Restoring a few axes

[Robin]

I’m waiting for the ice to melt on my pond so I can soak some inwales and ribs before steaming them, so I ordered some new axe handles to fix up some loose and cracked axes. First time hanging axe heads on new handles for me, I have been watching some great YouTube tutorials and feel pretty confident I can get them done.
The smaller hatchets will be gifted to my grandkids along with a couple of the smaller axes. I’m keeping my Snow and Neally for future trips, and one larger axe for around home.
The piece of leather they are laying on will be used for sheaths, another first for me. I’ll post some more pics as the project advances.



My old Snow and Nealley Hudson Bay Cruiser

 

[Boatman53]

Nice! That little double bitted one might be referred to as a Nessmuk could be collectible if that has any bearing on the project.
Where did you get the handles from? I have a couple to do myself.
Jim

 

[Robin]

I got them from Whiskey River, they all have nice grain from my inexperienced eye. I fell for the free shipping if you spend $150, haha, I have a lot of grandchildren.
That double bit is a Collins, as is the hatchet, made in Connecticut so it’s going to those that where born down there.
There’s a Snow and Nealley going to my grandson who was born in Bangor. I’m looking for a smaller S&N head for his little brother.

 

[Alasgun]

Very nice project! They’ll cherish the gifts.

 

[Crazy Trout Craft (CTC)]

Great stuff Robin!

 

[Bob B.]

Cool stuff … and a really awesome gift Robin. Also, that snow and Neally axe has been posted many time on this board Within various trip reports. I love that old axe … such a great piece of kit. I get closely attached to old gear I trip with … my old axe included.

I love reading posts like this.

Bob.

 

[Boreal Birch]

Axes, like canoes, to my mind are the most important piece of equipment you can take on a canoe trip.
The first gift I bought for my future wife was a Collins double bit hatchet, sometimes called a saddle axe. She still has it, she wood burned an artistic nature scene onto the leather sheath. I bought it as a memento of our meeting each other and summer working together for the US Forest Service YCC as work leaders doing timber stand improvement with standard size double bit axes. I still can’t believe with all the safety standards that the Forest Service had that they had city teenagers cutting brush in pine plantations with double bit axes.
I found a double bit hatchet head on a rocky bank of the Tanana River. I added a new handle, it has been a cherished companion on many of trips. One of my duties working for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Commercial Fisheries Division, was to fly low level aerial salmon surveys. I sat in the back of Piper Super Cubs, counting spawning salmon at 300 feet while the pilot flew us on major salmon streams. Fly low and slow is dangerous flying, there were only two pilots that I considered safe to fly with to do this kind of work of “making a aircraft do something that it doesn’t want to do!” according to Bill Lynch, the best pilot I ever flew with. Behind my seat was my survival pack, in case I survived a crash. A Savage, Camper’s Companion, .22/20 gauge over under combination gun in a take down case, short section of small mesh gill net, snares, sleeping bag, nylon tarp, pot, dried soups, caffeine etc. and the double bit hatchet.

 

[clemency]

Whiskey River looks like a good resource I didn't know about. I sometimes go to the infamous Dan & Whits General Store ("If we don't have it, you don't need it"), and have been keeping an eye out for a boy's axe handle but apparently haven't really needed it yet (bought the last one they had a few years back, and that axe is fine). I think I have a splitting maul head that needs a new handle as well, but I'd have to find it and I don't use splitting mauls anyhow.

 

[Odyssey]

Ever since memequay's axe head find years ago I've been hoping for a similar stroke of luck, albeit not along a shoreline but rummaging thru antiques/flea markets cast offs. I probably haven't looked in the right places at the right times which is why I've been shut out.
Robin, like your pack and wannigan projects you thoughtfully completed a few years ago, this is another personal history project connecting the young with the old. I really admire this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Robin]

Here's that small double edged Collins hatchet, weighs just over a pound. The new handle I ordered isn't that great a fit so I might carve my own from an ash thwart.

 

[alsg]

Whiskey River looks like a good resource I didn't know about. I sometimes go to the infamous Dan & Whits General Store ("If we don't have it, you don't need it"), and have been keeping an eye out for a boy's axe handle but apparently haven't really needed it yet (bought the last one they had a few years back, and that axe is fine). I think I have a splitting maul head that needs a new handle as well, but I'd have to find it and I don't use splitting mauls anyhow.

Dan & Whits! I haven't heard those names in a long time! What a great, great store! I got my Sorel winter boots there in 1984. They haven't held up that well. I had to replace the boot laces about 8 years ago. ;-)

 

[ppine]

I collect em too. I have a broad axe fouond in an old farm house in Virginia in about 1961. We were deer hunting when I was a kid. There were old apple orchards around some of the old abandoned homesteads which made a good place to look for deer. My Dad is 98 and so he is passing along the old heirlooms. I have a nice adze and many types of old axes. I have a few misery whips, and one was bought by my Dad at the hardware store after a big tree came down in the yard. around 1965. The whole neighborhood full of kids learned to use one in sawing up the tree.

 

[Robin]

I finished 5 of the new “hangs” (hang is when you attach an axe head to a new handle, lingo I learned on YouTube),

Top is a Stanley with its old 33 1/2” handle, I just added a new wedge.
Next is an old Snow & Nealley with a 24” “Pack Axe Handle”
Next is a Plumb axe head with another 24” pack axe handle,
Next is a Kelly Perfect with a 32” handle,
Next is Collins with its old 18 1/2” handle I reset with a new wedge.

I’m going to keep that Plumb with the 24” handle, I think it will do well with my wall tent outfit where splitting wood is more important than on a lightweight trip ( lightweight being subjective in my world).

I’m undecided if I should use boiled linseed oil or tung oil on the handles. Most YouTube axe guys say BLO, but tung oil gets mentioned also. I have both?

 

[Caledonia]

Robin. I’ve been using a mix of 50/50 tung oil and BLO on the cherry paddles I’ve been making and it has performed well. Nice patina, feel and water resistance. Might be an option to consider... Rob

 

[Robin]

Robin. I’ve been using a mix of 50/50 tung oil and BLO on the cherry paddles I’ve been making and it has performed well. Nice patina, feel and water resistance. Might be an option to consider... Rob

Thanks, I'll mix up a batch of 50/50 and give it a try.
Do you have a schedule for the application?
If I remember correctly, BLO is once a day for 7 days, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, then once a year.
I bet your formula would be ok with the BLO schedule.
Back to finish sanding today, spent yesterday moving a ton of snow.

 

[Caledonia]

I think you're right about the application schedule- that would be the gold standard for sure. I seem to only be able to coat them about 4 or 6 times before I get distracted by something else. I do heat the mix up the first time and let the tip and grip of the paddle sit in a small pot of it- the thinking being that it gets drawn up into the end grain fibers. The 50/50 recipe is from the Gidmark & Warren book so not original to me. I typically lightly recoat when the paddle looks like it needs it or I'm feeling guilty of neglect. I do really like the feel of it on a paddle. With a fine grain wood like cherry it feels like silk and it has plenty of water resistance which I believe is what the tung oil is offering. Rob

 

[Midwest Firecraft]

I’m undecided if I should use boiled linseed oil or tung oil on the handles. Most YouTube axe guys say BLO, but tung oil gets mentioned also. I have both?

Boiled linseed is the fastest, but I don't like all the chemicals in it. I have switched to a 60/40 ratio of tung oil and turpentine for new handles. and simple linseed/flax oil for maintenance. It takes about 5 days for the flax oil to cure, you can speed it up with temp and air. I have found it holds up as well as the BLO.
Oiling wooden tool handles

 

[Robin]

I went with the 50/50 mixture of BLO/Tung oil suggested by Caledonia, it’s what I had on hand. Thanks Rob

Boiled linseed is the fastest, but I don't like all the chemicals in it. I have switched to a 60/40 ratio of tung oil and turpentine for new handles. and simple linseed/flax oil for maintenance.
Oiling wooden tool handles

Thanks Midwest Firecraft, I need to pick up some flax oil. I like that YouTube channel you linked, very knowledgeable guy with a sense of humor.

First coat of BLO/ Tung oil