Selecting the right material for the ax handle is very important; it is impossible to make a reliable ax if the wrong wood is chosen for the ax handle.
For the ax handle, only hard wood from deciduous trees can be used.
The wood must be well dried: standard drying of lumber to 8-12% humidity is not enough; it is advisable to take wood dried in special chambers or keep the workpiece for a long time in a very dry place - on heating radiators or on a stove. Additional drying allows you to avoid loosening of the ax due to drying out due to loss of moisture in conditions with variable temperature and humidity - winter/summer, damp forest/flooded apartment.
Choosing the type of wood for making an ax
Ash
Ash, in our opinion, is one of the best materials for making an axe. Ash wood is quite affordable: well-dried ash lumber of the required quality is used for finishing and making furniture. In a large wood trading organization you can usually select a block of the required size and quality.
The strength of ash is beyond praise. In terms of wood density, hardness and durability, it is close to oak, but at the same time it is quite elastic. Spear shafts and battle ax handles were usually made from ash. Currently, instrument handles and gymnastic bars are made from ash.
Ash wood is beautiful and can vary greatly in appearance. In one tree there is wood that differs in color and grain pattern. When making axes, we focus not on the beauty of the design, but on the arrangement of the fibers, which provides the greatest strength. We can only suggest choosing an ax with a darker or lighter ax handle from those available in stock.
Jatoba
Ax handles made of jatoba and ash
Jatoba wood has high impact strength and is well suited for the manufacture of sports equipment and tool handles, suitable for the manufacture of steam-bent parts and is often used in furniture production. The wood is very durable, hard, tough, and surpasses oak wood in strength. Jatoba is beautifully processed and has an unsurpassed appearance. Perhaps this is the most beautiful wood from which it makes sense to make ax handles.
Jatoba is excellent for making ax handles, especially if the ax requires not only functionality, but also high aesthetic qualities.
Hickory
Hickory, also called American walnut, is widely used for the handles of axes, hammers, picks and other tools in America and Canada. The wood is strong, elastic, and quite durable.
Oak and beech
They have a beautiful structure, are strong, durable, fairly easy to process, and affordable. Unfortunately, both breeds have disadvantages when making ax handles. Oak is too hard and dries out your hand when cutting. However, when we mounted a felling ax on a long (about a meter) oak ax handle, the recoil was no longer transmitted to the hand - the length of the ax absorbed the blow. Beech cuts perfectly, has a beautiful surface, but is very hygroscopic. To protect a beech ax from moisture, simply impregnating it with oil will not be enough.
Birch
The most common ax handle in Russia is birch, although birch wood can hardly be called the best option. Perhaps, if you use split dies from the butt part of a silver birch, cut down and dried in a certain way, you can get an excellent product. But the availability of such material leaves much to be desired: even if it is possible to select a birch trunk of the required quality cut down in winter, and there is a place for drying with the required parameters, the drying time will still be more than a year. In addition, birch easily absorbs water and is spoiled by microorganisms, so in addition to careful initial impregnation, further care is required during operation.
Making a high-quality ax handle from birch can be recommended only to those who value the process of self-production and who are willing to spend significant time and effort on preparing the wood.
The quality of mass-sold birch ax handles is extremely low; sold birch lumber is also not suitable as a material for ax handles.
Maple ax handles
Maple has proven to be a good material for making ax handles. In addition to sufficient strength and elasticity, maple has a beautiful texture and polishes well. The ax handle, made of maple, has a wonderful appearance.
Ax strength
The fracture strength of the ax is ensured by the arrangement of the fibers along the ax and the strength of the wood. Cross-layering is unacceptable, with the exception of blanks made from split dies of twisted wood, in which case significant strength can be achieved during manufacturing given the arrangement of the layers.
Service life of the ax
The durability of a properly made ax is determined by the resistance of the wood to impact and compression. The part of the ax located in the eye experiences very significant loads; over time, it can become wrinkled and the ax head becomes loose. The service life is determined by the type of wood (the harder the better), drying (a poorly dried ax handle will “get wet” very quickly), and the density of the attachment: precise fitting and tight attachment (by blows or pressing) significantly increase durability. Properly made axes can work under heavy loads for years without requiring repairs.
If a properly made and mounted ax handle becomes loose, it can be repaired. In the case of a direct attachment (when the ax is placed on top of the tapering end of the ax handle and then wedged), the ax should be set back and an additional wedge made of hardwood should be hammered in. It is also possible to use a flat or round metal wedge.
When the ax is mounted in reverse (the ax handle is passed through a cone-shaped eyelet from top to bottom), no loosening occurs, since during operation the loads are directed towards the expanding end of the ax handle and the ax is only fitted more tightly.
It is not easy to choose a new wooden ax for a cleaver, the configuration of which is largely determined by individual preferences.
A truly comfortable handle would be a custom-made handle, made using accessible technology that does not require special skills.
Wood processing can be easily done on a carpenter's workbench or on a workbench that replaces it. The list of the most necessary tools is as follows:
- Wood saw;
- Carpenter's axe;
- Plane;
- Hammer;
- Chisel;
- Roulette;
- Sandpaper.
Using a power tool (grinder, circular saw or electric plane) will make the process of making a cleaver handle much easier, but you can do without them.
Wood for an ax
The type of wood and the drying of the workpiece determine the durability of the ax for the cleaver. Freshly cut lumps are not suitable for handles: when the wood dries out, it becomes much thinner, cracks and warps. At home, a natural drying method is used, which allows you to prepare the workpiece in a dry shed for two years and in one year if you keep the wood in a heated room. The harvested wood is sawed off 15–20 cm longer than the future ax for the cleaver, in order to subsequently remove the ends covered with cracks.
Among the available tree species, ash has the best properties: its handle is strong, elastic and does not dry out much over time. It is easier to find a suitable birch log, but it takes longer to dry, and it rots faster. A maple ax handle is less loose, and is slightly inferior to a birch one in terms of impact strength, but is more durable and easy to process.
Shape and dimensions of the ax
A firewood cleaver should have a slightly curved handle 50–70 cm long for medium logs and 80–100 cm for large stumps. The ax handle is made of an oval cross-section, consisting of two semicircles connected by straight sections. This handle provides a confident grip and tactile control over the trajectory of the cleaving axe. Only the seating part of the ax for the cleaver is ovoid in shape, corresponding to the hole in the metal tip. A bend is made in the tail part of the handle in order to better hold the cleaver, which tends to slip out of the hand during strong blows. In addition, the downward-pointing end causes less twisting of the hand at the final moment of the blow.
Making your own handle
First, a block of dried lump is made from a thickness of 3–5 mm greater than the width of the mounting hole. The reserve will allow you to later adjust the workpiece in case of mistaken removal of excess wood somewhere. If it is necessary to remove a thick layer, use an ax or a circular saw, then plan the surfaces with a plane, simultaneously leveling the planes. 
On the resulting workpiece, mark the outline of the ax handle with the same margin of a few millimeters. 
For convenience, the piece of wood is clamped and transverse cuts are made with a hacksaw in increments of 35–40 mm, not reaching the marking line by 2–4 mm. 
Next, use an ax or chisel to knock down pieces of wood in small pieces, following the direction of the chip and not allowing it to go deeper than the drawn contour. 
The shank is filed perpendicular to the axis of the ax handle to reduce the likelihood of chipping the wooden product. 
Having completed the rough processing, mark the dimensions of the mounting hole. 
Why find the center at the end of the workpiece and align the tip along it. 
The final shapes are given to the workpiece by planing the convex surfaces with a plane, and the sunken parts are selected with a sharp knife. 
Working carefully, remove thin shavings and periodically turn the part over to change the direction of the cut. As a result, you get an almost finished ax handle. 
Now the upper end of the handle is chamfered for approach. 
They try to lightly insert the handle into the eye, after which marks will remain on the wood, showing how much material needs to be removed. 
Focusing on these marks, they continue to adjust the axe. Then another test attachment is made to identify areas of chipping. 
Subsequent fine-tuning of the handle is carried out with sandpaper, smoothing out all irregularities and bringing the surfaces to a smooth state. 
The tip is finally placed on the finished ax handle, ensuring an even fit. The protruding end of the piece of wood is cut off with a saw. 
Place the cleaver vertically and hammer in a wedge, the length of which should not exceed the size of the butt to avoid cracking. If the wedge is not completely buried in the wood, the excess is cut off with a hacksaw. 
The handle of a firewood cleaver is impregnated with a protective and decorative compound, leaving the surface rough. Do not use varnishes or oil paints that form a glossy finish. 
Making slip protection
To protect the ax from accidental slips, a plate is made from a steel plate 2–3 mm thick. The metal is bent with a hammer, holding the part in a vice along with a suitable iron blank. 
The overlay is “finished” directly on the tool handle with light pointed blows of a hammer. 
The protection is fixed to the handle with screws through pre-drilled holes. 
A well-repaired cleaver with your own hands will be a good helper when preparing firewood. 
The condition of the wooden handle should be checked before each splitting of logs. You should not risk your health by working with a tool with an ax that is shriveled and dangling in its socket.
Axes have been known to mankind since ancient times. This is one of the most useful inventions of mankind. The invention is very simple and functional. However, in Rus', since ancient times, axes have been divided into several types, each for a specific type of work. The size of the ax and the size of the ax handle became the main difference between the axes.
I hope this article will help you understand what a proper ax handle is. It examines the shape of the ax handle and provides drawings of the ax handle. After reading this article, you will be able to make an ax handle with your own hands.
Currently, axes are used in everyday life for cleaning garden plots, minor carpentry work and chopping firewood. Each task has its own ax, so it is important to know the correct ax sizes.
In logging operations, axes are used for cutting trees before felling, cutting branches from fallen trees, debarking logs (in the absence of special tools), splitting and chopping wood. Accordingly, they are called lumberjacks, loppers, splitting axes, and cleaver axes.
Let's look at the structure of the axe; it consists of the ax itself and a handle called the ax handle. A drawing of the correct ax is shown below.
It has a blade, a blade and a butt. The front corner of the blade is called the toe, the back corner is called the heel, the line running from the corner of the toe to the base of the butt is the toe line; the line coming from the corner of the heel is the heel line; the side surfaces of the canvas are cheeks.
The material for the manufacture of axes is high-quality medium-alloy tool steel that has undergone heat treatment.
Now let's look at the shape of the correct ax in the drawing. In it, as shown in the drawing above, there are fastening, middle, gripping parts and a tail.
The wood for the ax handle is birch, ash, maple, hornbeam, old rowan, beech, and apple tree. You should not make an ax handle out of poor material for safety reasons.
The dimensions of the ax handle depend on the type of axe. For work that requires special impact force, you need an ax with the shape of an elongated ax as in the drawing. For clean, precise work that does not require great impact force, axes are made with a short ax shape. For logging axes, you need to use the correct ax handles with a length of 700 - 900 mm, for lopping axes 600 - 800 mm, but the ax handle for a splitting ax has dimensions of 750 - 930 mm. The shortest length is about 500 mm - they have axes for hewing.
The middle and gripping parts of the ax are given a slightly curved shape and their surface is carefully processed as shown in the drawing. The tail is made wider. The fastening part fits tightly to the hole in the butt. The angle of the attachment must correspond to the type of axe: for a lumberjack 86 - 88°, for a lopping ax 70 - 80°, for a splitting ax 80 - 90°.
The axis of the correct ax and the line of the blade are located in the same plane. After attaching the blade, the ax handle is wedged by driving two wedges.
The impact force applied when working with an ax also determines the shape of the ax itself. Thus, a logging ax, used for cutting trunks and cutting thick branches on large trees, must penetrate the wood as deeply as possible, not get stuck in it, produce large chips, i.e. it requires special impact force. In accordance with this, its wedge-shaped shape is convex as in the drawing, the line of the blade is curved.
Below are examples of modern axes.
A delimbing ax is used mainly for cutting branches and sometimes for cutting thin trees when sawing. When delimbing, less impact force is required, but a higher frequency of work is required, therefore the blade of the delimbing ax is long, as shown in the drawing.
Nowadays, few such axes are produced; all that I managed to find is given below.
The cleaver is used for splitting - splitting wood, so its blade shape is short, wedge-shaped, heavy, with thick cheeks, with a sharpening angle of about 35 degrees.
Axes for riveting and similar work have a wide blade with one-sided sharpening as in the drawing below.
The ax is one of the oldest tools used by man in his activities. It has come a long way, accompanying the evolution of man from a stone ancestor to a modern product made of steel of the highest quality. The scope of application of this tool has the widest range both in all kinds of industrial production and in home use. The need for its use will not decrease in the near future.
Tool classification
Depending on the area of application, they can have different design shapes and sizes.
The specialization of this tool can be classified as follows:
- Lumberjack's axe.
- Large and small carpenter's axe.
- Cleaver for harvesting firewood.
- Tourist or hunting camp hatchet.
- Hatchet for the kitchen.
- All kinds of souvenir axes imitating ancient military weapons.
- Sports tomahawk for throwing at targets.
- Fireman's axe.
- Butcher's axe.
Some design differences
Specialization may give rise to some design differences between axes, but basically any of them consists of two parts: a working chopping metal part and a handle attached to it, called an ax handle. The ax handle is mainly made of wood.
Some models of tourist and kitchen samples can be made entirely of metal with wooden or plastic overlays to give the flat metal handle the required shape.
The lumberjack's tool is distinguished by a rounded blade and an elongated axe. It is most often used for preparing brushwood from branches. A special type of ax, a splitting ax, is used to prepare firewood from logs. Its metal part is more massive than that of ordinary axes, and has a more obtuse angle at the pointed cutting part.
The firemen's weapon also has a longer ax handle. In addition, the back side of the metal part, called the butt, may differ significantly for such axes. For ordinary tools it is simply flat, but for firefighters this part can be made in the form of a hook or a sharp narrow wedge.
The butt of a kitchen hatchet is usually made in the form of a hammer for beating meat, and the ax handle with a round cross-section is made on a lathe.
Carpenter's axes
This type of ax is probably the most used in the world. Even with modern technologies, no construction can be completed without such an ancient tool. Its versatility is unique.
Carpenter's axes are large; they are used for chipping logs and for making all kinds of notches in the construction of wooden houses and other structures.
Small hatchets that are used for smaller jobs.
The chopping blade of carpenter's axes is usually smooth and very sharp.
There are various types of ax handle. Its shape generally depends on the personal preferences of the owner, aimed mainly at ease of working with such a tool. Often a good ax is the face of a carpenter as a specialist. A good craftsman treasures this tool more than any other. Therefore, he never uses a purchased ax, but makes it for himself. However, in capable hands it is necessary to change it very rarely.
Manufacturing methods
For an ordinary person, the most common use of an ax is when working in a summer cottage. Here, along with the work inherent in such a tool, not very qualified workers are used for various jobs. Therefore, axes, as a rule, do not withstand prolonged use, and they have to be changed quite often.
The most suitable material for the handle is birch. It is durable, relatively light and smooth material to work with. For zealous owners, it will be useful to place birch bars to dry. Birch should be dried for a long time, at least 3-5 years, and always out of exposure to sunlight. To make a good ax handle, you will need well-dried birch. Otherwise, it will dry out in the ax itself, the handle will begin to dangle, which can lead to significant inconvenience in work and injury.
There are several different ways to make an ax handle correctly. But all of them can be divided depending on technological equipment:
- Using electric woodworking mechanisms (circular saw, planer, various types of sanding).
- Manually from ready-made boards using a plane, rasp, and so on.
- Handmade from birch logs.
- With a minimum of tools.
Technological production of an ax handle
First of all, the necessary blank is cut out on woodworking machines. All its dimensions (width, thickness and length) are made with a small margin for further adjustment.
The thickness and width are determined by the size of the ax's entrance hole, which is called the eye and is located at the bottom. It must be remembered that the upper outlet hole is much wider than the lower one, and they should not be confused when taking measurements.
For the convenience of further processing, it is advisable to plan the workpiece on a planing machine in order to make its cross-section close to a triangular shape with an acute angle at the bottom of the future ax handle. Using a cardboard template, a drawing of an ax of the chosen shape is applied to the workpiece. A template can be made by making a drawing according to the dimensions of an old broken tool, or you can find a suitable shape of an ax in specialized literature or on the Internet.
It is most convenient to cut rounded areas using an electric jigsaw. Next, smooth out all the corners using a wide chisel and pre-grind the product. It is not worth processing it completely to working condition, because if it is directly connected to the metal part of the tool, when significant forces and impacts are applied, the wood may split, and all the final finishing work will be done in vain.
Mechanical grinding should be done on a flat surface. Using a regular stone sharpening disc is not effective. It is better to make a special disk, with the same hole in the center as the corresponding sharpening stone.
It is better to use the material for the circle from hard electrically insulating plastic, at least 5 mm thick. Sandpaper is glued onto it using PVA glue. You should know that you should only use waterproof paper. A simple one will quickly break. In addition, a circle covered with waterproof sandpaper can be washed to remove wood dust with hot water. Therefore, if such a circle is made from plywood, then washing it will be problematic. Plywood can become deformed when exposed to water.
On such a wheel it will be convenient to grind the smooth and convex parts of the axe, especially the part that is inserted inside the ax. This must be done very evenly so as not to weaken the thickness of the wooden part.
For sanding internal curves, it is good to have a vertical sander. You can also make equipment for it yourself. To do this, you will need to turn a wooden cylinder on a lathe with a through internal hole corresponding to the shaft of the engine being used, and paste it on the outside with waterproof sandpaper.
The finished cylinder should be tightly placed on the shaft of a vertically mounted engine. For grinding the ax itself, the diameter of the cylinder is not so important, but the thickness of the walls from the inner hole to the outer surface should be quite massive, at least 10-15 mm.
Ax head
The upper edge of the ax, which should be inserted inside the ax, is made slightly conical so that it fits tightly enough. Before this, perpendicular axial lines are drawn at the end so that during the work, focusing on their location, the workpiece does not skew in any direction.
Before the final mounting of the ax, a cut is made under the wedge. Its depth should not exceed the width of the ax itself.
How to properly place an ax on an ax handle is shown in the figure:
It is possible to make a wooden wedge from another, softer type of wood, which is more susceptible to compression than birch. To prevent the wedge from jumping out of the ax handle even at the slightest drying, it is advisable to lubricate it with waterproof glue. This is necessary in case the ax gets into water.
After the wooden one, you can additionally wedge it with a metal wedge. Such wedges are specially forged in a forge, making notches along its edges for better adhesion to the wood.
It happens that the upper hole of the ax is larger than the lower one not only in thickness, but also in width. Small gaps remain on the side of the inserted axe, into which additional wooden wedges also have to be driven.
If the connection of the ax with the ax handle went well, proceed to the final finishing of the wood using finer-grained sandpaper. This process is done manually.
Making an ax by hand
Despite the apparent complexity of this process, it is quite possible for a more or less skilled owner to make an ax handle without using electrified equipment. Especially if there are boards of the appropriate size available. If there are no boards, then the blank on the ax handle can be cut out of a birch log. The log for these purposes should be selected, if possible, without knots and with a straight-layer structure.
To grind the ax handle using sandpaper, it must be secured in a vice. Cut narrow, fairly long strips of sanding material. They will be very convenient for the grinding process, wrapping strips around the ax and moving the ends of the strip back and forth. In this position, the working surface of the sandpaper fits tightly to the plane being processed without much effort on the part of the person.
Working with purchased axes
If a person does not want to bother making an ax handle on his own, ready-made samples are always available for sale. Of course, serious manufacturers of such parts know well how to make an ax handle correctly. But still, when buying it, you should adhere to some rules so as not to 
make mistakes. First of all, you should very carefully measure the entrance hole of the existing ax. The discrepancies in sizes between different axes are sometimes very significant and individual, especially if this tool was taken from my grandfather’s stock. The main condition is that the dimensions of the acquired ax should not be less than the required values.
You should also pay attention to the quality of the wood of the finished ax handle. The density of the structure, the presence of cracks and the possibility of chipping when inserting it.
Work with a purchased ax will be limited to adjusting its end part, which directly fits into the eye.
Sharpening and operation
Carpenter's axes require the most careful sharpening. It's okay if the sharpness of these tools allows you to sharpen a pencil or even make a toothpick.
Before sharpening the cutting edge of the ax, it is necessary to check the hardness of the metal and, if it turns out to be too soft, the ax will need to be additionally hardened by exposure to high temperatures. It is best to do this in a forge, trusting a professional specialist.
The tool blade is sharpened after connecting it to the wooden handle.
Like an ax, the picture below explains.
Useful instructions
The correct use of an ax can be described by following some basic rules:
- Try not to cut metal products.
- Carefully check the wood being processed for the presence of foreign solid objects in its body.
- Do not use the tool in a capacity that is not inherent to it: as a lever, hoe or shovel.
- Do not throw the tool onto a hard surface, especially from a great height.
- Do not store it for a long time in an open place exposed to sunlight or in a very humid place.
If treated with care, the ax and its wooden handle will serve for a long time and please its owner.
Hi all! This summer I went on a 5-week trek in the Alps with some friends. The time spent left a lot of positive impressions. But during this trip I discovered that I had forgotten one very important tool - an axe. After a long day in the mountains, it's nice to sit by the fire and drink beer. But in order to start a fire without an ax, we had to spend a lot of time looking for small branches that could be broken by hand.
Therefore, as soon as I arrived home, I had the idea to make a tourist hatchet, in which, like a knife, a saw is hidden and there is a beer opener.
In this master class I will tell you how you can make such an ax yourself.
Ax design
The design of this ax consists of three parts.
Ax blade
The shape of the blade was borrowed from the tomahawk, an ax used by Native Americans and European colonists. But you can change its shape by adding some spikes or a hammer on the butt. The ax blade will be glued to the handle and secured with rivets.opener
First, as an opener, I wanted to make a suitable hole in the blade. As a result of test drilling, it was discovered that it was impossible to make a hole with a conventional drill, so I changed the type of opener. Both options can be seen in the image. The new type will be made in the form of a specially shaped hook.Saw
I wanted the ax to come with a saw and thought it would be nice if it could be hidden like a jackknife. From the handle and it can be unfolded using the finger groove. The saw will be hidden between two pads. The shape of the metal part of the handle will allow the saw to be locked in both open and folded positions.Once the design was chosen, I tried it on a circular saw blade to get the dimensions to fit.
Materials and tools
This ax is made from a used circular saw and hardwood that I had. I only had to purchase a folding saw blade. It was already hardened, so it did not need heat treatment.
Materials:
- Old circular saw blade.
- Hardwood timber (approximately 50 x 40 x 300 mm).
- Epoxy resin.
- Large nails for use as rivets.
- Folding saw blade (I used 200mm).
- Bolt, nut and washer.
Tools:
- Angle grinder (don't forget about safety equipment!).
- Rasp.
- File.
- Sandpaper.
- Drill.
Let's make sparks!
I transferred the outline of the ax and the metal part of the handle to a circular saw and cut them out using an angle grinder with a fine cutting wheel. I then used a sanding wheel, angle grinder and files to finish shaping the pieces. The final shape of the metal part of the handle can be given later.
Making the handle
You can glue the template to a piece of wood and cut out two overlays. I used my CNC router.
Drilling hardened steel
I didn't have a carbide metal drill, so I wasn't sure how the process would work with a hardened axe. I came across a video where it was said that you can use a sharpened concrete drill bit to drill hardened metal. That's what I did, and everything worked out pretty well.
Adding an opener
This is probably the most irreplaceable part of the ax! Whenever I go camping, my friends and I usually have a couple of beers around the campfire in the evening. Opening them with stones and tree branches is very inconvenient. So I thought this detail would come in handy. I transferred the outline of a regular bottle opener onto the ax blade and cut a recess into it. Works great :)
Drilling the handle
Next, I drilled holes in the handle and checked that everything fit. The metal part of the handle should act as a spring that will fix the saw blade. If it is too elastic, it can be made thinner. First I used the metal part of the handle as a template to make the holes. Then I fastened the two pads together with clamps and then drilled a through hole. This way all the corresponding holes were in one line.
To connect the parts of the ax without gluing, I used bolts. This way you can check whether all the parts of the ax fit and whether the saw folds correctly.
Blade sharpening
Once the edge of the blade was outlined, I used an angle grinder with a sanding disc for a rough finish. Then, for finer work, a file and grinder were used (use water to cool the blade). The final sharpening was done using the sharpening wheel of a sharpening machine.
I'm not an expert at sharpening an ax blade, so you can do this another way.
The ax will primarily be used to split wood into smaller pieces, so I did a little testing of its functionality.
Gluing and riveting
