A silly question....

[oldie moldy]

I was struck the other day while looking at knives and axes on line, how many of them come with a hole in the handle. Often including a leather thong; I'd guess for..........what??

Now maybe it's just me, but I've never had occasion to see any value in attaching myself to an axe or my knife. It seems as if there's any doubt about being able to hang onto the thing, probably you shouldn't pick it up in the first place. And maybe you've got other, more serious problems.

I'll bet some of you real woodsy-craftsy guy an' gals have come up with some way to put that hole to good use; how about sharing?

Best Wishes, Rob


P.S. I see I'm closing in on the five hundred mark! Now, the post office never delivered my fish that was the award for three hundred and the bent tent stake that was supposed to be for the four hundred mark never made it to my p. o. box.
In the mean time I've forgotten what the prize is for five hundred. Anybody know?

 

[meopilite]

Id guess so you can 'safely' climb 20 feet into a tree to cut off a branch. How would you feel if you dropped the axe and had to climb back down to get it?

 

[Guest]

Wrapping the end of the handle with electrical tape works better. Imagine the leather thong does its job and the ax goes swinging wildly at the end of your arm. Not a pretty sight.

And no one should use an ax while in a tree. That's what saws are for. Not only are saws safer, but have you ever been up in a tree where there was room to swing an ax?

 

[memaquay]

I've met a lot of axe-holes and haven't found a use for them yet!

 

[meopilite]

I never had an axe-hole. I would think they'd be hard to keep cleaned out. My neighbor has an axe-hole, but I never seen him use it.

 

[Sturgeon]

Maybe the axe hole is to hang it on the wall of your garage between chopfests.

 

[Guest]

Maybe the axe hole is to hang it on the wall of your garage between chopfests.

... or to loop around your wrist as you leave the woods with your severed fingers in a bandanna.

 

[Murat V]

The old Woods No. 200 canvas packs have an external axe sheath rivetted along the side and grommets up near the top. I use the hole in the axe handle to lash the handle to the pack. Not entirely necessary, I guess, but it does secure the axe to the pack tightly. The leather lace stays on the pack, not on the axe-hole.

 

[red langford]

Murvat, show me how the top is secured. I struggle trying to figure out the top part on mine

 

[Murat V]

Red, does your pack have the 2 grommets just below the side flap? I recall seeing another woods 200 pack that had the external leather axe sheath but didn't have the grommets holes near the top. They've had different manufacturers over the years. Don't know how you'd secure the axe handle without them. You can just see 2 grommet holes above the end of the axe handle in the pic. I just use an old shoelace threaded through the 2 grommets with the ends put though the axe-hole and wrapped back round. Not shown properly in the photo, but the ends go back through the grommets and then tie on the inside of the pack.

 

[memaquay]

I have a few packs with built in axe sheaths. They all have a sewn in tie at the top side that is specifically for tieing the handle on.

 

[red langford]

Murvat, I don't have those hole. I'll have to try to sew something in.

 

[Tracker]

I just drilled a hole in my axe handle last week so I could tie it to the thwart in my canoe.

 

[Rippy]

I use a tube on the knives I make to secure the last piece on the handle to the knife tang. In this case a piece of antler. I could use a pin or a rivet but I like the look of the tube.

 

[Rippy]

In this picture you can tell by the sketch the relationship between the tube and the knife tang.

 

[oldie moldy]

Well Dave, You sure do have a way around steel when it comes to knife making! I can see how the tube acts to lock everything together. I do believe that last smaller knife is just about the prettiest, most perfectly proportioned knife I've ever seen.

Best Wishes, Rob

 

[Guest]

Well, I checked my axe, and sure enough it too has that hole; as do my folding knives. I regard them as belly buttons. Not much use, but everybody's got one. Leather lanyards are indeed handy for lashing or hanging up these tools, but I don't use them. I'll give these lanyards a rethink though. I might use brightly coloured p cord, to better find these things around camp. I might not have lost a good knife that way.

 

[Guest]

Maybe the axe hole is to hang it on the wall of your garage between chopfests.

That is what I was always told. That it was for hanging the axe when not in use.

 

[Canoeguitar]

If you've applied a new coat of Linseed, or some other oil, to your axe, it's handy to loop some cord through the hole & hang it to dry.