Post by solaris on Oct 22, 2018 20:19:41 GMT
This is the axe from the axe/hammer combo MathewGMK had listed for a couple of years. I finally snagged them and decided I would first re-handle the axe. Not that there was anything wrong with the first handle, but I wanted to add my touch to it.
I had a 1.5" Ash dowel on hand I was planning to use to handle my Cold Steel battle Mace, and I never got to it so I started off with a 36" x 1.5" round Ash dowel. I had to shape the portion that the head would fit on to and I knew that would be critical so I did that first. Once I was satisfied I cut a notch into that portion for the wedge. Awesome. Now what....
I don't have a lathe in my garage and I only have hand tools and a new hand held orbital sander. I wish for a band saw and maybe I will have one soon, but in the mean time, remembering the octagonal nun chucks I saw in Bruce Lee movies, I thought an octagonal handle would be cool. So I set it up in my vise and started sanding. Long story short, and through a miscalculation on my part it ended up as a seven sided haft.
It was a little thick on the end even for my giant hands so I reduced it down to 1"ish on the end with the intention of adding a leather grip. I was going to do a cord wrap but I had a better idea and went with it.
I used two coats of ebony stain, then a coat of classic grey, and one last coat of ebony. After purchasing some leather and some leather working tools on Amazon for $36.00 I set out to make a haft guard/collar and a grip. I did the collar first, realized after I should have put to starting knot on the inside. No matter, will correct when I do the handle. I started the handle correctly and everything was going great with my stitch until and 3/4s of the way down, the needle broke.
SHIZAH!!!! (I actually did yell out Shizah!)
So, most of the leather handle is nicely stitched... I may re-do it but I was pretty surly at this point. Any way, I may carve the handle some more but I like it how it is for the time being. It is long enough to use as a two hander, but light enough to use as a single hander. For the photos, I barley used any force and it bit deep into the oak stump in my backyard. A testament to the work done by L. Driggers.
I little antiquing with a steel brush and voila!