Loose axe head

[theoldwizard1]

So I know the solution is to remove the head and re-install with a new hardwood wedge and cross sink it with the small steel wedges.

However this is the 2nd or 3rd time (in 10+ years) I am doing it on the axe head and handle. The handle is not original to the head.

Any tips on how to make the head stay on ?


Yes, this thing gets used in all of the WRONG ways. Primarily to chop roots.

 

[Buckgnarly]

Epoxy with the wedges?

 

[Outlawmws]

If its coming loose, in my experience it wasn't tight enough to begin with. That wood wedge needs to be tight before proceeding with the steel wedges.

Are you using it to lever things over?

Is it a decent wedge or one of those POS softwood things?

Where is is loose? Front to back? Sides only? Both?

Is it a decent fire hardened hickory haft? or one of those "white" mystery wood handles?

 

[Milton Shaw]

A lot of times the problem is that the wood has dried out and shrunk to loosen. Sometimes all it takes is setting it in a bucket of water for a weekend and its then tightened back up. If you are storing the axe in a low humidity area that probably whats happening.

 

[HandyManny]

Soak the top of the handle in Boiled Linseed Oil before mounting the head of the axe on it. "Boiled" meaning that dryers have been added to the raw oil, not literally boiled. A good dried hickory handle should last at least 10 years on an axe that gets used often.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Epoxy with the wedges?

This was the solution, but not in the way you might think.

The reason the head was loose was that the handle was not a "perfect" fit into the head. There was a small gap about the size of a wooden match stick.

After replacing the hardwood wedge and reinstalling the metal wedges, I enlarged that gap with a small drill bit. Then I filled it with epoxy. Not for its adhesion properties, but just to fill the gap.

Hopefully this will last the rest of my life ! (I am getting too old to swing an axe anyway ! )

 

[bluechevy94]

The best method to tighten a handle up in an ace is to soak it in boiled linseed oil for a while. I have hung quite a few Axe heads and have never used a metal wedge. If you fit the handle right I see no need for a metal wedge.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The best method to tighten a handle up in an ace is to soak it in boiled linseed oil for a while. I have hung quite a few Axe heads and have never used a metal wedge.

I have NEVER seen an axe with a wooden handle that did NOT have a hardwood wedge and 1 or 2 small steel wedges inserted across the hardwood wedge.

 

[Outlawmws]

The best method to tighten a handle up in an ace is to soak it in boiled linseed oil for a while. I have hung quite a few Axe heads and have never used a metal wedge. If you fit the handle right I see no need for a metal wedge.

I have NEVER seen an axe with a wooden handle that did NOT have a hardwood wedge and 1 or 2 small steel wedges inserted across the hardwood wedge.

It's possible for both answers to be right, but usually the best fit is made with expansion in both directions unless the handle fits the head really tightly in the long direction. I've seen it, but it's rare and I agree its best to use both. One steel wedge if tight, two if not so tight (For a long eye like an ax).

 

[TreePointer]

Instead of putting money into a multiple hardwood handles, I'd buy a relatively inexpensive mattock (the proper tool) with synthetic handle from a big box store.

Get a nice hardwood handle for your good axe head and cut wood with it--not dirt + wood.

 

[Packard V8]

My factory-fitted Plumb axe heads all eventually loosened. It's very wet here in the winter and very dry here in the summer. The continual swelling and shrinking compresses the wood handle and wedge fibers to the point an axe hung by the handle will drop the head off just from gravity.

I've not found any method of preventing this cyclic loosening. Refitting the heads with new wedges in the summer will help for a couple of years, but eventually, at the end of some summer, they'll be loose again. I'm open for suggestions.

jack vines

 

[Outlawmws]

My factory-fitted Plumb axe heads all eventually loosened. It's very wet here in the winter and very dry here in the summer. The continual swelling and shrinking compresses the wood handle and wedge fibers to the point an axe hung by the handle will drop the head off just from gravity.

I've not found any method of preventing this cyclic loosening. Refitting the heads with new wedges in the summer will help for a couple of years, but eventually, at the end of some summer, they'll be loose again. I'm open for suggestions.

jack vines

Jack, what methods have you tried to keep them from drying out?

Are the Factory heads the epoxy sealed ones?

Have you tried the long soak in boiled linseed oil?

Where are the axes stored, and is this an issue with all wood handled striking tools, or just he axes?

 

[RECox286]

Get an authentic "firemans' ax".

Uncle Bob

 

[Outlawmws]

Instead of putting money into a multiple hardwood handles, I'd buy a relatively inexpensive mattock (the proper tool) with synthetic handle from a big box store.

Get a nice hardwood handle for your good axe head and cut wood with it--not dirt + wood.

A mattock make a piss poor ax, and if you dig the dirt away from the root, you ARE cutting wood... I do it all the time and I generally use my biggest ax (Unless the roots are just small, then a hatchet or in that case, a mattock might suffice... (Last tree root I cut was 7-8" in diameter)

Get an authentic "firemans' ax".

Uncle Bob

 

[rlitman]

A lot of times the problem is that the wood has dried out and shrunk to loosen. Sometimes all it takes is setting it in a bucket of water for a weekend and its then tightened back up. If you are storing the axe in a low humidity area that probably whats happening.

Noooooooo. Never do this! Then when it dries out again, it will shrink even more (as it was under compression when it was most wet). This is a recipe for eventual disaster, unless you have a stainless ax head, and leave it stored in a bucket of water.

The boiled linseed oil soak will stabilize the wood, and displace water. That won't let it dry out and shrink as easily. I prefer to thin it about 70/30 with turpentine before the soak (be careful not to get that stuff on rags, that makes for a terribly flammable mixture), so it goes on water thin. It soaks in deeper, and faster.

Honestly, I haven't had this issue much with hammer and ax heads, but a product called "Chair Loc" sounds like the best option. That soaks into the wood to swell the fibers (just like water would do), but then hardens so that it won't shrink back at a later time.

 

[Arne73]

I prefer to thin it about 70/30 with turpentine before the soak (be careful not to get that stuff on rags, that makes for a terribly flammable mixture), so it goes on water thin.

^^^Yes^^^

Not only flammable but worse, spontaneously combustible.