The Armour Archive

Hey I'm trying to find some hickory for an axe shaft anyone know where I could get some? Also anyone know if there are any finds of metal axe shafts?

Dude, go buy a shovel handle, or an axe handle - they make them of hickory

Then, shave it down to historical dimensions.

Idëval

actually the axe head is a garden tool (an edge cutter) I cut it down reshaped it but the handle/shaft broke for like the 5th time so im looking for hickory as thats historically accurate and is apparently a good wood i'll try to get a shovel anyway any one know what color hickory is or what it looks like (I'm aware that it's probably brown)

I'm confused?

Do you want hickory handle material(hardware store variety), or an actual hickory stave?
Axe handles are generally hickory, so I'm not sure why you ask what hickory looks like?
Are you trying to find a local tree to cut from?

Also, what type of tool exactly? I.E., is there something to the design that puts undue stress on the wood (will be need to be compensated for)?
Is it one of those hedging mattocks? Looks almost like an English bill, with a bit of a curve like a drywall/carpet knife?

I'd recommend the appropriate handle for the tool, in this case.
If the wood at the hardware store is too brittle, you might need to reconstitute its moisture.

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Idëval
The Huntsman of
I-Nossë Lúmëvanwa
The machine stops, the gears grind. The beast blind, and miserable.

I don't think it was hickory I used the last time thats the problem I don't know what it looks like I made the axe head my self so my axe shaft was a hoe handle I think, how would I reconstitute its moisture?

Thanks
Xander

Pecan is also used in place of hickory (labeled the same, though!). The whiter wood handles are usually hickory, while the ones with a yellow tint or dark streaks are pecan. It's all hard and hell on tooling, and both are found at just about any hardware store.

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Krag von Berghen
KragAxe Armoury

Member's Pics

Trying to reintroduce moisture into the wood may be a bad idea. Make sure you don't have a plastic or lacquer coating on the handle, then just let it sit and acclimate to your local conditions for a couple of weeks. It might take a lot less time, but be safe.

I personally finish all of my wood handles with Watco danish oil. I don't know if this is really the best, but I have been happy with it.

For my own part, I would be a lot more concerned with the the grain of the wood than with the moisture. Adding moisture can be a very bad thing. The grain you are looking for is very straight, with the plane of the wood in line with the edge of the axe head. Don't get the handle if the grain runs crossways to the edge.

The idea is that you use the wood in the strongest layout possible. With it crossways to the plane of the shock the handle is going to get every time you hit something, it will break sooner than if you have the grain running in line with the force.

Make sure your axe head has nice, smooth edges to the eye. A sharp edge will chew up your haft in less time than a smoothly rounded one.

Others may have a lot more experience with axes, so will be welcome to add to or contradict what I have said.

-Patrick

find an older style hardware store or a farm supply place get a pic handle with strait grain trim to size and it should work for strait handles.

Pick handles are excellent, as are sledge hammer handles.

Of course the originals would have normally been ash, since hickory is a New World species.

Most of the pecan I've worked with has been inferior to hickory- rather brittle. Related species, but qualitatively different in performance.

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Full time civil servant, part time blacksmith, and seasonal Viking ship captain.

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Thanks for all the info I'll get working on it.

Xander

Pic's if you can please.

As luck would have it,
our first weather of the year managed to knock quite a few trees down; and many of these, as they fell, broke other trees beneath them.

So, for the past week (as time allows) I've been hiking along local riverbanks and woodland areas and gleaning good branches.

I now have a whole brace of staves curing in my garage: several varieties of oak, buck brush, manzanita, et cetera.
Walking sticks for Christmas gifts!

Idëval

http://www.willardbrothers.net/turning_squares.htm
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/findprod.cfm?&DID=6&sku=1711

Ash wood for carving down into a handle.

[This message has been edited by Krag (edited 11-18-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Krag (edited 11-18-2002).]