The Fridley Farmer

How to Make an Axe Handle

My axe broke. Last time I was chopping with it, I could feel the head moving from side to side as I swung it. I finished my project, then put the axe aside to fix.It turned out that the eye of the axe was cracking off from the handle. Someone probably pried sideways on the axe when it was stuck in a log at some point weakening it.

Warning: This is my first time making an axe handle. You’re responsible for your own safety when using your repaired axe. Use caution and appropriate protective gear.

Removing The Old Handle

I started by removing the head from the old handle. I used a screwdriver to pry out the pieces of the wedge which secured the head to the handle. Once that was out it just took a few gentle taps with a hammer for the axe head to slide off.

Prying out the axe wedge. I used a screwdriver.

The next step was to go to  Home Depot to buy an axe handle. You’ll spend way more time making an axe handle than you’ll ever save in terms of money.

Unfortunately, Home Depot didn’t have an axe handle for my axe. My axe is small camping axe. With a 2.5 lb head, and a 28 inch handle, it’s barely bigger than a hatchet. Home Depot and Menards only had 36 inch handles, and the eye was too big for my axe head.

Instead of ordering one from the internet, or trying Fleet Farm or somewhere else, I decided I’d try making one.

Finding Some Wood

I had two choices in my yard. I had several mulberry logs, and several birch logs. I opted for the mulberry since it’s been sitting for a year. I chose a straight log which had a fork at the very bottom. You can’t really see the fork in the picture, but it’s about 5 inches from the bottom.

You want to choose an uncracked piece of wood with the heartwood intact. The heartwood is stronger than the white wood near the outside edges. The log I chose had some small cracks on the end that appeared to be superficial. I used a saw to cut an inch off the top of the log to see if they went down that far. If they had, I would’ve switched to a different log.

If you have more options for wood, or if you’re buying, you might choose hickory, ash or another hard wood. I don’t know how good mulberry is, and I might end up needing to replace the handle again sooner than if I had bought some hickory. Time will tell.

A mullbery log, and future axe handle

Cut it down to size

I used a hatchet and small sledge hammer to break down the log. I stopped when it was 3  inches square all the way down. When I got to the fork, I followed the dominant branch, so I had a slightly curved roughly square 3×3 block to work with.

Splitting the sides off the log

Shaping the Handle

I used the bandsaw for some of the shaping, but the easiest tool ended up being the hatchet. I had it sharpened very sharp, so it could easily bite into the wood even when striking at a very shallow angle.  It’s starting to take shape.

Rough hewn shape

Other than a3x3 block a little taller than the axe head, which I left untouched, I continued removing material with the hatchet until it felt comfortable in my hands. At this point it’s a good size, but slightly lumpy. I used my pocket knife to carve off the prominent lumps which got me to bumpy.

With a right-sized handle which was smooth-ish, but bumpy, I got out the belt sander and used an 80 grit belt. It leveled the bumps down quickly and I was left with a handle that was good enough to hold and do work with. Now, if it only had an axe head on it…

Creating the Axe Eye

Create the eye for the axe is the trickiest part. I clamped the handle to my workbench, and used a chisel to slowly remove material from the end of the axe until the head fit on. I flipped the handle over every few minutes to give myself a better chance at getting both sides even. Once the head would fit over the end, I extended that profile down so that about 1/2 inch stuck out past the head of the axe, and so that the head had a smooth shoulder to rest on.

Working on the axe eye

Once the eye was carved, I used the bandsaw to cut a line right down the middle of it for the wedge.

Attaching the Head to the New Handle

It was a tight fit to get the head on, but with a bit of coaxing and a rubber mallet, it went into place. I cut a wedge from the leftover pieces of mulberry trunk and tapped it firmly into place, first with the rubber mallet, then with a metal hammer.

I used the bandsaw to cut off the excess wood sticking above the axe head, then tapped the wedge with the hammer some more, to make sure it was in tight.

The top of the axe, with a wedge driven in

Finishing Steps

I still need to do some finishing of the handle. There’s a little square area below the axe shoulder which I hadn’t cut in case I needed it, and the handle was only sanded with 80 grit sandpaper. I’ll carve down the square area and sand the whole thing with 120 grit sandpaper, then I’ll treat the wood with linseed oil to help preserve it.

Holding my new axe

I’m ready to start chopping again!

Bagging Apples, Exploding Pressure Cookers, Weeding and Planting Flowers

Bagging Apples

After discovering the red banded leaf rollers in our apple trees, Caroline and I when and picked as many rolled up leaves as we could, and threw them away. Then we bagged the apple buds. There are lots of bagging options out there from traditional Japanese waxed paper, to paper lunch sacks to ziploc bags.

I decided that we would go the ziploc bag route after reading that with ziploc I wouldn’t need to staple the bags. I’m not 100% sure that these bags will stay on through some of the summer wind storms, but I figure it’s worth a shot.

Ziploc keeps your apples fresh!

After cutting the corners off the bags, we zipped them up around the apple buds. Where there were more than one bud coming out of the same place we pinched off all but one or two of the buds. We left one on branch tips and smaller branches, and two on the thicker branches.

The idea behind bagging apples is to protect them from bugs without the need for pesticides. If it works, I’ll probably keep bagging until our tree is too big to bag easily.

Apple buds bagged and bug free (I hope)

Exploding Pressure Cooker

I’ve been a huge fan of pressure cookers since I was an exchange student in Brazil in 1998/99. They use them every day there to cook beans for lunch and dinner, and I’ve never seen one explode. My host mom had to tell me not to play with the pressure regulator a few times and told me about how if a pressure cooker exploded it could break a hole in the cement ceilings.

Tonight Caroline had put on some black beans and I was working in the living room. All of a sudden there was a loud pop and a wet whooshing hissing noise. That noise was immediately followed by dripping sounds, kids yelling (WHAT WAS THAT. IS THERE A FIRE?!) and a surprised sound from Caroline.

Somehow the emergency release valve on the pressure cooker had blown.

Pressure Cooker Release Valve Explosion

I think that the valve is just getting old. It’s a little loose in the lid, and not as squishy as it used to be. No one was hurt, and dinner turned out OK, but there were little purple droplets of bean juice everywhere. Especially the ceiling.

I have a replacement valve in my Amazon.com shopping cart right now.

Weeding

This corner that has been used for pole beans the last few years is now home to horseradish (in the corner). Tonight we weeded the rest of this patch to plant some Oregano and Star of Bethlehem flowers.

Weeding for Star of Bethlehem and Oregano

There are lots of good weeds to hate, but tonight I’m going to hate grass. not the nice smooth grass that grows gently across the lawn between the dandelions, but the stuff that grows in clumps and pops up everywhere it shouldn’t.

I hate this grass mostly because it’s hard to get it all out. Here’s my big catch of the night. This was the only clump of grass within several feet. The root is a little longer than 3 feet long. It ran in a straight line along the fence and then ducked under the fence  into the neighbors yard, so I couldn’t actually see how long the full root was.

When you’re weeding grass, you never know which way the root is going to go, and you have to just hope that it doesn’t tangle with the roots of something you don’t want to disturb.

That’s why I’m hating grass tonight.

Very long grass root

Planting Star of Bethlehem Flowers and Oregano

In the patch of dirt we weeded above, the horseradish lives in the corner. To the right I planted oregano. To the left we planted some Star of Bethlehem flowers.

An excellent gardener and friend of ours divided her peonies for us this year, which we planted a few weeks ago. This last Sunday she surprised us at Church with this bag of Star of Bethlehem bulbs.

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum arabicum) bulbs

Here’s what they should look like. It’s a photo of a print out of a scan of a photo that she took in 2007, so sorry about the quality.

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum arabicum)

The bulbs are only hardy to -10* F, so we’ll need to dig them up each fall. This is the first time I’ve dealt with flowers with bulbs, and the first time I’ve had planted something that needed that sort of overwintering care. If our flowers turn out as nice as hers, it will be worth it.

Horseradish and Other Vegetable Progress

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Fruit Growth and Apple Tree Pests

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Weeding, Planting Herbs and Waiting

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Cherry Blossoms and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

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Grubbing Trees and Dependant Projects

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Peonies and Weeding

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Tomatoes and Peppers Finally Planted

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