff the edge of a good axe you have a lot of metal to get off carefully to salvage it. At my surveyor father's works depot they had a large slow turning water fed sandstone wheel for their line clearing axes, slashers and scythes, before hand oilstone finish. Modern grinders can easily blue the thin cutting edges and that's the end of the tool right there. I've got a Multitool belt sander with guide for such tasks (mainly chisels and plane blade nowadays) but you need to have a patient light touch and keep cooling the tool in water regularly. Then you're finishing with oilstone and stropping. With timber handles to boot, that's all too hard for most nowadays so it's throwaways from China with steel, fibreglass and epoxy handles, which makes a lot of sense with dirty gritty firewood at. There's no way those woodchoppers at the shows would go anywhere near a bit of dead wood lying around in the dirt.
 

[Hairs]

Hi prodigyrf,
Yeah, I've never used a grinder or wheel with this axe, always a hand stone. And never cut wood that was laying in the dirt either.
With my chisels I take my time on the wheel as not to over heat them, slow and steady, then use the stone to finish off A good excuse to kill a few cans while listening to the radio in the shed, also a good way to spend a Saturday arvo with the young fella and teach him some of the tricks my father taught me.
 

[gibbo301]

Hi prodigyrf,
A good excuse to kill a few cans while listening to the radio in the shed, also a good way to spend a Saturday arvo with the young fella and teach him some of the tricks my father taught me.
 

Teaching him abit early Hairs 

[Hairs]

Teaching him a bit early Hairs 

Hey mate, no flies on this kid, There are a couple milestones in the journey of Fatherhood and the bonding between Father & Son and spending time in the shed is one of many 
1) When the young bloke said 'Dad" for the first time.
2) When the young bloke throws his training wheels from his bike and tells you he doesn't need them.
3) When the young bloke brings ya a beer from the fridge and it's open.
4) When the young bloke wants to sit on ya lap and steer ya Cruiser up a mates 1.5km driveway.
5) When ya ask the young fella to get ya 9/16 open ended ring spanner or any other tool and he gets the right one.
6) When the young bloke asks when are we going to the shed next?
I'm sure there will be plenty more.
We have two daughters as well, which I love dearly and we have our special moments too as they grow up and turn into teenagers.
 

[Slipus]

I have always used the metal wedges for my hammers when I was a cabinet maker and in my axes.  I trim down the handle with a rasp and the fit the handle. I punch the wedges in so they are under the level of the top of the axe.  I trim the protruding section of the handle and then use epoxy resin (not the 5 min stuff) to lock everything in place. The handle last years (or until you lend them to someone)

cheers Pete 

[Tjupurula]

Hi Hairs
When they turn into teenagers, just keep the credit card handy, it always satiates their need for "shopping therapy".
Tjupurula

[prodigyrf]

Heh! The lad's a sparky now with apprentice in tow and he's never had to advertise after starting out on his own only a couple of years out of his time. The beggar is rolling in it and the women he pulls...? The latest is a microbiologist with macrobiology. Those educated dolls are putty in his hands and I'm envious because it was bloody hard work in my day til the missus decided- 'you'll do for a lifetime's project mere earthling'

The lad was in nappies when he began grabbing my hammer and and banging in nails in offcuts, much to the consternation of any womenfolk about. Never ever hit his fingers but dropped the hammer on his toes one day which woke him up to Newton's Laws. Around 2 as I recall and you couldn't get him to wear anything on his feet whatsoever, bearing in mind that was through Canberra winters at the time. Still struggles to stay out of thongs at work.