Refurbishing axes

There’s something satisfying about an axe; it’s such a functional tool and there’s a very satisfying feeling when chopping wood. Over the years I’ve acquired quite a few, starting out with various cheap hatchets from DIY shops and old axes found in the back of a dark shed. My first ‘proper’ axe was that favourite axe of many bushcrafters, the small forest axe from Gränsfors Bruk, and its been a faithful companion on many a trip. Purchased at the bushcraft show back in 2012 its still in great condition and sharp as a razor.  Axes however seem to have an N+1 appeal and so I’ve found myself adding to the collection; in no particular order we now have the Gränsfors Bruk wildlife hatchet, a Ray Mears wilderness axe (more on that later), a fiskars X27  splitting axe, two handmade carving axes (forged with Nic Westermann) and a collection of quality old axes given to me by various people. I’ve given away some of the budget axes or left them at my fixed camp as it doesn’t matter if they go missing.

A good few of these axes have some sort of issue, loose handles mainly. So I’ve set myself the task of getting them to a working condition. The small forest, wildlife hatchet and the fiskars are all fine, but the rest need attention. First up was the Ray Mears axe. To be fair on this axe, it’s a lovely axe with a nice head weight and additional length over the small forest axe and one I was donated after it was replaced due to a fault with the wedge coming loose. I’m not going to turn down a free axe (especially a Gränsfors Bruk axe) and I’ve replaced the wedge twice but no matter what the head kept working loose. Ultimately, this is a bit of a ‘Friday afternoon’ axe. The eye is shaped slightly too wide at the top and this causes a rocking motion that works the head loose. The original handle was shaped badly as well inside the head and so accentuated the rocking motion. My plan to fix this involved a new handle and I didn’t want to lose the Ray Mears logo so I ordered a replacement through Woodlore. Duly arrived, I spent a lot of time carefully shaping it for a tight fit.  The replacement came with the wedge and precut slot that  wasn’t aligned too well, but good enough for my purpose. I got a tight fit of the handle, getting the head seated snugly with no gaps around the bottom of the head like on the original. The wedge didn’t go in too well due to the off center slot but well enough to spread the handle nicely (the original also had splits in). I then added an additional wedge at the front of the head and glued this in to prevent any further rocking, a metal pin secured everything nicely. Ultimately only time will tell if the axe is secure, but I’m hoping that this will now mean I have another usable axe in the collection.

Next up was a simpler task, reshaping the handle on my carving axe, I originally made a handle out of a splitting axe handle I bought at a show, but it was a poor shape, too wide and too thick in the middle, I’d messed up drilling a hole for a loop so it needed a reshape and to give it a handle that reflected the quality of the head.  I spent an evening reshaping the handle with my Shinto rasp, which makes light work of removing material and then sanding the handle through a range of grits to get the handle ready for some boiled linseed oil. I’m still not overjoyed with the grain direction in the handle but as its not taking hard impacts, I’m not too worried. I’m looking forward to trying it out on some more spoons very soon.